FCIP Q&A WEBINAR FOLLOW-UP

Transcription

1 FCIP Q&A WEBINAR FOLLOW-UP We thank everyone who was able to join us for our FCIP Q&A webinar on May 16, Participants sent in lots of great questions during the event, and we ran out of time before we could answer all of them. Here are the questions we didn t get to, along with the answers. Entry Requirements I have my CIP, CRM and CAIB. I also have over three years of university, but it was over 20 years ago. Is there someone we can send all our transcripts to, to see if we qualify? If you completed a degree from a recognized university, hold a CIP, and meet the other admission requirements (current Insurance Institute membership, current CIP Society membership), you should qualify for admission. You can submit your transcripts when you apply for admission to the program. The FCIP team will review them and confirm whether or not anything further is required. If I do not have a degree, how do I proceed? FCIP candidates who hold a post-secondary diploma instead of a degree follow the alternate route, which requires the following: Prior completion of the CIP course and work experience requirements. Current Insurance Institute membership. Current CIP Society membership (for CIP graduates). A diploma from a Canadian community college or university (minimum of two years). Completion of five designated continuing education courses from a Canadian university within five years prior to application. For complete details of the requirements, please see page 4 in the Is there any way to get into the program without any university courses? If I do not have a university degree or college diploma, does the Institute take into consideration experience in the industry? I thought that I read somewhere that the Institute takes insurance experience into consideration when deciding eligibility in the program. Insurance industry experience is required in order to graduate from the program, and it will be highly helpful to you in your FCIP coursework as well. However, it does not substitute for the academic entry requirements. The FCIP program is designed to be at roughly a university-postgraduate level of academic rigour, so prior experience of university study is required as preparation. There are two routes through the FCIP program, each with entry requirements that include university study: FCIP candidates who hold a university degree follow the regular route. FCIP candidates who hold a post-secondary diploma instead of a degree follow the alternate route, which requires a two-year college or university diploma plus completion of five designated continuing education courses from a Canadian university. Each of these routes also has graduation requirements that include industry work experience. The Insurance Institute of Canada 18 King Street East, 6 th Floor, Toronto ON M5C 1C4 Tel.: Fax: Toll-free:

2 For complete details of these routes, please see page 4 in the I received my CIP in 2006 and completed a two-year college business administration diploma over 20 years ago. Would this qualify? I have my CIP, my two-year diploma in law and security, and 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. Could you tell me if I would qualify to start in September? To be eligible for admission to the FCIP program via the alternate (non-degree) route, you would need to complement your two-year diploma with five designated continuing education courses from a Canadian university. For complete details of the alternate route entry requirements, please see page 4 in the I know what the entry requirements are, but what is the process to apply? You will need to submit an application for admission (online via your account on the Institute website), transcripts from your university or college, and applicable fees. For complete details of the admission and registration procedures, please see page 7 in the International Qualifications If my degree is from outside Canada then is equivalency acceptable? I have a degree from India. Will a Comparative Education Certificate from U of T be sufficient for enrollment in the FCIP program? Is an undergraduate degree from a US university acceptable? If you hold credentials from outside Canada, you will need to have your transcripts evaluated by a comparative education service (e.g., the Comparative Education Service at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, or the World Education Service). When you apply for admission to the FCIP program, your application will need to include both your transcript and the evaluation letter from the comparative education service. Please ensure that your transcripts are reviewed by a comparative education service well in advance of the Insurance Institute s deadlines for admission to the FCIP program. You should contact such services directly to inquire about transcript review time frames. For complete details of admission procedures for candidates with international credentials, please see page 9 in the Dates and Deadlines When are the semesters? Spring and fall, winter? Are they the same time frame as CIP? There are two FCIP semesters per academic year: Fall semester September to December Winter semester January to April Final exams are held in the same week as December and April CIP exams. When are the registration deadlines? When is the deadline to enroll in the FCIP this year? When you apply for admission to the FCIP program, your admission documents must be received by the following dates. Please allow two weeks for your admission request to be processed. Fall semester June 30, 2012 Winter semester October 31, 2012 FCIP Q&A Webinar Follow-Up 2

3 If I completed my last CIP course in December 2011, am I eligible to enroll in the FCIP in fall 2012? If you have also completed the CIP work experience requirement and if you meet the other entry requirements of either the regular route or the alternate route, you would be eligible to begin the FCIP program this fall. For complete details of program entry requirements, please see page 4 in the If I write my last CIP exam in December 2012, can I start the FCIP program in January 2013 before my marks are out? We are sometimes able to make conditional admission arrangements for pending CIP graduates if all other FCIP entry requirements have been met. Please contact fcip@insuranceinstitute.ca if you need further information about this possibility. Who Should Take the Program Will this program be beneficial to an IT professional in the industry? The FCIP program has been designed specifically for people working in the Canadian property and casualty insurance industry. If you hold a CIP designation and are interested in progressing towards a leadership position within the p&c industry, you could find the program very beneficial. I just completed my CIP and am not in a management role. Is it wise to approach this FCIP challenge when I have no background to help me out? Is the FCIP only useful for senior management? The FCIP program is designed to help prepare people for all kinds of leadership roles in the industry, not just senior management roles. If you hold a CIP and are interested in pursuing any leadership level in a p&c organization, you can learn valuable concepts and techniques by completing an FCIP. To get the most from the program, you will need to think about your organization s business strategy, leadership, finances, risk management practices, and approach to dealing with emerging issues. You do not need to be in a senior management position to think about these things, but you do need to pay attention to what goes on in your organization and take a business view. Prior experience of leading a team, whether at work or in a volunteer role, can also be helpful. If you have less than three years experience in the industry, you might benefit from deepening your understanding through your working role before beginning the FCIP program. My biggest concern is with regards to the experience which you need to obtain before you can achieve your FCIP. [The alternate route] requires ten years of experience, five of which must be in a manager or supervisor role. I have only been in the industry for a year, so it seems like a long shot for me to obtain a manager or a supervisor role within five years. I can complete the university courses as well as the FCIP courses within five to six years, but then I have to wait to get the work experience. Can I put that I have completed the courses on my resume and am just waiting for the work experience? If you are enrolled in the FCIP program, are progressing towards completion, and are meeting all program requirements (including maintaining continuous membership in the Institute and in the CIP Society), you can use the following notation to indicate your status, filling in the year by which you expect to have completed all graduation requirements: FCIP Candidate (designation expected 20XX) FCIP Q&A Webinar Follow-Up 3

4 Can you talk a little bit about the continuing education certificate? I completed my FCIP in 1998 and am considering the benefits of refreshing my knowledge and working through the new course material. If you already have your FCIP designation, you are welcome to continue learning by enrolling as an FCIP continuing education candidate. You will be awarded a Continuing Education Certificate for completing four courses and a Fellowship Continuing Education Certificate for completing all six courses in the current FCIP program. The program entry and exit requirements of the regular and alternate routes are waived for continuing education candidates; however, any prerequisites and prior study recommendations for individual FCIP courses do apply. Within a given course, continuing education candidates have the same status as other candidates and are expected to meet all the same criteria for course participation and evaluation. Learning Resources I know there is a math test at some point. Is there a general idea of what will be on it so that we can prepare? Before registering for the Financial Management for Insurance Leaders course, you must pass an online test to assess your math skills, based on the level of proficiency ordinarily acquired in senior high school. There are three tools that can help you prepare for the test: 1. There is a sample test available on the Institute website at /math_test.pdf. 2. Once you begin your first course in the FCIP program, you are eligible to access the real test and try it out. You can take it multiple times if you need to. 3. When you are given access to the real test, you will also be given access to an optional Math Refresher Course: a set of self-study resources that can help you prepare for the assessment. Are textbooks available in electronic format? The optional Math Refresher Course includes an e-text, and other courses include some readings that are supplied as PDFs or web links within the course website. However, most reading materials are currently supplied in print format only, partly because of copyright licensing restrictions on third-party materials used in the courses. Progressing through the Program Is there a particular order in which the courses have to be taken? We recommend that courses be taken in the order in which they are numbered: F510 Strategy in the P&C Insurance Sector F520 Leading in the Insurance World F530 Financial Management for Insurance Leaders F540 Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) in the Insurance Sector F550 Emerging Issues: Implications for the P&C Insurance Leader F560 Integrative Learning for the P&C Insurance Sector Later courses are designed to build on earlier ones. For example, F540 ERM assumes knowledge of concepts covered in F530 Financial Management; and F550 Emerging Issues assumes an understanding of concepts covered in the first four courses. The last course, F560, requires completion of the other five courses plus employer sponsorship. FCIP Q&A Webinar Follow-Up 4

5 Is it generally recommended that candidates take one course at a time, given the degree of difficulty? Yes, we recommend that candidates take only one course at a time. Most candidates report spending hours per week on FCIP coursework for a single course. A typical FCIP candidate would find it difficult to succeed in two courses at a time while continuing to fulfill other professional and personal commitments. Will the cost of tuition for the FCIP continue to increase each year? FCIP course and material fees have so far remained unchanged since the program was launched in Although increases may occasionally be required to keep pace with the costs we incur in offering the program, we seek to keep these to a minimum. Comparisons I have heard that in the original stream you would get credit for CRM courses. Is this the case in the new stream? The CRM designation is awarded by RIMS Canada rather than by the Insurance Institute. RIMS Canada currently awards the CRM based on completion of three specific continuing education courses, and these courses formerly counted towards completion of the original-track FCIP as well. However, the new FCIP program involves an enhanced curriculum at postgraduate rather than continuing education level. As a result of this enhanced FCIP curriculum, there is no longer overlap between the courses required for the CRM and the courses required for the FCIP. Has the change between the original FCIP and the new FCIP program changed the amount of response for taking the courses? Has enrollment increased in the new FCIP program? So far, we have had an intake of about new candidates each term. This enrollment level is lower than for the original-track program, but in line with our expectations for the rollout of a new program at an increased level of rigour. How will I benefit from taking the new-track FCIP as compared to people in the past who took the old stream? If I had graduated a year earlier, I would have been able to receive my FCIP designation by applying university credits and my CRM courses after only one FCIP course. Basically, I m asking why the additional five courses if I have taken Finance, Strategy and other courses in my undergrad studies? In pursuing the new FCIP program, you will benefit from fully integrated Canadian p&c content in courses that have been tailor-made for this program. Instead of studying general business courses alongside students with varying priorities, you will now examine key management and leadership topics through an insurance lens, studying alongside talented colleagues who can offer interesting insights into your industry. It can be hard work, but it can also be highly rewarding. We believe that the new program will better prepare you for the real challenges of leadership in the industry. Other Questions In addition to the questions above, the following questions were asked and answered during the webinar itself. For discussion of these questions, please review the on-demand recording of the presentation. How does your experience in this program compare with your CIP experience? How do you find studying in this program after the CIP? I hear that there s a lot of reading in these courses way more than in a CIP course. Why is there so much reading in this program? What are the admission requirements for the FCIP? Can I take the FCIP at the same time as the CIP? I ve never taken an online course before and I don t really understand how it works. What happens in the courses? FCIP Q&A Webinar Follow-Up 5

6 Is there any time limit to complete the whole FCIP designation? I ve read that the FCIP program courses are postgraduate-level courses. Why are they at this level? What has been the feedback on the degree of difficulty for these courses? I see in the course descriptions that most courses have a participation grade. How is that assessed? Can you shed some light into the last course that spans over two semesters and includes a work-based project? I am presuming that it may include obtaining permission from the organization that we work with to gather data, etc. What if that data is not readily available? Are there alternatives of doing this project work elsewhere? Are final exams online or at a local venue? Are you finding people who are not in the insurance business taking the courses as well? Or does everyone need to have their CIP first? Is there an element of collaboration among the students? Is there a maximum number of people who can enroll in a course at any given time? When are the registration deadlines? How does this compare to an MBA? [Question for current FCIP candidate] Sarah, would you recommend this program to colleagues? Are there group assignments? How much is the final exam worth? If I graduate from the CIP after completing July 2013 exams, can I still apply to start the FCIP program for September 2013? Who are the other candidates? What kind of people are in the program? Will the math portion be extensive and will it require a strong math background? Can I complete the old FCIP as I am part way through or just go to this new FCIP? Thank you again for your interest in the FCIP program. You can find further information about the program in the For other questions, please contact us at fcip@insuranceinstitute.ca. FCIP Q&A Webinar Follow-Up 6