Proposed Criteria for
Evaluating Professional Qualification
“There is also the recognition that standards are needed to assure consumers, employers and other stakeholders that insurance workers who hold themselves out as professionals are competent in their roles as insurance professionals. A global insurance educational institute would assist members in assessing the quality of various insurance educational courses.”
Toward this end, it is necessary to establish a system for advising IGIE members on establishing acceptable standards for professional study within their own organizations and to establish standards for professional qualification. In support of this effort, the IGIE would offer advisory opinions to members as to the efficacy of their teaching, assessment and examination procedures, recording and monitoring procedures. The IGIE may consider, in the future, the development of additional programs to complement programs offered by member organizations. If there is a perceived demand for the IGIE to develop its own programs, those programs must meet the same high standards for professional qualification approved by members.
Advisory Opinions by the IGIE
Members wishing to obtain an advisory opinion from the IGIE will be required to submit detailed information about their professional study programs including abstracts of their qualification structure, assessment and examination methodology and recording and monitoring procedures.
This information should include:
Identification details: Name of awarding body; Address of awarding body; Titles of qualification awarded; When established; Countries in which qualifications are offered; Contact name and position title.
Qualification structure: Aims and objectives of qualifications awarded; Entry requirements; Entry statistics for past five years or since introduction; Components, which comprise qualification, i.e. preliminary requirements, assessments deployed, guidance procedures, examination process, duration of qualification, whether credential is mandatory or optional; Number of courses required, average length of time to complete the qualification, work experience requirement, and syllabus.
Relationships with teaching centers: Details of links between learning and certification; How do students prepare for examinations and other qualifications? If through classroom instructor – How is remuneration determined?
Quality assurance and control: Description of process for proctoring and supervising examination including security measures, examination delivery methodology and confidentiality measures; Experience and expertise of examiners; Systems for orientation and training of examiners; Nature of appeals process; Staffing structure and description for selecting and training staff; Methodology for creating and evaluating examinations; Methods used to ensure validity, reliability and consistency of assessments; Systems for monitoring, evaluating and governance of assessment standards; Use of external assessors; Maintenance of standards for passing and honors recognition; Pass ratios for past five years; Recording and retention of examination statistics; Process for investigating cheating and types of penalties.
Awarding and reporting procedures: Administrative procedures for recording individual examination results; Information and feedback to candidates on examination performance; Who, besides the candidate, may receive qualification information about the candidate? Length of time to release grades following examinations; Are credits awarded by other academic institutions – who and how?
Other information: Details of franchising or licensing arrangements with other awarding bodies and the role of each body in the qualification process; Regulatory requirements for certification; Procedures for awarding and recognizing successful candidates and any continuing education requirement to maintain the certification.
Submitting information to the IGIE:
Requests submitted to the IGIE for an advisory opinion will be logged with an acknowledgment of receipt sent to the member who prepared the information. A committee comprised of IGIE members will evaluate the submission.
The chairman of the evaluation committee will be responsible for preparing a report, recommend acceptance of the qualifications as submitted or recommend appropriate measures that will improve the qualification process to make the credential acceptable to the IGIE
In the event the submitting member and the evaluation committee can not agree on recommended changes, the submission will be sent to a review panel chaired by the IGIE Chairman for acceptance, rejection or further negotiations.