Education: Sunrise for Indian actuaries

Of the 11,000 current students of the UK Actuarial Profession, the biggest overseas market by far is India, with over 2,000 student members.

Most, if not all, of these will also be members of the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI), which uses the UK Profession's syllabuses but sets its own examinations twice a year.

Within the context of the new 'proactive engagement' international strategy of the Profession, we need to work closely with the IAI to support our members in India. So, when the IAI hosted the Global Conference of Actuaries in Mumbai in February 2012, meetings were held with examiners and members of the IAI education committee.

Because the UK Profession has a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) at fellowship level with the IAI, a candidate who qualifies in India could work as a qualified actuary in the UK. As a result, the UK's Professional Oversight Board (POB) has a legitimate interest in ensuring equivalent standards.
 
Quality assurance
The UK Profession operates a quality assurance programme to ensure that qualifications meet consistent equivalent standards. The number of student members of the IAI has grown rapidly in recent years, now standing at over 12,000. Many of these members are not employed as actuarial trainees but are taking exams to help in their search for a suitable job. Many do not have access to tuition support, meaning that the failure rate in IAI examinations can be very significant - much higher than in the UK.

As part of the programme of working with the IAI, the UK Profession contributed to a seminar on question setting and marking, hosted for examiners by the IAI. Tim Birse, chairman of the board of examiners at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, ran the seminar.

While the processes used by the IAI are very similar to the Institute and Faculty's, there are differences. For example, the IAI always uses a 50% pass mark, whereas the UK pass mark can vary over time and between subjects. Thus, it is important for UK-based examiners to consider the different approach to setting pass marks when assessing equivalence of standards with UK papers. In addition, as there are relatively few qualified actuaries in India, the IAI is keen to use UK-based examiners for its exams.

The Institute and Faculty is also assisting the IAI in running practical exams in business awareness [CT9], modelling [CA2] and communications [CA3] in India. To ensure equivalence with the UK practical exams, a memorandum of understanding [MoU] has been drafted to articulate the agreement between the two bodies. It is intended that this will update the existing MRA later this year.

In a bid to enhance quality, the IAI has introduced an online entrance exam for anyone wishing to join as a student member. Known as the actuarial common entrance test [ACET], the first one, in statistics and mathematics, was run in exam centres around India on 28 January and attracted approximately 2,000 entries.

Our meetings with the IAI have been invaluable in cementing a good working relationship and ensuring operational effectiveness. We hope we will continue to build on the successful partnership that has been established.
 
Indian Statistical Institute
The only Indian university-level institution that has an exemption recognition agreement (ERA) with the Institute and Faculty is the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). Established in 1932 as a non-profit-making learned society for the advancement of statistics in India, it is a high-quality research institute that also offers a BSc and a Masters of Statistics programme including actuarial content.

At present, under the ERA, graduates from the ISI masters can gain exemption from most of the Institute and Faculty's core technical exams if they specialise in actuarial statistics and if they do well enough. Graduates from the programme are in high demand in India and although relatively few take up actuarial trainee roles, it is hoped that more will now choose to do so. The two-year MStat programme has rigorous entry standards and builds on the three-year undergraduate programme.

Our meetings with both ISI staff and students were very productive and, over time, may lead to the development of an accreditation relationship.

Alongside meetings with representatives of UK financial services firms operating in India, the visit gave Ronnie Bowie, immediate past president of the Institute and Faculty, chief executive Derek Cribb and myself a much better understanding of the issues faced by the IAI, our student and qualified members in India and university-level institutions in India.

We sincerely hope this will enable us to provide a better service for our students in India and to work more effectively with the IAI to the common end of working together successfully.