Important news for all students
In the past few months Anna Lemmon, Director of Education, has been reviewing processes at the Institute. As a result of her review we are now instituting a series of measures to improve the service offered to students. These measures have been supported by a recent audit of our systems by the regulatory authorities in England and Wales, which has identified some areas of best practice the Institute should adopt. The measures detailed below will be adopted from 1 August 2008 (and even earlier in some centres):
Centre registration of all students
All students will now register for iam qualifications through their centres. Centres will be given online access to our database to facilitate this. The Institute will send out all relevant paperwork to each centre for distribution to students. Each centre will be responsible for collecting registration payments from students, rather than the student paying us directly. This allows us to greatly increase the speed of the registration process and to minimise the chance of any errors or miscommunication between centre and student. Your centre will provide you with the necessary registration form.
Centre administration of examination applications
Similarly, centres will now register their students for examinations, distribute admission slips and notification of results and collect the relevant fees. Again this increases the speed of the process and means that students can contact their centre directly for information and updates about your exams and your results. This will also clear up some problems we have had in communicating with students - numerous students have recently missed the closing dates for examinations.
Increased frequency of examination sessions
In order to make progression through the qualifications quicker and easier for students, we are going to hold four examination sessions a year rather than the current two. The new programme will mean sessions are held in March, June, September and December. The first 'extra' examination session will therefore be held in September 2008, in addition to the June and December sessions already publicised. Your centre will have more information about the exam timetable, and it is also available via the website.
Independent Students
Students studying independently will still be able to deal directly with the iam for registrations and examinations - please contact info@instam.org for the appropriate forms.
