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Annual CPD Requirements

Annual Requirements

CPD requirements for all NIBA College practitioner member classes are on a flexible biannual basis. Members are required to obtain 48 points over two years with a minimum of 16 hours of structured training to be completed annually.Extra hours earned in one year can carried across to the next year.

CPD activities must be undertaken in two or more structured categories. All CPD requirements can be fulfilled by undertaking structured CPD.

  1. Structured CPD (minimum 16 hours annually)
    1. Nationally accredited industry education courses 
    2. NIBA Quality Assessed Programs
    3. Professional participation activities 
    4. Industry leadership activities
      1. Research and presentational activities
      2. Teaching and mentoring
      3. Committee participation
  2. Unstructured CPD 
    1. Individual research activities
    2. Professional reading

Senior QPBs

Those QPIB members aged over 55 years and with over 10 years as a practicing broker will be exempt from the requirement to undertake a specific proportion of hours in the structured CPD categories.This group of members will be able to claim more hours in the unstructured research category on application to NIBA College thus allowing for higher levels of recognition for workplace based professional development activities.

Members who are forced to leave the industry for health reasons for a substantial portion of the year may apply for special exemption from this rule. Initial enquires should be made to the membership registrar at niba@niba.com.au

Find out about:

Structured categories

Structured CPD consists of:

Nationally accredited industry education courses

Nationally accredited industry education refers to a course with an assessable outcome. This may include:

  • An Australian vocational qualification like a Certificate II or III, Diploma or Advanced Diploma including NIBA College PA or SPA programs; and
  • Higher level study by course work or supervised research at an approved tertiary institution leading to a qualification: degree, graduate certificate, graduate diploma or master’s degree. 

NIBA Quality Assessed programs

Quality Assessed programs deliver measurable learning outcomes and are assessed as exhibiting additional quality training criteria. These programs are listed on the NIBA College CPD Register. All programs which meet the NIBA quality assessment can earn extra CPD points per contact hour for participants.

Professional participation activities

Quality Assessed programs deliver measurable learning outcomes and are assessed as exhibiting additional quality training criteria. These programs are listed on the NIBA College CPD Register. All programs which meet the NIBA quality assessment can earn extra CPD points per contact hour for participants.

These are short courses and eLearning or other correspondence programs that met the basic CPD accreditation criteria but do not necessarily have measurable learning outcomes.

This category includes the following types of programs:

  • Distance education workbooks or online programs with a formal assessment;
  • Adult education courses relevant to, or extending existing areas of broking practice;
  • Lectures, seminars, workshops, industry discussion groups and forums for the exchange of technical information relevant to brokers;
  • Exhibitions and conferences relevant to the area of practice;
  • In-house training; and
  • Business luncheons or breakfasts with a keynote address and question time. This activity has a standard CPD rating of .5 points.

Programs must be listed on the NIBA College CPD Register with the number of CPD points applying to count towards member annual CPD requirements.

Industry leadership activities

These are activities that the College members undertake to educate the wider industry. Activities include writing articles, giving presentations, and teaching, working on technical committee work and student or workplace mentoring. These activities are not listed on the NIBA College CPD Register and the number of points allocated is made on a case-by-case basis taking into account the general rules outlined below.

Research and presentation activities (maximum 3 Points per CPD Year)

  • Production of an original research/project paper in the insurance, broking or risk field that is presented at a conference, seminar, training course or published by a professional journal or in conference proceedings;
  • Production of a general issue or ideas paper related to the development of broking, risk or insurance practice improvements for a recognised industry publication or forum; and
  • Participation as a speaker, facilitator or session leader at a seminar, training program or recognised industry gathering or conference.

The CPD points that can be claimed for research and writing of articles excludes the time spent on layout, artwork and design activities. Repeats or other articles which are substantially similar do not count towards CPD points.

Speeches and presentations count as CPD when the member is presenting information for which they have undertaken significant research. Research time only qualifies once. As a general, rule three hours of preparation time can be claimed for each hour of presentation. Members must provide a copy of the article, presentation or outline of the teaching activity as verification.

Teaching and mentoring (maximum 3 Points per CPD Year)

  • Tertiary level teaching that involve preparation of course outlines, content, delivery and evaluation of student/teaching performance;
  • Participation in tutorials, student mentor programs; and
  • Structured workplace mentoring that involves meeting with a colleague or mentor for the purpose of working on an aspect of their broking/insurance proficiency. Members seeking to attain CPD recognition for mentoring (as mentor or mentee) must complete the NIBA College Mentoring Overview and complete the mentoring plan provided.

Committee participation (maximum 3 Points per CPD Year)

This is restricted to:

  • Representation as a broking/insurance practitioner on a NIBA or industry technical committee, panel, or taskforce. These activities exclude time spent in routine administrative or production matters of the committee; and
  • NIBA development work that involves the creation of new policies or the revision of existing policies, or preparation of a policy submission.

Unstructured CPD

Unstructured CPD consists of:

Individual research activities

Research or personal programs that are carried out over an extended period of time are eligible for CPD Points. These will be accredited on a case-by-case basis taking into account the general rules outlined below. Please contact the CPD administrator for more information. These activities are not listed on the NIBA College CPD Register.

Members can apply for the following types of programs to be accredited in this category:

  • Structured individual research relating to the theory/practice of broking or insurance that is conducted with or without mentor assistance. It can include a project that extends the knowledge/skill base of the individual and/or the profession;
  • Structured study tour that focuses on, or extends existing areas of, broking/insurance practice. It can be individually or group organised;
  • A structured internship with another organisation or in another office of the existing organisation in Australia or overseas;
  • An action research project conducted individually or with a roup. This can involve working with colleagues in the workplace to develop new skills, solve a particular problem or research a new product, process or service.

Professional Reading

There is no requirement to have this activity accredited. Rather, points can be claimed for reading professional journals and industry publications in the following manner:

  • Reading the substantive content of one year’s issue of a relevant professional journal such as the IRP is given ½ point per hour engaged; and
  • Subscribing to and reading a nominated journal or reference list of material is given 1 point per hour engaged provided it is accompanied by a record of the date and duration of reading undertaken.

Activities that are not eligible NIBA CPD

Programs that are not eligible for NIBA CPD accreditation are activities that have insufficient focus on developing an individual’s professional skills, knowledge or attributes even if they are related to work.

These include:

  • Business planning, strategy or marketing meetings;
  • Promotional or marketing events such as product launches;
  • In-house business updates or internal networking events. Please note that those sections of a broker meeting which are structured training sessions, dealing with an appropriate broking topic can be awarded a NIBA College CPD rating. The organiser of the meeting will need to apply for the program to be listed on the NIBA College CPD register. The rating will exclude general discussion sessions;
  • Training provided by RTOs that is not sufficiently relevant to insurance or broking or to the participant’s specific job role.