The Institute of Insurance and Risk Management (IIRM), a joint initiative by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) and the Andhra Pradesh government, opened its International School of Actuarial Sciences (ISAS) in Hyderabad today.A first-of-its-kind in the country, the school offers a two-year postgraduate diploma in actuarial sciences to students who aspire to become actuarial professionals and actuaries. The course is open to fresh graduates and also to students who are already appearing for the actuarial professional examinations conducted by the Actuarial Society of India (ASI), Mumbai, and the Institute of Actuaries, London.An IIRM press release today said that the two-year diploma course offered by ISAS had adopted the same curriculum of the ASI and the Institute of Actuaries, and guides and trains its students in the same subjects of the professional bodies and prepares them through classroom pedagogy, apart from intensive tutorial work and case studies."Currently, students take these professional examinations by self-study and with limited guidance. It is the aim of ISAS to provide the required guidance and training to the aspirant students and to increase the number of actuaries in the country, which is very low now. The subjects are taught by persons who are in actuarial calling," the release added.The school is headed by DV Sastry, who has been teaching at the Hardford University till recently. The school derives erudite advice from a committee of eminent actuaries on its academic council, which met recently and endorsed the plans.
