Actuaries Without Borders holds Workshops
in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

Two four-day actuarial education workshops were organized by the Actuaries Without Borders (AWB) Section of the IAA in Colombo, Sri Lanka and Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 11 to 22, 2013. These projects were in response to requests from the Actuarial Society of Bangladesh (ASB) and the Actuarial Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) to train local students planning to write the CT4 (Models) and CT5 (Life Contingencies) exams of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, United Kingdom and the Institute of Actuaries of India.

In Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, formal actuarial education courses are not available and students must rely on course material and self-study in order to educate themselves. The lack of formal and quality actuarial education greatly hinders the growth of the profession.

The workshops were financially supported by contributions from the Institute of Actuaries of India, AWB, ASB and AASL. Approximately 25 actuarial students employed in the insurance industry in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh attended these workshops.

Rob Clover (South Africa) and Rajendra Shah (India), both professional actuarial educators and AWB volunteers taught the courses. In Colombo and Dhaka, the volunteer instructors taught for 30 hours each.

A few student responses are quoted below:

• “The AWB workshops were a great opportunity to enhance our knowledge, since in this part of the world, actuarial education is a rarity. We are very grateful to you and thank you for being here to educate us.”
• “AWB Instructors guided us in organizing our thoughts systematically and developing these to address the problem at hand.”
• “We now have ideas on exam planning, examiners’ expectations and time management when writing answers for complex questions. We also know how to link theory with the practical aspects.”

The purpose of these assistance activities arises from the key objectives of the IAA Strategic Plan that include supporting the development of the actuarial profession in areas of the world in which it is not present or is not fully developed. To learn more about the work of the AWB, please visit the AWB web site, or contact the Chairman, care of the IAA Secretariat.