Business awareness and modelling modules go international!
?During July, staff actuaries Roger Bevan and Helen Gregson helped the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) launch its business awareness and modelling module courses.
The two-day business awareness course in Johannesburg was organised by Dr Shannon Kendal, head of actuarial science at University of Cape Town, and Simon Louw, consulting actuary, Deloitte.
Forty-one actuarial students from a variety of firms attended after studying online pre-course work covering business concepts. Adrian Baskir, president of ASSA, set the scene with a talk on the financial services industry in South Africa. After the course, the students took the same online test as UK students.
The modelling course in the computer labs at University of Pretoria was organised by Rinus du Plessis, a lecturer in actuarial science at the university. Quinton Greyling and David Kirk, actuarial consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers, were the assessors for the course. Johan Swart, also a lecturer at the University, participated and will help run future courses.
Sixteen actuarial students attended after completing a pre-course assignment. On day 1, interactive sessions covered good spreadsheet practices and techniques. The exam assignment on day 2 was of equivalent standard to a UK one, with the exam papers being reviewed by the UK's principal assessor.
The courses proved highly successful and the enthusiastic students and local tutors were very welcoming to Roger and Helen who appreciated their friendliness and hospitality.
