Record enrolment numbers in its first intake of 2023 is proof financial advisers in Australia are getting on with their education requirements, according to Kaplan Professional.
The financial services education provider says many advisers who would qualify for the proposed ‘experience pathway’ 10-year exemption are continuing to study and that new entrants are enrolling in strong numbers.
The company says that based on its “extensive education analysis” around half of advisers who have completed, or are currently completing, postgraduate financial planning studies with it would qualify for the proposed 10-year exemption.
Study Period 1 2023 Enrolment Insights
- Enrolments in Study Period 1 were at the highest they have been since late 2021, continuing the upward trend of the three preceding intakes in 2022
- Nearly 400 advisers started postgraduate financial planning studies for the first time with the firm – more than 70% of these enrolments were in the Master of Financial Planning or Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning; just over 100 enrolled in the standalone Ethics bridging course
Overall Enrolment Trends
- Enrolments in the Master of Financial Planning are at their highest levels ever because advisers are pushing on from the Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning due to interest in specialist elective subjects and professional designation pathways
- There was a trend towards achieving full qualifications instead of completing standalone bridging courses
- Enrolments in specialist electives such as Aged Care, SMSF Regulation and Taxation, Business Planning and Practice Management and Derivatives in Financial Planning have more than doubled
- Still large enrolment numbers in core financial planning subjects
- Strong numbers of advisers and new entrants enrolling in postgraduate financial planning studies for the first time
Kaplan Professional CEO Brian Knight attributes these insights and trends to advisers embracing increased professionalism, which was largely self-driven because they are not wanting to rely on the proposed experience pathway exemption.
…the theme of just getting on with it regardless of whether or not they meet the proposed 10-year exemption seems to be a consistent one…
Knight says the theme of just getting on with it “…regardless of whether or not they meet the proposed 10-year exemption seems to be a consistent one.”
He says there’s no doubt “…that the critical element of education in any profession is increasingly well understood by advisers”.
“While engagement with formal education is at its highest level since late 2021, pleasingly advisers are also extending their knowledge and skills by completing continuing professional development and specialist short courses in record numbers,” he says.