Distance learning students travelled from all over the globe to attend their graduation ceremony. After the ceremony graduates enjoyed a champagne reception and the award for Best Performing Distance Learning Student was presented to Boraiah Nataraj. Boraiah.

Picture from left to right: Richard Wildey, Boraiah Nataraj, Dr Adrian Bell, Omar Pizzasegola and Marco Bregliano.

An ICMA Centre lecturer has won a prestigious risk management award.

Professor Carol Alexander, Chair of Risk Management and Director of Research at the ICMA Centre, has won the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association Higher Standard award for her contribution to the practise of risk management globally.

She shares this year’s award with Dr Robert Merton, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1997.

David Koenig, Executive Director of PRMIA, said: “In a recent tally, the Board members of the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association and the Regional Directors from our sixty chapters around the world selected two international leaders to be honoured as the inaugural recipients of the PRMIA Higher Standard Award.

“The PRMIA Higher Standard award is granted to individuals who have significantly impacted the global practice of risk management, provided a substantial contribution to the Mission of PRMIA and its members, and who show an ongoing commitment to the highest standards of the profession.

“Professor Alexander’s selection for this award was made from over one dozen nominees, all of whom you would recognize from their outstanding work.

“Her leadership of the Academic Advisory Council, and in particular, her incredible dedication to the creation of the Professional Risk Managers’ Handbook has earned her even greater respect from our leadership, building upon her already well-established reputation in our industry.

“The PRM Handbook is now used in over 105 countries and at nearly every major financial institution. It is no doubt that her work has had a global impact on the advancement of understanding of finance and risk management and has been especially helpful to our association’s members.”

Professor Alexander said: “I am honoured to accept this award in recognition of my work on setting standards for the financial risk management profession, and helping individuals achieve the required standard. A proper education in risk management is hugely important to development not only of the individual, but of the company and the whole economy. PRMIA’s mission is to make such education accessible globally and it is a great pleasure to help them achieve this goal.”

The University of Reading’s ICMA Centre is to offer distance learning on one of its most successful courses.   

The Professional Risk Manager (PRM) examinations – the certification programme for the Professional Risk Manager’s International Association (PRMIA) – have been running in London since January 2006 in collaboration with 7city Learning and have had a huge take up, largely thanks to the live streaming over the internet, making the course available worldwide.

Candidates in more than 90 countries are actively pursuing the PRM, more than any other risk certification programme globally. With PRMIA members in more than 155 countries, the PRM is also the most broadly recognised qualification for risk managers and is the only one to have received public endorsements from several leading firms.

Now, a distance learning option will be offered by the ICMA Centre, including studio-filmed lectures, animated Excel demonstrations, worked examples and self-assessment/diagnostic tests to prepare professionals for taking the PRM exams.

Professor Carol Alexander, Chair of Risk Management and Director of Research at the ICMA Centre, said: “The PRM certification programme has been developed in close consultation with leading industry players to help meet the growing demand for properly qualified professional risk managers in banks, asset managers, corporates and regulatory bodies. This development is part of our ongoing expansion of PRM training. Our candidates are now able to choose between classroom-based lectures, live streaming or studio recorded lectures.”

The ICMA Centre and 7city Learning are also planning to offer classroom-based lectures in New York starting in April 2007.

A demonstration of the system is available at www.icmacentre.ac.uk/courseware/PRM

The move further enhances ICMA’s position as a world-leader in the teaching of those who want to pursue a career in the highly-competitive field of financial trading. It comes just a few weeks after further investment in the centre was announced, with an extension and a refurbishment to improve facilities.