News

PROFESSIONAL REVIEW PROCESS

FROM THE PRESIDENT – ALAN CRANE CBE

I am aware that there may be concerns about the standards which the CIOB uses for assessing candidates for membership. In a process that commenced in 2010, the Board of Trustees, following advice of the Education, Qualification, Standards and Practice Board and following consultation and acceptance by the Members Forum, has determined that to protect standards it is necessary to make changes to the professional review.  Advice on the new procedures was also sought from experienced Chairs of the current Professional Review. 

Protection of the Institute’s standards is the only reason for making these changes, in a move to a fully quality assured process.  In the future candidates for membership will be assessed in a transparent process against published objective assessment criteria. 

The main concerns discussed centred on the objectivity of the interview process, which produced a 95% pass rate, and therefore adding limited value.  The decisionconcluded that the mandatory interview was to be removed for the majority of candidates but retained as a safe guard where there was any doubt or where a candidate preferred to be interviewed. 

The current professional review process has three stages:

1.         A desktop review of pre-requisite qualification

2.         Assessor review of experience and occupational competence

3.         An interview with three CIOB members.

Stages one and two already give an almost complete assessment of the candidate as demonstrated by the 95% pass rate at interview. The new process considerably strengthens parts one and two and adds additional safeguards, for example around the identity of candidates (similar to the process used for passports). 

Members who have been involved in the development process and consultation have told us that the new processes provide stronger safeguards for the institute and add considerably more objectivity in the assessment processes.

I would personally like to thank the many thousands of members who have been involved in this process over the last few years.

These FAQs provide more information and this timeline indicates what changes are going to happen when.