Interviews

Gulf Insurance Institute

Policy talks to Silvan Said, CEO of the Gulf Insurance Institute.

Tell us a little about the background of the GII and the scope of its activities.
The Gulf Insurance Institute was set up by leading insurance corporations from seven countries, who are committed to the development of human resources, to become a centre of excellence for insurance and risk management academia and provide a qualification framework that is of a high quality, is region specific, internationally accredited and portable, and promotes the highest standards of professional conduct in the industry across the Mena region.

This mission is achieved through the institute’s relationship with its members that is governed by the members’ charter that takes the form of a collective agreement and specifies the benefits and knowledge services that the Institute is obliged to provide and the duties of the members in terms of code of conduct and payment of the membership fees. Under the charter, the members are given the right to elect their representatives on the qualifications and standards council that oversees the academic content, activities and results of the institute.

GII is a departure from the “school and diploma” model of training institutes in the region. GII’s main objective is to develop qualifications that are delivered to insurance professionals throughout the Mena region in different ways. Such delivery can take various forms from classroom courses at the GII centre or learning centres that we have across the region, “in house” corporate training programmes, e-learning or distance learning. Candidates intending to obtain the qualifications register for examinations that are held in examination windows and then choose one of our study methods to prepare themselves for such examinations.

During the first 12 months of operations, GII has delivered more than 1,500 hours of training in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the UAE, Kuwait, and Egypt. We currently have 360 members all studying at different levels and subjects. We hope to qualify our first associates by February 2010.

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