Getting the Point
Two years ago, in these pages, we reminded you all that we are always happy to receive updated details of members’ careers with a view to upgrading them. For all membership grades except Fellow, the Points system, which effectively distils a member’s career in terms of education, training and experience, into a set of numbers, determines the grade to which a member is currently entitled. I won’t rehearse the gory details here but, if you’d like them, email me, Robin Jones, at eo@iap.org.uk and I’ll send you the latest version of the relevant document. There’s also a copy on the Web site. Just to give a flavour of the procedure though, the difference between the minimum requirement for Associate Member and that for an upgraded Member is 300 points. So the ‘average’ Associate Member reading VSJ in May 2001 would have been 150 points short of the requirement for Member. Typically, the number of experience points accruing in a year is between 60 and 90 – on average 75. So that average Associate Member reading this today has sufficient points to apply for an upgrade to Member. Now I know that all looks entirely too neat and, to be honest, it is. We don’t treat members as averages but as individuals and everyone will be different. Nevertheless it does uncover a nugget of truth. If you applied for an upgrade two years ago and weren’t elected, now might be a good time to try again. And if you’ve been an Associate Member (or Graduate) for several years, why not submit your current CV for scrutiny? We’d be happy to advise you.
All of the above applies in spades to Student members. In February, we reported here that the Council had approved the creation of the new Licentiate grade and the abolition of the old Student grade. We have been re-evaluating the CVs we have for Student members and many of them already had the necessary points for an automatic upgrade to Licentiate at the point at which they originally applied. There are, naturally, others who didn’t. But they may now. So get those updated CVs to us! University students should remember that, because our evaluation works at the module level, they don’t always need to present a completed qualification. Typically, honours degree students will be entitled to Licentiate membership towards the end of their second year of study.
[Don’t forget to email eo@iap.org.uk with items of news about you or your company.]
