Belgium  Name of qualification  Graduate in insurance  Insurance courses on university level  Educational background  Secondary school for a first graduate  degree.  Graduate degree for special  postgraduate programmes  Secondary school for a first university  degree (e.g. law or actuarial sciences)  Basic university degree for special  master in insurance business, or  insurance law.  Occupational background  None  None or already working in the  insurance business after obtaining  the basic university degree (e.g. legal  departments, actuarial departments)  For what field of work does this  education qualify graduates?  For much of the functions on  employee level and to functions with  a certain degree of independence  (e.g. production and claims handling,  commercial functions and services,  customer support, call centers …)  This is more for people who have a  job with more responsibility and who  are in charge of a department or unit.  At the start these people belong  more to the junior executive level  developing to middle management  and senior management functions.  The education helps them to get  more specialised (insurance law,  actuarial sciences)  Vocational knowledge and skills  These persons have had a training  on various aspects of the insurance  business  Gives them more specialised  theoretical knowledge on the  insurance business  Duration of the education  Three years for the basic programme,  and shorter period (1 up to 2 years)  for the postgraduate programmes.  Varying from 1 to 2 years after first  degree that generally takes 4 to 5  years  How are the examinations  carried out?  By the graduate schools (private or  public) recognised by the State  Once a year written and oral.  By the universities – programs  recognised by the State  Once a year written and oral.  Recognition of the education /  qualification by companies in the  national insur. market  Actually companies are looking  mostly for employees with this  educational background as a  minimum  These programmes are recognised  by the insurance companies and  they often give support to their juniors  to follow post-university programmes.  Name of qualification  Insurance courses on INSERT level  recognised by the Office de Contrôle  de l’Assurance  Insurance courses INSERT recognised  by the industry  No official degree  Educational background  No specific requirements : can be  secondary school, graduate or  university level  No specific requirements. Depends  on the level of the training  (basic, advanced, seminars)  Occupational background  People beginning to work in  insurance business or already  working in the sector but need to  conform themselves to the legislation  on distribution  People already working or starting  in insurance business  For what field of work does this  education qualify graduates?  The basic training (167 hours) is  imposed by the law for anyone in  contact with the public (people  giving information or selling  insurances to clients). Goes as well  for people working in insurance  companies as with brokers.  The advanced training (510 hours) is  imposed by the law for anyone  responsible for the first category and  who handles any aspect of insurance  business from contracting to claims  handling.  People who start in the business in  a new branch (basic training), who  want to become e.g. a claims  handler (advanced training on  different branches) or who want to  get specialised (training on actual  issues - seminars).  Also management and language  courses which are aimed at more  professionalism and comfort in the job  Vocational knowledge and skills  Gives them a general  (1st category) and a profound  knowledge of insurance techniques  and procedures (2nd category).  Depends on what training is followed  going from basic skills to high  specialist skills as an insurance expert.  Duration of the education  In specialised schools this is a  evening course taking about 3 years.  These courses can also be followed  in a few insurance companies  At INSERT this is an intensive day  course that takes about 3 months for  the basic course and 6 months for  the profound course  Depending on the training, going  from a few days (seminars) to a whole  year of evening sessions (advanced  training).  How are the examinations  carried out?  The exams are carried out by the  specialised schools or INSERT and in  the last case are controlled by the  Office de Contrôle de l’assurance.  Once a year written and oral  INSERT : always written and one or two  weeks after the end of the course.  The exams (only in the case of  basic and advanced courses) are  supervised by INSERT trainers or staff.  Always written and normally on or  two weeks after end of the course.  Recognition of the education /  qualification by companies in the  national insur. market  Recognised by law and needed to  start for instance an independent  brokers office (long programme).  Those having a graduate degree in  insurance or a university degree are  not obliged by the law to follow these  programmes. But they need a few  years of experience anyhow.  These trainings offered by INSERT are  recognised on their value in the  entire insurance sector (companies,  intermediaries …) but are not  sanctioned with a degree recognised  by the state, but by a certificate  recognised on its value in the sector.