Spain  Name of qualification  Master en Dirección Aseguradora  (M.D.A) / Master in Insurance  Management  Cursos de Desarrollo y  Perfeccionamiento (C.D.P.) /  Development and Improving Courses  Educational background  University degree students  These courses are run specially for  insurance company employees.  They can be in-house, "made to  measure”, courses specially designed  for a particular insurance company  ("intra-company courses”) or  "standard”, open courses for  employees of various insurance  companies ("inter-company courses”).  In this second category are included  the most part of courses included  every year in the General Training  Plan for the Insurance Sector ("Plan  Agrupado Sectorial de Seguros”)  financed by the government.  Occupational background  Professionals employees in insurance  companies whit a university degree  In the case of "intra-company”  courses, the insurance company that  asks for the course to be run sets its  own enrolment conditions.  In the case of "inter-company”  courses, ICEA establishes its own  entry requirements, depending on the  characteristics of the courses and the  standard of advance knowledge or  experience required for admission.  For what field of work does this  education qualify graduates?  Successful completion of the MDA  qualifies students for careers in senior  technical positions in the insurance  companies, middle management or  directorships.  The study programme provides  certified knowledge in the following  fields: business management,  technical, operational, insurance  products and sales management.  Vocational knowledge and skills  Applicants must have a university  degree and are required to sit the  MDA entrance examination. Foreign  languages, computing skills and user  level and experience in the market  are welcomed.  Insurance companies register  students on these courses on the  basis of their own assessment of  their employees´ knowledge and skills.  Duration of the education  This is a two years course comprising  900 study hours (plus time spent on  the Research Project, which varies)  Variable, depending on the courses  and the subjects comprising the study  programme. The duration is usually:  20 - 40 hours for management  training, 40 hours for sales  management training, 20 hours for  technical and operational training,  and 8 - 21 hours/product in product  training.  How are the examinations  carried out?  Students take intermediate and final  exams in every subject, their  performance on individual projects  and team work is graded, and  because the small number of  students per class (maximum 30)  there is also a system of permanent  assessment.  Students are examined on the basis  of multiple choice questions, open  questions to evaluate qualitative  knowledge, exercises or practical  cases. The examinations are held  in classroom conditions and are  supervised.  Recognition of the education /  qualification by companies in the  national insur. market  The MDA degree is awarded by ICEA  and is recognised by ICEA´s member  institutions.  There are two sites for impartition:  Madrid and Barcelona.  The Barcelona' MDA has the  recognition of the Barcelona  University.  The MDA is hailed as an excellent  medium for anyone seeking a  professional career in the insurance  local market. All MDA graduates find  jobs in insurance companies.  Professionals who take the course  find that the multi-disciplinary syllabus  and business school style  methodology gives them an  enhanced and more integrated  vision of the insurance business.  The ICEA certificate has the seal of  ICEA´s prestige in the local market.  Insurance companies ask ICEA to  arrange specific study programmes  for them, either with a view to  obtaining the certificate or for other  purposes such as professional  furtherment, preparation for in-house  promotion examinations, etc.  In the case of the General Training  Plan for Insurance Sector is the  Authority which approves the study  programmes.  As there are no official regulations  establishing minimum contents,  insurance companies collaborate  with ICEA to define their own specific  study programmes, which concentrate  mainly on products and sales  techniques, and cover a wide range  of objectives and contents.  Consequently, there are no  "standard programmes”.  Name of qualification  Cursos a Distancia para empleados  (CDE) y para agentes (CDA) /  Self-study courses for employees (CDE) or for agents (CDA)  Educational background  These courses are based on self-study texts published by ICEA  ("Programmed Texts”) or on Internet ("Training on line”), with tutorial  guidance and with assessment (examination) performed by ICEA.  There are two certificates:  - Certificate of Proficiency, and  - Certificate of Professional Expertise  Occupational background  Agents or Employees who have recently embarked on a career in an  insurance company are qualified to take the Certificate of Proficiency.  Candidates for the Certificate of Professional Expertise must have passed  the Certificate of Proficiency or have an equivalent standard of practical  training or experience, in the opinion of the employer company.  For what field of work does this  education qualify graduates?  Certificate of Proficiency: This qualifies successful students to embark on a  career as an Agent or Employee in his insurance company. The study  programme provides a minimum basic knowledge of insurance techniques,  company functioning, sales techniques and/or customer service.  Certificate of Professional Expertise: This programme provides knowledge  of insurance products, risk underwriting, loss processing and work methods  and organisation of the company.  Vocational knowledge and skills  No special knowledge is required for the Certificate Proficiency.  For the Certificate of Professional Expertise, see the paragraph  "Necessary educational and occupational background” above.  Duration of the education  Variable, because there are self-study courses.  The duration of the Certificate of Proficiency study programme  (with 4 subjects) is 100 hours approximately.  The duration of the Certificate of Professional Expertise study programme  depends on the number of subjects taken (50 - 200 hours)  How are the examinations  carried out?  Students are assessed on the basis of multiple-choice questions. ICEA has  an examination generator which allows different test to be prepared to suit  each situation, depending on the companies and the subjects.  The examinations are held in classroom conditions and are supervised.  The Internet courses offer continuous assessment and a final test.  Recognition of the education /  qualification by companies in the  national insur. market  Spanish legislation in insurance training is very liberal. It leaves it up to the  companies to train their employees and agents as they wish. As a result,  there is no official "minimum knowledge” definition for training agents or  employees in Spain that enables these study programmes to be officially  standardised.  The only legal training regulation affect "insurance brokers”. As insurance  companies are not "brokers”, ICEA does not offer these study programmes.  This regulation does not affect insurance agents or employees, who depend  directly on insurance companies for their training.  As such, the ICEA certificate, like the qualifications awarded by other  institutions of its kind, does not enjoy official recognition by the control  authority (Dirección General de Seguros), however it does have the seal of  ICEA prestige in the local market.