Access to CPD

The Institute is committed to facilitating access to CPD for its members. There will be an annual programme of activities aimed at meeting some of the CPD requirements for members.

This programme will include CPD activities like seminars, workshops, courses, presidential breakfast etc that are hosted or endorsed by LIA. Members are encouraged to utilise these CPD events as verification will be easier. However, in addition to these LIA events, members are free to engage in other CPD activities as long as they are relevant, measurable and whenever possible, verifiable.

Annual CPD required

Each member will be expected to fulfil 40 hours of CPD per annum and with a minimum of 20 hours being CPD hours earned in that year. Of this 40 hour annual requirement, at least 28 hours should be in structured activities. The annual CPD programme is based on the calendar year.

A member who has earned more than 40 CPD hours in one year may carry forward the excess CPD hours up to the 3rd year. This means that carried forward CPD should be confined within a 3 year period of it taking place. A member will be allowed to carry forward CPD from structured activities only.

In any case a member is required to complete at least 20 hours in each year irrespective of CPD brought forward. This is to ensure that members will still maintain a certain level of CPD learning in each year.

Verification

It is acknowledged that not all the learning that a member engages in will be objectively verified by a third party. However, such learning cannot simply be ignored as it still contributes towards the development of a member. In fact a strong argument is that even with verifiable CPD, where the input CPD approach is being used, the evidence that the CPD has taken place does not guarantee that a member has developed or maintained his competence.

LIA has grouped the CPD that a member may engage in into two types of activity as follows;

1. Structured activities
   
   This is the type of CPD that can be independently and objectively verified to have taken place. Each member will be required to fulfil at least 28 hours of this structured CPD per annum.
   
   Examples of this structured CPD activities include the following;
   1. attendance at courses, seminars, conferences, workshops and briefings,
       
   2. distance, online and open learning study programs and long term study leading to further qualifications,
       
   3. delivering presentations at courses, conferences or seminars
       
   4. serving on technical panels, organised and monitored discussion groups and forums,
       
   5. Writing technical and business articles
       
2. Unstructured activities
   
   The unstructured CPD activity is not always easily verifiable. Members should still retain evidence of this CPD and to measure it to verify its existence although it is not easy to determine whether it was actually done.
   
   Each member may claim up to a maximum of 12 hours of this unstructured CPD per annum. Excess unstructured CPD shall not be carried forward into the next period and will be forfeited.
   
   Due to the nature of this type of activity, members’ claims of CPD will be taken at their face value but where the CPD committee doubts the authenticity of the CPD hours claimed, they may thoroughly review and or test the reasonableness of the hours claimed. CPD committee may from time to time also issue guidelines on the unstructured CPD activity.
   
   Examples of this unstructured CPD activity may include the following;
    
   • Reading technical and business material
   • Following financial and business matters in print and media
   • Researching technical or business issues from printed material, internet or field research.
   • Mentoring and coaching

A member will be required to measure, record, retain and submit on request evidence of all CPD activity undertaken. This CPD record will be kept by way of filled-in log book and evidence records. Evidence may include course agenda, attendance confirmation, minutes of meetings, results of tests, office records, references of articles read or written etc. A CPD log book will be available to members in a manual form and once the website development has been completed it will also be available in electronic form on the website.

The electronic log book on the LIA website will enable members to log in their hours for CPD activities completed. Members will be able to view their past record in read-only access. Members will also be able to print copies of the electronic log book to fill in manually or update electronically and print copies for their records.

An updated log book should be kept by each member and submitted to the Secretariat for evaluation by the CPD Committee at stated intervals or on demand. The log book and evidence records should be kept by members for at least 5 years.

4. Monitoring and Enforcement

The CPD and Compliance Committee will assume responsibility for monitoring of the programme, and in that respect will accept CPD hours claimed, seek to amend CPD hours claimed, reject CPD hours claimed seek evidence of CPD hours claimed from members and select some members annually for review of their CPD documentation.

Where members have not adequately fulfilled their CPD obligations, they will be notified and asked to rectify this to ensure compliance with the CPD programme requirements. If there is persistent failure to fulfil CPD obligations or failure to submit required documentation (log book or evidence), a member will be referred to the disciplinary committee for further action which may in the extreme lead to deregistration.