The Connecticut Insurance and Financial Services Cluster has partnered with the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, the state community college system, and The WorkPlace, Inc. (the Workforce Investment Board representing southwestern Connecticut) to create the IFS University. This virtual, collaborative ‘university’ responds to critical employment needs in the state’s insurance and finance industry.
What is the IFS Center of Educational Excellence?
The IFS University is a model for curriculum development and training which addresses four vital high-growth occupations in the insurance and financial services industry. They are financial managers & analysts, financial sales agents & brokers, accountants & auditors, and actuaries. Demand for each of these occupational areas is expected to increase by at least 20 percent during the next decade.
The model presents three tiers of insurance and finance training:
- a core curriculum for entry into the insurance and financial services industry,
- an intermediate set of courses or tracks in finance, banking, and insurance, and
- an advanced track leading to industry-wide certifications in financial sales (e.g., NASD Series 6, 7 or 63, CLU, CFP, CFA), accounting (e.g., CPA), actuarial (e.g., courses leading to FSA certification), project management (e.g., PMI certification), or IT systems management (e.g., CISCO or Microsoft CCNA).
Under advisement by IFS Cluster representatives, the Connecticut state community colleges will design and deliver training in the foundation and relevant intermediate level courses and act as a training broker for the advanced certification courses. The state’s college and university system and appropriate private academic institutions will develop and deliver training in some intermediate and a majority of the advanced tracks.
The curriculum that is developed and implemented through this collaborative effort will be disseminated into the public workforce system throughout Connecticut. The industry-led model will also be disseminated elsewhere in the country for replication as a means of addressing these same (and other) labor market demands in other regions where there is a high concentration of insurance and financial services industry workers.
IFS Center of Educational Excellence Model Diagram
IFS Related Education in Connecticut
- Connecticut Insurance and Financial Services Education & Training Resource Directory
- IFS University Matrix: Insurance and Financial Services Education Offered in Connecticut