Despite conjecture around the experience pathway, Kaplan Professional is reporting high enrolment numbers in 2023 for financial advice related courses.
Then opposition financial services minister Stephen Jones proposed the experience pathway at the end of 2021 which would allow advisers with 10 years of experience to circumvent the requirement to hold a tertiary qualification.
In a media release on Monday morning, Kaplan Professional said that record enrolment numbers in its first intake of 2023 following a significant upward trend in the second-half of last year are “proof” that financial advisers are simply getting on with their education requirements regardless of the proposed experience pathway.
Kaplan said many advisers who would qualify for the proposed 10-year exemption are continuing to study, enrolment numbers are at the largest they have been since late 2021 when the experience pathway was first proposed, and new entrants are enrolling in strong numbers.
Based on its own extensive education analysis, around 50 per cent of advisers who have completed or are currently completing postgraduate financial planning studies with Kaplan Professional would qualify for the proposed 10-year exemption.
For Study Period 1 2023 Kaplan noted the following enrolment insights:
- Enrolments in SP1 were at the highest they have been since late 2021, continuing the upward trend of the three preceding intakes in 2022; and
- Nearly 400 advisers commenced postgraduate financial planning studies for the first time with Kaplan Professional – over 70 per cent of these enrolments were in the Master of Financial Planning or Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning; just over 100 enrolled in the standalone Ethics bridging course.
Other overall enrolment trends the education provider found were:
- Enrolments in the Master of Financial Planning are at their highest levels ever because advisers are pushing on from the Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning due to interest in specialist elective subjects and professional designation pathways;
- There was a trend towards achieving full qualifications instead of completing standalone bridging courses;
- Enrolments in specialist electives such as Aged Care, SMSF Regulation and Taxation, Business Planning and Practice Management and Derivatives in Financial Planning have more than doubled;
- Still large enrolment numbers in core financial planning subjects such as Ethics and Professionalism in Financial Advice, Economic and Legal Context for Financial Planning, Client Engagement Skills, Superannuation and Retirement Advice, Insurance Advice, Taxation for Financial Planning and Investment Advice; and
- Strong numbers of advisers and new entrants enrolling in postgraduate financial planning studies for the first time.
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