IIROC's proficiency initiative a positive step for the industry

In IIROC’s statement calling for prospective vendors of education services to raise their hands, Elsa Renzella, IIROC’s Senior Vice-President of Enforcement, Registration and Enterprise Risk, said that the SRO is “welcoming new and alternative models for the delivery of education services,” which Waldron says will solve a lot of issues around proficiency that IIROC registrants and member firms have been vocal about for many years.

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“The project is seeking to modernize industry proficiency and make education more accessible, to make it easier for member firms and registrants to engage with and access education,” he says. “It’ll remove many of the existing barriers to education.”

IIROC’s invitation also represents a challenge to education vendors, Waldron says, as they’ll be forced to elevate themselves from approaches that, in the words of Renzella, have not kept up with “the evolution of our industry and changing demands and needs of learners.”

The opportunity that IIROC is extending to education providers involves course development, examination, learning management administration and bilingual program delivery in English and French. The SRO is welcoming proposals for different models that include multiple course providers, though it did not discount the possibility of just one provider winning out.