Die - University of the Free State

News
Law centre
is setting the benchmark
At the fifth anniversary celebrations of the Centre for Financial Planning Law were, from the left: Prof.
Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof. Niel Viljoen, Chief Director: Operations, Judge Faan
Hancke, Chairman of the UFS Council, Prof. Tienie Crous, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and
Management Sciences, Judge A. Kruger, Appeal court judge F.D.J. Brand and Adv. Wessel Oosthuizen.
The Centre for Financial Planning Law
has been living up to its motto since
its inception in 2001. From small beginnings
it has grown to the biggest of its
kind in South Africa, says Adv. Wessel
Oosthuizen, Director of the centre.
In 1981, the Institute for Life and Pension-advisors
(ILPA) (now the Financial
Planning Institute of Southern Africa –
FPI) was established to set, monitor and
advance ethical and professional standards
in financial planning. In 1986, ILPA approached
the Centre for Insurance Law at
the Faculty of Law, to act as moderators
for the ILPA membership entrance examinations.
Several regulatory developments and educational
requirements in the South African
financial services industry led to an increased
demand for high level education and
training in the financial services industry.
Adv. Oosthuizen says the Financial
Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI)
and members of the Faculty of Law anticipated
these developments well in advance,
and developed and registered the Post Graduate
Diploma in Financial Planning in 2000,
taking in the first learners in the same year.
These developments necessitated the
establishment of the Centre for Financial
Planning Law in 2001, an independent unit
within the Faculty of Law, aimed at promoting
higher education in financial planning.
In May of that year, the first Post
Graduate Diplomas in Financial Planning
were awarded at an award ceremony in Johannesburg.
The Centre has since grown to a permanent
staff of 10 and offers six undergraduate
semester courses in Financial
Planning, and three post graduate qualifications
in financial planning by way of distance
learning.
The Post Graduate Diploma in Financial
Planning enables, for example, financial
advisors, brokers, lawyers and bankers, to
obtain the highest academic and professional
level of competency in financial
planning and to become eligible for the internationally
recognised Certified Financial
Planner status and membership of the
FPI. Qualified financial planners, and even
more so Certified Financial Planners, are
in demand in a wide range of legal and
economic professions.
The Advanced Post Graduate Diploma
in Financial Planning provides for a more
specialised approach to financial planning.
Currently, 1564 students are registered
for the Post Graduate Diploma in Financial
Planning Law and 149 students are registered
for the Advanced Post Graduate Diploma
in Financial Planning Law. Up to the
2006 ceremony in July of this year, a total of
1573 diplomas would have been awarded.
A LL.M in Financial Planning has also
been introduced this year and five students
have already enrolled. The Faculty of Law
with the inputs of the Centre, is currently
also in the process of developing a B.Iuris
in Financial Planning. Both the LL.M in Financial
Planning and the proposed B.Iuris
in Financial Planning is the first of its kind
in South Africa and interest in these programmes
has been overwhelming, says Adv.
Oosthuizen.
The Centre was the first, and for five
years, the only academic institution in
South Africa to offer the Post Graduate
Diploma in Financial Planning. It is still the
only institution offering the advanced diploma
and LL.M and the only institution
offering the programmes by way of distance
learning. Major companies, banks,
insurers and investment management companies
enrol employees for the programmes
each year.
To ensure that the programmes stay up
to date with the demands of and the developments
in practice, experts in practice are
utilised to develop study material, present
seminars and act as examiners and moderators.
A textbook, especially for use in the
centre’s programmes, has been authored by
foremost experts in financial planning in
South Africa.
Bult •November 06
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