IRES - Continuing Education

The National IRES Continuing Education Program (NICE) establishes minimum standards for those Society members who choose to earn and maintain their AIE or CIE designations. IRES registers, recognizes and endorses only those designees who comply with the program on a continuing basis. There are currently approximately 600 professionals who hold one of the two designations.

When it comes to selecting courses, IRES has purposely chosen substance over style, and rewards over penalties. Qualifying courses are aimed at ensuring substance and quality, but at the same time allowing the maximum flexibility to take part in a wide range of educational opportunities – including those available for only a nominal cost.

IRES requires 15 hours of qualifying continuing education credit to be earned and reported each year. Each one-year compliance period begins ends on September 1, with a reporting deadline 30 days later.

The 2002-03 reporting deadline is October 1, 2003

Because of its unique focus on market regulation and the desire and goal of IRES to encourage its members to engage in continuing education, 15 credit hours will be granted for full participation in the annual IRES Career Development Seminar. Less credit will be given for participants who do not attend the entire CDS – although if you leave before the end of CDS, you must submit a CE report requesting credit for actual hours attended, up to a maximum of 12.

Qualifying courses under the NICE program include:

Courses at an accredited college or university that are more than 50% directly and substantively insurance-related.
Seminars and conferences, such as those offered by IRES, CPCU, NAIC, SOFE or other professional associations.
Published articles, up to a maximum of five credit hours.
Speaking engagements at events directly related to insurance or insurance regulation.
Some courses, most of them offered by NAIC, have been pre-approved for NICE credit. Click here to download a list of them (12k PDF).

To report NICE credit, photocopy the form that appears on Pages 16-17 of your manual. Or, if you prefer, print out the forms on the following pages and mail them to the IRES office.

If you have a specific question about courses that may qualify for the NICE Program, please click here.

The NICE Manual is available online. To download your own up-to-date copy – for either viewing or printing – please click here (509k PDF).

You'll need Adobe Acrobat to read the manual. To get the latest version, please go to the Adobe Acrobat site.

If you know which forms you need and would like to download only those pages, click here for the compliance form (23k PDF), the accreditation application (32k PDF), the change of address form (36k PDF) or to request an extension (29k PDF).