Another financial year is over (and not a moment too soon) and now is the time the Executive and Council can reflect on budgets and achievements and ensure that there have enough resources to support our new projects.

Once again the team has achieved much as both an association and as a small business. The RTO has managed to trade for the full financial year under its own steam and we now have an Office Manager to help with the load. 

Many of you have now had some interaction with Andy van der Rijt who came on board in February of this year. Andy has been managing most of our correspondence with students and members and bearing the load of the mountain of administration that comes with our operations.

Andy has developed a great rapport with all of our clients and I think that everyone will agree that our systems are running more smoothly and our response times to students, queries from the public and membership applications have all improved dramatically.
 
The RTO projects include the review of the Diploma for accuracy and relevance and over the next few months many of the learning materials and assessments will undergo some changes. Student feedback has been really well received and we have had some great tips on how we can improve our materials. We hope to have this qualification fully reviewed and updated by 2017.

While the review is underway we will be working even more closely with industry to develop the Advanced Diploma and a more relevant range of professional development courses. We have already had significant industry input, for which we are most grateful, from our members but we have also some input from AMSA. At a recent meeting it was agreed that we would develop a bridging course that would allow surveyors of vessels over 500gt to gain the knowledge required for small vessel surveys. 

All AIMS members should have some knowledge of the new National Law and the National Standards for Commercial Vessels whether they do these small vessel surveys or not. This is fundamental information that every surveyor should have or should at least know where to find it, and how to apply it if necessary.  I hope to have this short course available by 2017.

We have now completed the basic structure of the Advanced Diploma and we hope to apply for accreditation for this qualification as quickly as possible.

In order to do that I would like to have as much final input as I can get on the proposed structure. Members who would like to provide comment can view the proposed qualification structure here: http://aimsurveyors.com.au/Members-only. I welcome any feedback that members can provide. 

If any members do have old course material that is relevant to any of the proposed units we would gratefully accept that as well. The more information that we can gather the better our learning materials will be. 

If any retired member would like to earn some additional income helping us to write materials then please let me know. You don’t have to be a writer, we can do the technical writing, but you do have to know how to carry out the particular survey that the module is dealing with.  

We will provide templates for you to fill in information and ask you for suitable methods of assessment.  Again, any help that we can get is very much appreciated and I will gladly chat with any members who think that they might like to assist.

While the need to ‘grow our own surveyors’ is very much our focus much of the activity going on in regard to the qualifications and courses is in response to the member feedback suggesting that CPD become mandatory for membership. 
The Executive and Council were impressed by the number of members who voted for CPD in the last survey and this has resulted in CPD being mandatory as of January 1st 2017. 

Members will have until January 2018 to provide some evidence of CPD. 

Formal training is not the only CPD activity available to members. CPD includes attending state meetings, conferences and events, contributing to the development of training materials, reviewing materials, mentoring students, writing articles, speaking at events.  I am working to develop a list of CPD activities that can be aligned to each survey category so that members have ample choice of activities to choose from.

It is exciting and pleasing to see that so many of our new surveyors are showing plenty of spirit, attending meetings and volunteering to participate in subcommittees as well as being vocally active. 

Their participation is so very welcomed. These new surveyors will form a large part of our membership and it is up to our longer term members to display leadership and encourage them in every way that they can. 

Yes, the institute is changing and it needs to in order to progress our commitment to the ever changing structure of the industry we represent. When an industry is growing as rapidly as ours is change is inevitable. 

Leadership is a challenge that many of us struggle with. Not just within our profession or our institute but with our children, our families, our community our employees and our mates. It is a hard concept to master.

One person who does know about leadership and how to develop the necessary qualities is AFL great Kevin Sheedy. You don’t get to be as great as him without knowing how to develop leaders.
It is timely indeed that he is presenting this very topic at our 30th Dinner in August.  

I for one think that it is an opportunity not to be missed. Everyone one of us can benefit from this presentation in some way. He will focus on how our Executive and Council can become better leaders, how our long term members can lead the new surveyors and how our new surveyors can develop their leadership skills and progress their business objectives. 

Leadership, like education can enrich our lives.
I hope our members get behind this auspicious celebration and be part of another moment in our history. 

Don’t look back at what was – look forward to what is coming.

Susan Hull
Executive Officer