UBC’s Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration will offer
education programs on behalf of the Appraisal Institute of Canada
(AIC) starting Jan. 1, 1998.
The faculty’s Real Estate Division and the AIC signed a five-year
agreement recently, under which UBC will assume responsibility for
the delivery of the AIC Education Program.
“This agreement will allow the AIC to benefit from UBC’s expertise
in refining and administering professional programs,” Commerce Dean
Michael Goldberg says. “The Institute will gain a high degree of
consistency in its educational programs as a result of this move
and the faculty will, in turn, benefit from a closer association
with the AIC.”
The AIC is the national society of professional real estate appraisers.
It assures high standards in the appraisal profession through the
granting of Canadian Residential Appraiser and Accredited Appraiser
Canadian Institute (AACI) designations. More than 5,500 members
practise the profession in Canada, providing valuations widely respected
by the courts, real estate corporations, banks and other lending
institutions, as well as by government and individuals.
AIC President Allan Beatty says the agreement will allow students
across Canada to gain consistent access to regularly offered courses
without having to travel to attend classes at a university or college.
“UBC’s proven ability to communicate to individuals through distance
learning right across the country was an important factor in arriving
at this agreement,” Beatty says. “And, by shifting the educational
programs to UBC, students and employers will benefit from courses
combining strong practitioner and academic materials.”
Robert Laing, executive director of the faculty’s Professional
Programs, says courses will be offered through distance education
using printed materials and the Internet to submit assignments and
communicate with tutors.
“The courses covered by the agreement will come on stream gradually,”
Laing says. “We have two courses ready to go and others will follow
during the next few years as they are developed for distance learning.”
UBC will offer as many as 15 courses that meet the basic educational
requirements for the AACI designation.
“Moreover, it is planned that these courses will be integrated
into an applied distance degree in real estate which is currently
in development as a collaborative project between the Real Estate
Division and the Open University,” Laing says.
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