Students finding market for skills in risk, insurance

http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgibin/article.pl?articleId=26853 >
Business Insurance >

January 5, 2009 >

Students finding market for skills in risk, insurance >

JEFF CASALE >
The role of insurance and risk management is evolving at the college level, with universities offering more courses and putting greater emphasis on such fields' role in business and students are taking note. >

Significant problems in financial markets, weeks of job losses and mounting economic uncertainty have some colleges and universities using this time to highlight the need for better risk management and the opportunities the field provides. While a major in actuarial science, insurance and risk management may not have been broadly appealing to students three to five years ago, professors and curriculum directors say that is changing. >

Some schools, such as Indiana State University College of Business in Terre Haute, have made risk management a focus since opening its Gongaware Center for Insurance Management Development in 1999. Others, including the St. John's University's Peter J. Tobin College of Business in New York, have eagerly expanded existing programs. And though majors such as finance and marketing remain two of the most popular career paths for business school students, insurance and risk management has been gaining ground. >

"It's a niche," said Robert Meyer, professor and co-director of the risk management and decision processes center at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia. "It's not a field that people first think about going into when they get into business schools. Often what happens is that a student will take a course in insurance and find it interesting, and they find out that there is a market for that." >

Insurance and risk management programs at Illinois State University's Katie School in Bloomington, Ill., and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's College of Business both have been at capacity for the past several years. Meanwhile, professors at Terre Haute, Ind.-based Indiana State and the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business in Athens, have seen a rise in student interest. >

Robert Hoyt, insurance and risk management department head at the Terry College, said applications from the fall 2007 semester to the fall 2008 semester rose 30%. While Mr. Hoyt said it's too early to predict whether this trend will continue, he said it demonstrates how insurance and risk management is becoming a more integral part of business school curriculums. >

"Recent (market) developments have increased the interest in risk management," Mr. Hoyt said. "I would say it has increased what I call `teachable moments.' Both enterprise risk management and the traditional ways of risk management are being applied in these situationsÖand I think that the expanding needs of risk management allows for a good career." >

The economic climate and job market have provided professors with a timely discussion topic.
"The current economy allows the curriculum to have more life and utilize these examples to highlight the fundamentals of risk management," said Joan Schmit, professor and chairman of the Department of Actuarial Science, Risk Management and Insurance Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "This is one of the widest experiences, in that it is affecting the entire economy, and I would argue that the fundamentals (of risk management) haven't changed. The scenarios have changed and the tools have changed, but the fundamentals have not." >

Terrie Troxel, professor and executive director of the Gongaware Center for Insurance Management Development at Indiana State, agrees with Ms. Schmit's outlook and adds that students are learning that in order to have a functioning economic system, "a vibrant insurance and risk management system is required." >

"The financial crisis makes people very aware of managing enterprise risk at the higher level," Mr. Troxel said. "On the other side, when you talk about cost cutting, students see the traditional insurance purchaser has some pressures on them as well." >

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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.