A partnership between the actuarial profession and the academic community is essential to the continued success – even survival – of the profession.
A Partnership Between the Academic Community and the Actuarial Profession, 2000
Joint Task force on Academic Relations
Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA), and Society of Actuaries (SOA)
Research collaboration between academic and practicing actuaries has been a long-standing goal of the Society of Actuaries (SOA). In 1990, the Board of Governors adopted the recommendations of the SOA Task Force on Strengthening Relationships between Universities and the Actuarial Profession. These recommendations included initiatives that encouraged university-based actuarial research.
In 2000, the joint CAS, CIA, and SOA Task Force on Academic Relations published a white paper entitled, “A Partnership Between the Academic Community and the Actuarial Profession,” in which the authors state, “Task Force members strongly agree that a partnership between the actuarial profession and the academic community is essential to the continued success – even survival – of the profession.” The Task Force describes current motivations for a partnership, noting:
A particular area of concern, in both the academic community and the actuarial profession, has been the relative lack of meaningful interchange between academics and practitioners in addressing practical actuarial problems. Many academics need and want a better understanding of ‘real world’ problems and access to practitioners to work with in solving such problems. Many practitioners want to better understand how to apply research and the link between the tools academics can provide and the problems to be solved.
In their report, the Task Force articulated what they called their Vision of the Partnership in 2005, or Vision 2005. Three elements of this vision are:
- Joint faculty and business or government actuary research projects are common.
- Faculty members frequently spend sabbaticals, as well as portions of the academic year or summers, working on practical projects in business or government and identifying topics for future research.
- Faculty members and business or government actuaries frequently work together on practical projects.
The Task Force suggested the following near-term initiative:
- A faculty member could spend a summer or sabbatical leave at a business or government organization working with the organization’s actuaries on practical actuarial problems or could take on a specific problem and work independently, perhaps involving students.
This is the nature of the IPP.
