Education is at the heart of the issues confronting the risk management community at a time when top management and boards are keenly aware of the need to manage risk efficiently in a complex and constantly evolving environment. A battle for recognition and a seat at the table is raging.

Risk managers need to acquire the “qualitative, quantitative and psychological knowledge”, to use the words of Eric Cornuel of EFMD, if they are to gain a 360° vision of risks, both threats and opportunities. Thus, they would be able to exercise risk leadership by bringing to the attention of their leaders the information needed to make the enlightened and swift decisions required by the organisation.

Eric Cornuel elaborated on the changing world of business schools and the growing importance of online learning, while advocating a “blended approach” that will bring not just hard knowledge but also soft skills.

Alessandro de Felice, President of ANRA and CRO of Prysmian, explained that the need for an international recognition had led the Italian association to embrace rimap and promote this FERMA European certification among its members. However, Melvyn Neate of the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) stressed that building a recognition such as the one enjoyed by internal auditors, Chartered Internal Auditor (CIA), requires a lot of hard work, research and consultation to build a “consensual competencies framework”.

The CIA has 140 000 members worldwide, but then it is the only designation recognised worldwide for internal auditors of whom there are hundreds of thousands, whereas there are fewer potential candidates for risk management designations.

All agreed that “accepting and learning from mistakes” is a key ingredient for daring to make the innovation that is much needed in all organisations. Furthermore, communication and consulting skills can be enhanced by the proper interaction in seminars, hence the need for face to face session within the qualification path, concluded Eric Cornuel.