Kaplan Professional enrolment hits record numbers

Education provider Kaplan Professional (Kaplan) has seen a record number of enrolments in its first intake of 2023.

According to Kaplan, enrolments in Study Period 1 were at the highest since late 2021, continuing the upward trend of the three preceding intakes in 2022.

Moreover, nearly 400 advisers commenced postgraduate financial planning studies for the first time with Kaplan, where over 70% were in the Master of Financial Planning or Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning, while over 100 enrolled in the standalone ethics bridging course.

Emerging trends in financial services education

Kaplan pointed to significant trends in the second half of 2022 as the main drivers of the skyrocketing number of enrolments, reflecting that financial advisers focus on their education requirements regardless of the proposed experience pathway. These trends are as follows:

• Many advisers who would qualify for the proposed 10-year exemption continue to study;
• Enrolment numbers are the largest they have been since late 2021, when the experience pathway was first proposed; and
• New entrants are enrolling in strong numbers.

Based on Kaplan's extensive education analysis, 50% of advisers who have completed or are completing postgraduate financial planning studies with the education provider would qualify for the proposed 10-year exemption.

Other financial services education enrolment trends

Aside from the three emerging trends above, trends in the financial services education sector were:

• Focus on achieving full qualifications instead of completing standalone bridging courses;
• Doubled enrolments in specialist electives such as aged care, SMSF regulation and taxation, business planning and practice management, and derivatives in financial planning;
• Significant enrolment numbers in core financial planning subjects such as ethics and professionalism in financial advice, economic and legal context for financial planning, client engagement skills, superannuation and retirement advice, insurance advice, taxation for financial planning, and investment advice; and
• A solid number of advisers and new entrants enrolling in postgraduate financial planning studies for the first time.

“We applaud those advisers who have positively taken on the challenge of postgraduate financial planning studies, considering the large majority of them are working full time, running businesses. and supporting their families,” Kaplan CEO Brian Knight said.

“The theme of just getting on with it, regardless of whether or not they meet the proposed 10-year exemption, seems to be a consistent one.

“There is no doubt that the critical element of education in any profession is increasingly well understood by advisers.”