News from the ICS Head Quarters
Annual General Meeting 2013
The AGM was held on 23rd October. Draft minutes are at the bottom of this email. The format has gone a bit wonky trying to fit the minutes into an email, but if you’d like a copy of the document itself, let me know.
Again, turnout to this very important meeting was low, and if we had not held meetings (Membership committee, Education and Training Committee, Education Trust Fund) alongside this event we would not have had sufficient numbers to be quorate.
Please encourage your branch committees to find volunteers to join future AGMs.
Shipping Network submissions
The deadline for submissions was on Friday, but we still have a little bit of space to fill, so please, if you have anything you want to tell the rest of the world about, please send it to us by the end of this week.
Likewise, if you have any events or news you’d like to see on our website, please don’t forget to let us know.
Reconciliation
For branches that offer their members the chance to pay locally, now is the time of year when we need to complete our reconciliation.
Controlling Council was very clear. Members who have not paid their membership dues within six months of invoice are risking their membership status. Your reconciliation of PAID members, either via the new database or using Excel files must be completed by 20th November.
Of course we know that when members moved jobs or home, it’s not always easy to find them. We also understand the economic climate has caused some job losses in our sector. We try to be as flexible and understanding as possible. Please don’t forget that members who may be temporarily out of work can apply to move to the ‘retired’ rate for a period of time.
Education fees for next year – 2014/15
The head office has been tasked with looking at the provision of a second exam session during the academic year. We’ll be looking for volunteer exam centres next year to help us run a trial. More information will come to you in the new year.
Our student numbers are growing, and the geographical spread is ever wider. There is also a significant change in the proportion of self-funding versus employer-funded students. Our remit as an Institute to promote professional education and standards, and to make them as accessible as possible means that we consider any fee increases very seriously.
For the next academic year there will be, inevitably, some increases in costs to both the head office and to exam centres. Therefore we are considering increasing the registration fee, but further subsidising the examination fees.
How can we afford to drop examination fees? Well, we looked at our students. We recognised the levels of unemployment for young people, here in the UK, in Greece, in South Africa, across the globe. We recognised that these young people still want to find a career in shipping, and those that were lucky enough to have jobs, even if their company training budgets have been slashed, wanted to invest their own time and money into their self development. So, to us, the question was how we can find money in the Institute’s budget to help us support these students, and continue to strive towards making our exams as accessible as possible.
I look forward to your comments and thoughts.
New head of membership
We’re delighted to confirm the appointment of Joe Besch as the new Head of Membership for the Institute. Joe brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience from the Ports and Shipping sector. Joe’s career started as Deck Cadet with the Pacific Steam Navigation Company and progressed with various Shipping Companies and Port Operators, including Furness Withy, Associated British Ports, Milford Haven Port Authority, and C.R.O Ports where he has taken a number of senior roles including appointments as Operations Manager, Dock and Harbour Master and Commercial Director.
Joe is a graduate of the University of Wales, holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Cardiff Business School, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and has been a member of the ICS since 1997.
He will start with us in the next few weeks.
Internal Auditor elections
We are looking for nominations for the Internal Auditor. Please complete the following nomination form and send it back to me.
It would be helpful to some brief information about your nominee as many members of our Controlling Council are new this year, and some of the nominations will be unknown to them.
And finally…
Student numbers continue to climb and climb. With 250 new members elected in September and more than 50 names on the list for the election list at the next Executive Council, we’re heading for another bumper year.
We’re looking forward to 2014, and we continue to welcome your ideas, and criticisms (because I know we don’t always get things right). Keep in touch.
