Alliance for Insurance Education (STIMRA)

Background and History of STIMRA

The Indonesian Insurance Agency (IIA) was established in August 1967 by the Federation of Indonesian Insurance Associations (former name “Indonesian Insurance Board”) to provide the necessary education, training and research as needed by the insurance industry.  Over the last 40 years, IIA has conducted various courses in insurance and management for a great number of persons employed in the insurance industry.

Responding to the demand for a “ready to use” work force, IIA established the Indonesian Insurance College (IIC) in 1998.  IIC conducts a D-3 (three-year diploma) level education program for senior secondary education graduates.  This program has been implemented for three years and provides more practical skills to the participants.  To date, IIC has produced some 200 graduates, all of whom have been absorbed by the insurance industry in Indonesia.

Since the end of the nineteen-seventies, “Alternative Risk Transfer” (ART) products were created in response to price increases of traditional insurance products.  Basically, ART is a hybrid of insurance products and capital market instruments.  During the same period, there has been convergence of the banking and insurance sector, producing various kinds of Bancassurance, i.e., the selling of insurance through a bank's established distribution channels.  Meanwhile, “Risk Management” has become a necessity for all types of industry, especially for the finance sector.  BancAs, ART and insurance are important elements of comprehensive risk management.  This development has already stimulated many institutions of higher education abroad to thoroughly describe and formulate risk management as a science in its own right.

To understand the progress outlined above, Indonesia needs to have an educational institution that focuses on risk management.  In order to respond to the latest developments, this national institution needs to cooperate with like institutions of international caliber.

To accomplish this, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Indonesian Insurance Board, the IIA, Ministry of Finance and the South-East Consortium for International Development was signed in September 2003 to cooperatively establish an Institute of Risk Management and Insurance (STIMRA).  STIMRA’s goal is to become the center for education, training and research in the risk management and insurance sector in Indonesia.

On October 31, 2005, the Ministry of National Education issued a license on behalf of IIA to enable STIMRA to conduct both S1 (Strata 1 or the undergraduate program) and D3 level programs as well as courses in the risk management and insurance sector.

STIMRA will commence its newly-accredited activities in 2006 with the academic support of the University of Connecticut.  This support is possible thanks to funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Starr Foundation (AIG).

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