More black actuaries graduating

Over the past 15 years, the number of African, coloured and Indian fellows grew from 2.2% to 16%, and the number of women fellows from 6% to 20%, according to the McDougall. "The number of African fellows has increased from 1.2% (all non-South Africans) of total fellows to 5.5%," he said.

Though the figures show an improvement, there is still a long way to go. SA currently has 956 actuaries (908 fellows and 48 associates); 803 (84%) of whom are white.

"The demographics are, however, very different among student members," says McDougall. "The Actuarial Society currently has 732 white actuarial student members and 728 black (African, Indian, coloured) student members."

He said this was partly due to interventions by the Actuarial Society, including free online support in maths and science for pupils and teachers from grade 6 to grade 12; mentorship schemes at university to assist students with non-technical issues and collaboration on programmes such as the South African Actuaries Development Programme (SAADP).

Bursary options

The programme, available to students at the universities of the Witwatersrand, Cape Town and Pretoria, offers bursaries to those who have achieved good results in their first or second years of study.

Since the programme's inception, Wits has produced both the most graduates and the most fully qualified fellow actuaries, according to Stephen Jurisich, adjunct professor in the School of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Wits.

"Over the last 10 years the proportion of bursary holders successfully graduating from Wits has been almost twice that of the next best performing university, and in addition two-thirds of the qualified SAADP fellows have come from Wits," he said.

McDougall says challenges hindering growth in numbers from historically disadvantaged groups included high entry requirements for admission into actuarial science programmes (usual an A for maths and English) at university; a high dropout and failure rate at universities and in professional exams and that the profession is virtually unknown in historically disadvantaged communities.

"Potential actuaries from these communities are more aware of the medical, accounting, engineering and auditing professions and therefore pursue qualifications in those professions," McDougall says.

There are also a limited number of universities offering actuarial science studies - only six accredited universities - in a country that has 23 academic institutions.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge