When Oxford University announced the decision to charge £9000 per year for students, it led me to the following reflections:
MLT is self-funding. This means that all of our day-to-day work has to be funded from the income from registrations and publication sales. The £70.00 that each MIA registrant pays contributes to the following (not a definitive) list:
· Possible correspondence (sometimes lengthy) over missing pre-requisites from application, along with (normally) a 6 month “grace period” if necessary
· Support to candidates while passing through schemes including free access to a complaints investigation panel over (rare) complaints about assessment course
· Support for life with the following services:
o Access during office hours to information and administration service
o Development and maintenance of syllabus, handbook, website
o Liaison with dozens of employment and education bodies to ensure continued recognition of our qualifications
o Liaison with professional associations (AMI, BMG, BAIML) + voluntary association (MLTA) of award holders
o Expenses for quarterly meetings of conscripted volunteers who constitute the development board
o Pro-active work to protect our vocational mountaineering qualifications as the “industry standard”
o Development and publication of the online “National Guidelines” document.
o Representation of the UK qualifications at the Union of International Alpine Association’s (UIAA) international Training Standards, resulting in increasing international recognition
o Parallel support and development of the MIC to complement and extend the scope of MIA
o Quality Assurance system requiring regular inspection visits to National Centre courses in Snowdonia, Scotland and Ireland (summer + winter)
o Marketing of the awards
o On-going development of the MLT publications “Hillwalking”, “Rockclimbing” and “winter skills”
o On-going development of ML, SPA CWA etc. which feed into the MIA scheme.
o Production and postage of logbook
o Maintenance and security of a UK-wide database of mountain leaders and instructors
o Support for AMI, the association for MIA and MIC holders. (MLT receives no income from AMI apart from an administration service contract)
o Regular news updates on the MLT website, blog, Twitter etc.
o Potential access to work on SPA, ML, CWA, CWL, WGL courses
Graduates at Oxford who complete their degree will have parted with £27,000 in tuition fees plus accommodation and food costs for 3 years. Most degrees do not directly qualify them to get a job without further vocational experience and/or qualifications.
By comparison, an MIA graduate will have spent £70 registration and £1500 on tuition fees, including travel costs, and this is all tax-deductible. Apart from annual insurance costs for working there are no on-going costs for MIA holders (though of course many choose to join AMI and MLTA). Many AMI holders start earning a reasonable living immediately on completion of the qualification and continue to earn a good living for the rest of their working lives. Others work in a voluntary capacity, but either way the workplace is the Great Outdoors!
I can’t think of any other industry that gives so much in return for so little outlay.
