As a Student member of the IFoA you can access our prestigious, internally recognised qualifications and the tools and support you need to achieve your career goals.
Benefits of becoming an IFoA Student Member
Globally recognised qualifications
- Gain a qualification that’s in demand from business, organisations and governments world-wide and demonstrate that your knowledge and skills meet the highest global standards
Support while you qualify
- Access educational resources, examination support, counselling and Acted online forum to support your learning
- Guidance on ethical and technical issues that may arise in your day-to-day actuarial work
Build your knowledge and skills
- Access a range of high-quality focused events, library, journals and publications, including The Actuary Magazine
- Develop your skills with volunteering opportunities ranging from becoming a Career Ambassador to joining an IFoA working group
Demonstrate professionalism and integrity
- Demonstrate your professional integrity under The Actuaries’ Code, our global ethical framework
- Show your commitment to professionalism through our rigourous qualification syllabus
A global community
- Build your professional network through online and in person events
- Make connections and benefit from one to one professional support and advice with the IFoA Buddy System
A strong voice for our profession
- Join a profession that brings the actuarial perspective to issues of global importance, from climate change to social care, and makes sure your voice is heard on the issues that are important to you
Becoming a Student member of the IFoA will enable you to enter for the IFoA exams and apply for exemptions.
Who can become an IFoA Student Member?
If you have excellent mathematical skills and a love of numbers, you can join the IFoA as a Student member.
While there are no academic admissions criteria for Student membership, the IFoA qualification syllabus is rigorous and our examinations are highly demanding, so we recommend applicants for Student membership have a maths-based degree, for example:
- Actuarial Science
- Mathematics
- Statistics
- Economics
- Engineering
- Chemistry, or
- Physics
If you do not have a maths-based degree and want to join as a Student member, we recommend you take one of our non-member exams before applying to join. Our non-member exams will prepare you for the rigorous and demanding IFoA qualification process and give you an insight into the skills and techniques required to progress in an actuarial career.
Find out more about our non-member exams
The IFoA has Career Ambassadors worldwide who can answer your questions with regards to local job opportunities, careers in actuarial science, and anything else you wish to know about joining the IFoA.
If you would like to speak to a Careers Ambassador, please contact careers@actuaries.org.uk.
Fees
You can find our current membership subscription fees for Student members on our subscription information web page. We offer a reduced membership subscription rate to students on a low income. Find whether you qualify for reduced rate subscription fees.
How to join
Simply complete our online application form and make the correct payment. If you are joining the IFoA as a Student member and intend to sit your examination in our September 2021 exam sitting, you will need to submit your Student membership application before 02 July 2021
Related documents
Contact Details
If you have any questions about student membership please contact or telephone:
memberservices@actuaries.org.uk
We aim to respond to all initial enquiries within three working days.
Filter or search events
Events calendar
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The Growth Mindset for Actuaries
13 October 2021 - 8 December 2021This practical course is aimed at actuaries at any stage of their career who want to develop their own growth mindset and apply it to their work setting and personal or professional lifelong learning. The content of the course builds on the lecture given by Dr Helen Wright on Growth Mindset as part of the President’s 2021 Lecture series, and will be delivered over a period of 2 months, from mid-October to early December.
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Pioneering Roles for Actuaries in Health and Care
29 November 2021
The role of actuaries within the health sector varies considerably from one country to another, due to differences in the local evolution of health systems and the funding models for health services. -
This paper outlines key frameworks for reserving validation and techniques employed. Many companies lack an embedded reserve validation framework and validation is viewed as piecemeal and unstructured. The paper outlines a case study demonstrating how successful machine learning techniques will become and then goes on to discuss implications. The paper explores common validation approaches and their role in enhancing governance and confidence.
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What next for Mental Health in Insurance?
1 December 2021Content will be aimed at all actuaries looking to understand the issues surrounding mental health in insurance and in particular those looking to ensure products and processes widen access for, and are most useful to, those experiencing periods of poor mental health.
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Pensions Winter Forum: Practical aspects of blending annuities and drawdown in retirement
1 December 2021
The IFoA Policy Briefing 'Can we help consumers avoid running out of money in retirement' examined the benefits of blending a lifetime annuity with income drawdown. Panellists, including providers and advisers, will look at the market practicalities of taking the actuarial theory through into the core advice propositions used by IFAs and Fund Managers. They will share a number of practical issues such as investment consequences before and after retirement and the level of annuity that is appropriate and answer questions from the audience. -
Speech from the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey
Lincoln's Inn The Treasury Office, London WC2A 3TL1 December 2021
The IFoA is pleased to be hosting the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, to deliver a speech on delivering policyholder protection in insurance regulation.
The speech will be presented to an in-person audience, and simultaneously live-streamed, at 14.00 on Wednesday 1st December.
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The Many Faces of Bias
2 December 2021
This webinar looks at the many types of biases, both conscious and unconscious and the impacts they can have in the workplace. Raising our own awareness and understanding of the issues can help us avoid the pitfalls of unconscious bias in particular. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘office banter’ but are we sure that’s how those on the receiving end perceive it and is it ok to go along with it? -
Actuaries need to take action now - but how? With a focus on climate change, this session will provide informed insight to enable you to improve your knowledge and understanding of the issues involved, demonstrate how it will impact advice to your clients, and highlight prospective opportunities for actuaries within pensions and wider fields. -
Pensions Winter Forum: Pension Scams
8 December 2021
Pension scams have become more prevalent as a result of the pandemic, and Trustees have increased responsibilities to protect members, which means that actuaries need to be in a position to provide advice in this area. Our specialist panel will include a professional trustee, an IFA and head administrator, two of whom are members of PASA. -
Sessional Meeting: Allowing for shocks in portfolio mortality models
15 December 2021The covid-19 pandemic creates a challenge for actuaries analysing experience data that includes mortality shocks. To address this we present a methodology for modelling portfolio mortality data that offers local flexibility in the time dimension. The approach permits the identification of seasonal variation, mortality shocks and late-reported deaths. The methodology also allows actuaries to measure portfolio-specific mortality improvements. Results are given for a mature annuity portfolio in the UK
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The Brian Hey Prize 2021 - LocalGLMnet: interpretable deep learning for tabular data
15 December 2021In this webinar, the authors of the 2021 Brian Hey prize winning paper present a new deep learning model called the LocalGLMnet. While deep learning models lead to very competitive regression models, often outperforming classical statistical models such as generalized linear models, the disadvantage is that deep learning solutions are difficult to interpret and explain, and variable selection is not easily possible.
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The dominant underwriting approach is a mix between rule-based engines and traditional underwriting. Applications are first assessed by automated rule-based engines which typically are capable of processing only simple applications. The remaining applications are reviewed by underwriters or referred to the reinsurers. This research aims to construct predictive machine learning models for complicated applications that cannot be processed by rule-based engines.
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Pensions Winter Forum: How to win the pensions endgame
19 January 2022
With the Pension Schemes Act 2021 requiring a long term strategy from Trustees and sponsors, choosing a pensions endgame strategy has become even more critical. However, it is important that the endgame options available are adequately assessed before choosing one. With an ever-increasing array of creative and innovative options available, this decision may not be straightforward.
The role of actuaries within the health sector varies considerably from one country to another, due to differences in the local evolution of health systems and the funding models for health services. 
The IFoA Policy Briefing 'Can we help consumers avoid running out of money in retirement' examined the benefits of blending a lifetime annuity with income drawdown. Panellists, including providers and advisers, will look at the market practicalities of taking the actuarial theory through into the core advice propositions used by IFAs and Fund Managers. They will share a number of practical issues such as investment consequences before and after retirement and the level of annuity that is appropriate and answer questions from the audience.
This webinar looks at the many types of biases, both conscious and unconscious and the impacts they can have in the workplace. Raising our own awareness and understanding of the issues can help us avoid the pitfalls of unconscious bias in particular. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘office banter’ but are we sure that’s how those on the receiving end perceive it and is it ok to go along with it?
Actuaries need to take action now - but how? With a focus on climate change, this session will provide informed insight to enable you to improve your knowledge and understanding of the issues involved, demonstrate how it will impact advice to your clients, and highlight prospective opportunities for actuaries within pensions and wider fields.
Pension scams have become more prevalent as a result of the pandemic, and Trustees have increased responsibilities to protect members, which means that actuaries need to be in a position to provide advice in this area. Our specialist panel will include a professional trustee, an IFA and head administrator, two of whom are members of PASA.
With the Pension Schemes Act 2021 requiring a long term strategy from Trustees and sponsors, choosing a pensions endgame strategy has become even more critical. However, it is important that the endgame options available are adequately assessed before choosing one. With an ever-increasing array of creative and innovative options available, this decision may not be straightforward.