Enrolments are now open for the IPA Foundation Certificate – The Communications Council’s first online international IPA qualification to launch in Australia.

Considered a rite of passage in the UK advertising industry, the IPA Foundation Certificate has been achieved by more than 11,000 people to date, and is available to professionals in the Australian market for the first time, as part of a landmark partnership between The Communications Council and its UK counterpart, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

Designed for individuals with less than a year’s experience in advertising, marketing or communications roles, the program offers 30 hours of online learning, providing a holistic grounding in industry operations based on seven core paths:

• Advertising and communication in context
• Understanding the client’s business
• The strategic planner’s toolkit
• Client, creative and media briefs
• Understanding media channels and media planning
• Creativity and creative development
• Effectiveness

Tony Hale, CEO of The Communications Council, said: “Our industry is becoming increasingly international, and the new IPA curriculum   ensures professionals around the world can be trained to a best practice global standard. Those sitting the IPA Foundation Certificate exam with us will be the first generation of industry professionals to take part in Australia. It is a progressive step for the industry in enabling access to world-class training, but also for individuals who want to build a career with industry qualifications that are recognised at home and overseas.”

Successful students will receive the IPA Foundation Certificate following a formal offline examination on Friday 6th March 2015, running in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.