PFS withdrawn member access to study texts?
benjaminfabi
Moderator
in CPD & Exams
Hi,
Just seen that this page is no longer available. Anyone know if this is a permanent thing or just from the site refresh.
I use this feature semi-regularly, never enough to actually made paying for it worthwhile, but as a perk of membership it was a decent thing to have access to.
Benjamin Fabi
Comments
It's a permanent change they made a month ago, because people were just paying monthly and using the texts and not enrolling and also they were being shared/sold on to those who were not members.
This was a response to someone else's complaint to the CII from Reddit.
"_Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns regarding recent changes to the availability of CII and PFS study texts in PDF format.
To clarify, downloadable study texts were previously made available as reference materials for members who had already purchased and studied those units. This access was intended to help past students stay up to date with changes in their areas of study. However, it’s important to note that this has never been an advertised member benefit of CII membership.
In recent years, we have seen a significant shift in how these resources are being used. Many individuals have come to rely on them as their primary learning material for qualifications, bypassing enrolment. Additionally, there has been a rise in the unauthorised sharing and resale of copyrighted study texts, which not only risks students using outdated or incorrect editions, but also undermines the financial sustainability of providing study materials to enrolled students.
In light of this, we have taken the difficult decision to remove access to downloadable study texts. This step is necessary to maintain the quality and integrity of our qualifications and to ensure fairness for those who access study materials through proper enrolment channels.
We appreciate your understanding and continued commitment to professional development._"
I agree with the CII's decision to make a change.
Yeah that is what I thought when I read that. Simple fix is to make the cost of enrolment higher and provide the study text in the bundle.
But you couldn't just purchase the exam entry fee with no accompanying study text. You had to enroll on the module to then get the exam entry, and with that came a copy of the digital study text at the very least and you then paid extra for a hard copy. If I'm mistaken on that, then I don't care too much as my company have paid for everything to date.
It was incredibly useful as a reference document (the most up to date copy of course) and also to get a sneak peak into a module to understand if I wanted to enroll on it or not.
The changes are frustrating in my opinion, as both an ongoing learner and referencer, and to be honest is only going to cause greater harm as people will go hunting for texts, sell them illegally for more than they were doing (if true) or use previously downloaded copies as reference points.
I've never actually enrolled for a specific unit, I just signed up as a member and then did the assessment only option as it was cheaper to then buy the material on ebay or elsewhere than enrolling.
Then I discovered they made all the books available to members, so I didn't need to go elsewhere for a book.
But I'm self-funding so was always looking for the cheaper option e.g.
Cheapest Enrolment & digital text is £227 as a member.
Assessment only is £142 as a member.
The study material has been available to members for a very long time. It was never well known though. I agree with @Wildparaplanner and for me this is a big reduction in membership value. It's not like 'Perks' is offering anything that a thousand other businesses offer, and the 'content hub' search and keyword structure are so poorly built it's almost unusable - sad as I'm sure there is loads of great content in there.
(as an example - Select 'Compliance & Risk' as the topic and the most recent entry (of 4 in total) is a press release confirming that the CII is committed to teaching members about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Definitely important to put the statement out - but probably not what anyone selecting that topic was expecting to find)
It astounds me that we have this ongoing battle with CII about how they are keeping back PFS membership revenue to benefit us, yet they're taking away benefits, or providing badly developed alternatives that could be so much better with a modest outlay on tech improvement.
I benchmark PFS/CII against the CISI and to be honest it's like putting a team of high school U16s against a Premier League club.
@benjaminfabi do you think it's worth considering the option of switching from the CII/PFS to the CISI or do you think it would it be too much of an ordeal?
I am already a member of both. I gave up my Chartered designation for a couple of years a few years ago because I didn't (and still don't) feel that it's fit for purpose. But I decided that I worked too hard for my FPFS to not be able to display it, and so I reluctantly pay the subs.
All my CPD recording and a lot of my regular learning is done via the CISI content. If you haven't seen it I would highly recommend giving it a look.
I agree with @benjaminfabi - the CISI is streets ahead of CII in terms of CPD, general content, etc.
And the general feel of the CISI is of a more modern organisation.
That said, I may be biased, being on the CISI Paraplanner Committee!!