Company Secretaryship has been growing rapidly as a separate discipline of study and practice. The field has been growing with the expansion of industry. ICSI (Institute of Company Secretaries of India) is the central organisation to offer training and education of Company Secretaries of India. Though some of the mainstream universities offering courses in Corporate Secretaryship, full fledged and focused training is available only with ICSI. The programme structure and delivery mechanisms have been highly streamlined by ICSI. There have been continuous changes in the curriculum of the Company Secretaryship course in accordance with the industry requirements.
Course Structure: The candidate who wants to acquire membership of ICSI has to overcome three stages of examinations. These are Foundation, Intermediate, and Final Examinations. All these examinations are conducted by ICSI only. The regional chapters of ICSI located across the country offer oral coaching and postal study material at minimum cost. All the registered candidates have to choose either oral coaching or postal coaching.
Eligibility and Registration Process: Interested candidates have register with ICSI as a student of the Institute. The registration process is open throughout the year. This is the first step. Candidates should have 17 years of age and must have either passed the Foundation Course examination or should be eligible for exemption from it. Candidates with following qualifications will be exempted from the Foundation Course:
1) Bachelor or Master’s Degree in Corporate Secretaryship or Commerce
2) Candidates passed ICWAI final exam or ICAI final.
3) Any Degree or a Master’s Degree holder in any discipline other than Fine Arts.
Foundation course is open to 10+2 passed candidates. The qualifying marks for each paper in ICSI examinations is 40 percent. Candidates have to appear for the examinations after postal or oral coaching. ICSI Regional Councils are located at New Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, and Mumbai and Chapters are available in all state head quarters and other main cities. Foundation course consist of four papers. These are Business Communication, Business Law and Management, Principles of Accountancy and Economics and Statistics.
Those completed the foundation course will be allowed to Intermediate stage. Candidates with certain prescribed qualifications will be exempted from Intermediate and Final examinations. Inter and Final Examinations will be held twice a year in the months of June and December. Results of ICSI examinations are usually declared on 25th August and 25th of February of the concerned year. The ICSI has been changing syllabus regularly to meet the industry requirements. Candidates can obtain complete details of ICSI course and syllabus at www.icsi.edu .
University Courses in Company Secretaryship: There are some universities offering relevant courses in the discipline of Company Secretaryship. University of Madras, Madurai Kamraj University (Tiruchirapalli), Alagappa University, Bharatidasan University, Mother Teresa Women’s University and Pondicherry University are offering courses leading to the award of Bachelor of Corporate Secretaryship (BCS) or BA (Corporate Secretaryship). Some colleges are also offering BCS through distance education mode. Address of ICSE: Institute of Company Secretaries of India, ICSI House, 22 Institutional Area, Lodi Road, New Delhi 110003.