For those preparing for the nationally-administered May, 2014 Certified Research Administrator exams, a review session is scheduled for Friday, October 10, 2014 at the UIC campus from 8AM to 5PM. The session location is to be announced. If you wish to register for this review session, you can do so at http://www.cra-cert.org/examschedule.html. The registration deadline for the review session is September 26, 2014.
For the past several years the UIC campus have been working to advance professional training and recognition of research administrative staff through the national certification offered by the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC)-- http://www.cra-cert.org/whatiscertification.html
Please note that the application deadline for the November 8-22, 2014 CRA Exam is September, 2014 http://www.cra-cert.org/examschedule.html. Individual applicants are responsible for their own registration, and for arranging for either personal or departmental payment of the review and exam fees. The cost is $205 for a review session and $375 to take the certification exam. This cost is the responsibility of a sponsoring unit or of an individual. Once a review session is announced on the web by the RACC, persons from other universities also register as well at the RACC website, where fees for registration and the exams are paid, so it is best to register early.
Research administration professionals report that they learn much during their study of the "Body of Knowledge" for the CRA certification (http://cra-cert.org/bodyofknowledge.html) and this whole process not only gives a research professional a rigorous overview of the legal and technical aspects of research administration, but also gives professional recognition. The exam covers all aspects of research regulation, is difficult, and cannot usually be passed by someone who has not had hands-on work in preparing and adjusting grant budgets. So passing the exam is a true achievement.
We also note that there is a new certification available, the Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator (CPRA). For more information on this new certification, please see
http://cra-cert.org/whatiscertification.html.
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