On 7 and 8 February 2003 the Branch ran its third Entry Course for membership of the Chartered Institute. On this occasion it was held at the Bridgewood Hotel in Chatham, Kent. The Course Director was Roderick O'Driscoll. He was supported by a number of approved tutors: Dennis James, Derek Ross, Peter Solari and Bill McLaughlin; in addition Richard Swan attended as a sit-in tutor. Each of the tutors lectured on a particular aspect of arbitration, endeavouring to cover the syllabus set by the Institute and providing the delegates with at least a basic knowledge of arbitration. Interspersed with the lectures were four tutorials when the delegates divided up into groups to discuss 'matters arising'. The refreshments provided by the hotel during the course came well up to standard.

The course was arranged and administered in conjunction with the Mid-Kent College. All agreed that the organisation and practical arrangements went well and were highly successful.

Of the 27 delegates attending, all stayed the whole course and did the two-hour examination on the Saturday afternoon. The delegates came from varied professions, with representation from main contractors, small contractors, valuers, quantity surveyors and solicitors. The feedback was most encouraging: all said they enjoyed the course and learned a great deal from it, the only complaint being that there was so much to take in in two days.

This was the third course run by the Branch and was by far the most successful in the number of delegates attending. We were delighted at the interest shown. The examination papers have all been marked and, at the time of writing, are being monitored by Head Office. Hopefully, there will be the usual high level of pass marks, and we will look forward to meeting many new members at Branch meetings. The writer, who ran the course, is extremely grateful to all the tutors for the hard work and time that they put into it, and in particular to Dennis James, who was responsible for much of the academic organisation for the course.

We are told that in future Head Office are proposing one-day courses for qualification for membership of the Institute. As a branch, we must of course accept what they say; but the tutors all felt that it was difficult to give the most basic understanding of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution work in two days, and it might well be impractical to do it in a lesser period. It is understood, however, that branches may still undertake two-day courses, and most of those involved within the Branch seem to think that we should continue the two-day courses, notwithstanding the one-day courses on individual aspects of dispute resolution being proposed by Head Office.

In short, the event was a highly successful one, and we are looking forward to running a fourth course later this year.