1915
Founded in London
Founded 1915 · One of the UK's Oldest Professional Bodies
The professional body for administrative management
For more than a century the IAM has stood for a single proposition: that administration is a profession — one that can be described, taught, assessed, and recognised. We set the standards for the people who hold organisations together.
5
IAM Certified Programmes
23
Masterclass programmes
250
CPD Professional Courses
300
Practice Library lessons
Start here
A clear route for every Career Stage
The Institute serves individual professionals, the organisations that employ them, and the universities, colleges, and training providers that teach them. Choose the path that fits you.
I am a professional
Get recognised for the work you already do, and keep developing against a published standard.
I lead an organisation
Develop a whole administrative workforce against one standard, and evidence it.
I teach or award
Deliver the Institute's programmes, or have your own provision endorsed against our Standards.
What we do
One profession. One standard. A clear route through it.
Membership
IAM Professional Membership
Four assessed grades — Associate, Member, Fellow, and Senior Fellow — each carrying its own post-nominal, alongside Affiliate and Student tiers for the wider workforce and those studying.
Individual membershipLearning
IAM Certified Programmes
Five programmes, one per Career Stage, from a four-week foundation to a portfolio and strategic case assessment for strategic leaders — plus twelve Role Mastery courses that credential the role you actually do.
View the programmesDevelopment
CPD & The IAM Masterclasses
A structured 30-hour annual CPD framework, supported by twenty-three live Masterclass programmes mapped to the seven Competency Domains of the IAM Professional Standards.
Courses & learningOrganisations
IAM Corporate Membership
Develop your whole administrative workforce against a published standard — from Affiliate recognition across teams to sponsored Certified Programme cohorts and recognised in-house CPD.
For employersDelivery Partners
IAM Recognised Centres
Universities, colleges, training providers, and employers worldwide can be recognised to deliver the IAM Certified Programmes. The centre delivers; the Institute awards.
Partner with the InstituteProviders
The IAM Endorsement Scheme
Qualifications and courses owned by third parties can be endorsed against the IAM Professional Standards, qualifying them as Structured CPD for our members.
Endorse your provisionRecognition at every level
Eleven categories, one framework
The Institute recognises the whole administrative workforce, from someone reading their first article to a director of professional services. Four grades are assessed against the Progression Matrix and carry post-nominals; the others recognise study, workforce membership, lifetime contribution, and continued standing after retirement. Not sure where you sit? The IAM Grade Navigator and the IAM Progression Profiler place you against the Progression Matrix and recommend a grade and route — both run entirely on your own device and send nothing anywhere.
- Stage 4 · Strategic LeaderSenior Fellow · SFInstAMStrategic Leader Certified Programme
- Stage 3 · Strategic ProfessionalFellow · FInstAMStrategic Professional Certified Programme
- Stage 2 · ProfessionalMember · MInstAMProfessional Certified Programme
- Stage 1 · PractitionerAssociate · AInstAMPractitioner Certified Programme
- Workforce-level tierAffiliateEssentials Foundation Programme (optional)
The Institute in action
A community of professionals, worldwide
The profession
Administrative management is the work that holds organisations together
It is done by the administrator who keeps a service running, the executive assistant who protects a principal's time and judgement, the office manager who leads a team, the operations director who owns a function, and the chief of staff and company secretary at the top of it. These people rarely share a job title. They share a discipline.
The IAM Professional Standards describe that discipline through seven Competency Domains and four assessed Career Stages — the foundation on which every grade, programme, and course is built.
Non Sibi Sed Toti
Not for Oneself, but for All
Our motto is the reason the Institute exists as a professional body rather than a training company. Since 1915, we have served the profession as a whole — its standards, its ethics, and its people.
Standards and public trust
What a professional body is for
A professional body exists to protect the public as much as to serve its members. Everything the Institute awards is defined in published documents, governed by a code, and independently verifiable by anyone who needs to check it.
Published
The IAM Professional Standards
Seven Competency Domains and four assessed Career Stages describe the whole discipline, with a Progression Matrix setting out the competence expected at every intersection. Every grade, programme, and course maps to it.
Read the StandardsBinding
The IAM Code of Ethics
Every Professional Member is bound by the Code from the day of admission — integrity, competence, confidentiality, and a duty to act in the public interest, enforced through published complaints and appeals procedures.
Read the CodeAccountable
Independent governance
Recognition decisions are made by an independent panel on the evidence alone; disciplinary panels include a member who is not a director, officer, or member of staff; and no fee or commercial relationship influences any award. Every fee is published in full.
How we are governedVerifiable
Independent verification
Membership status, certificates, and centre recognition can each be checked against the Institute's registers by an employer, a client, or a regulator — free, and without the member's involvement. Members and students in Good Standing also appear in the IAM Directory.
Verify a MemberKey dates
The framework takes effect on 1 January 2027
The Institute's refreshed professional framework — the Professional Standards, the Code of Ethics, and the Membership and CPD Regulations — commences together, so members and organisations can plan against firm dates.
- Existing membersKeep the grade you hold and your current subscription for as long as your membership is active. The new categories and fees apply to new members and upgrades.
- 1 January 2027The Professional Standards, Code of Ethics, Membership Regulation, and CPD Regulation all take effect. Existing members continue at the corresponding grade without re-application or re-assessment.
- 2027The first CPD Year under the new Regulation: 30 hours, including 15 Structured, 3 ethics, and 2 sustainability hours, with at least one reflective practice record. Members admitted during 2027 are exempt for that partial year.
- 31 January 2028The first annual CPD confirmation falls due, covering the 2027 CPD Year.
- 1 January 2028The sustainability CPD minimum rises from 2 hours to 3.
- 1 January 2029The next edition of the Professional Standards takes effect, following the two-year review concluding in December 2028.
What membership gives you
Recognition you can use, and support you can rely on
Every Professional Member in Good Standing at an assessed grade receives the following, and keeps it for as long as membership is maintained.
- Your post-nominal designation — AInstAM, MInstAM, FInstAM, or SFInstAM — to use on your CV, correspondence, business cards, and professional profiles.
- A verifiable digital badge, digital certificate, and digital membership card, issued through the IAM Badge Platform and linked to independent verification.
- Listing in the IAM Directory, the public register of members and students in Good Standing, with three privacy levels you control — and verification of your status available either way.
- The IAM Portal, with CPD planning and recording tools, your development record, and the Institute's knowledge resources.
- Member rates for IAM events, courses, webinars, and conferences.
- A voice in the profession — participation in IAM consultations, and eligibility to volunteer for committees, advisory panels, and working groups, which itself counts as CPD.
- Mentoring and professional supervision, as a mentee or, subject to the criteria, as a mentor under the IAM Mentoring and Professional Supervision Framework.
- Confirmation of your standing to employers and clients through the Verify a Member facility, without you needing to be involved.
Fellows and Senior Fellows gain more still: Fellows may nominate candidates for Honorary Fellowship and take senior representative roles; Senior Fellows may be appointed to the panels that write and moderate the Institute’s assessment instruments. Affiliate and Student tiers carry Platform access, events, and study resources without a post-nominal.
Join the profession
Whether you are building a career, developing a team, or seeking recognition for what you already do, the Institute has a route for you.