American Institute of Parliamentarians



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AIP offers four correspondence courses for the study of parliamentary procedure. Each student is assigned an instructor who works with the student. All instructors are Certified Parliamentarians or Certified Professional Parliamentarians. The only course for which there is a prerequisite is Course 4. To enroll in Course 4 the student must hold the CP or CPP designations or have the permission of the AIP Education Director. The Education Director may be contacted for more information.

Each course is comprised of approximately 10 lessons. Each lesson contains a reading assignment in addition to the material contained in the lesson. Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 10th edition, and The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, 4th edition, are required books for reading assignments in all courses. Additional books are required in Courses 2 and 4 and are listed under Course Descriptions below.

The fee for each course is $200 for AIP members and $275 for AIP non-members, and may be purchased online from this website.

Parliamentary Law by Henry M. Robert, Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure* by George Demeter, and Riddick's Rules of Procedure by Floyd M. Riddick and Miriam H. Butcher are suggested for additional reading in all courses.

At least one lesson must be submitted every 60 days, and the entire course must be completed within two years after the first course material is sent to the student.

Course Descriptions:

Course 1*: Meeting Management Skills. Lessons include the principles and history of parliamentary law and practice, deliberative assemblies, order of business, debate and strategy, officers and the minutes, and more.

Course 2*: Participating in a Meeting. Lessons include the principles and precedence of motions, standard characteristics of motions, main, subsidiary, privileged and incidental motions, and more. Required text in addition to the two listed above is Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure by George Demeter.

Course 3*: Administrative Skills. Lessons include bylaws, boards and committees, discipline, voting procedures, nominations, and elections, quorum, and more.

Course 4*: Parliamentary Law and Practice. (See prerequisite requirement above.) This course is designed as an advanced course in parliamentary law. Lessons include differences among authorities, analogies, exceptions, problem solving, bylaws, committees, opinion writing, and more. Required texts in addition to those listed above are Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure by George Demeter, and Riddick's Rules of Procedure by Floyd M. Riddick and Miriam H. Butcher.

* Available at the AIP Bookstore