The Financial Planning Association, in conjunction with the Financial Planning Education Council, will launch a national consultation framework on the curriculum and accreditation requirements for financial planning education in Australia.

In 2011, the Financial Planning Association (FPA) established an independent educational council called FPEC, made up equally of the Academic and Professional community, to review the existing programs on offer and research the needs of the University community.

"Until now there has been no consistent model of a financial planning curriculum and no consistent approach to accreditation," said Professor David Lamond, FPEC chairman.

"The Financial Planning Education Council's proposal is for a consultation on the introduction of a new Australian Curriculum for Financial Planning that aims to support positive general outcomes for all graduates in this field, whilst allowing Universities to specialise in their area of research or teaching expertise."

The initiative hopes to open dialogue between universities and the financial services industry to establish a consensus on the structure and content required for a harmonised national curriculum in financial planning.

There is hope that this will allow universities to focus on areas of expertise and provide more doctorate-level graduates.

"We know that Universities are working through enormous change right now, wrestling with changes to purpose, funding, standards and program validity," said Dr Deen Sanders, chief professional officer of the FPA.

"Our research showed us that the business world is wrestling with the same challenges, as the career model for professions changes in response to community demand, as individual professionals work through a different sense of community and obligation and as governments and regulatory scrutiny increases across the board."

The consultation is open to all Higher Education providers and will run