Academy · Tier 2 · Professional Diploma

Professional Diploma in Precious Metals

Twenty-four weeks and twelve modules, from the ore body to the making charge. The Diploma takes the six Certificate modules and adds market structure, price formation, wrappers, custody, tax and AML, and responsible sourcing — then assesses all of it with a professional practice portfolio and a recorded oral viva in front of a named examiner.

What the second half adds

The Certificate is about the metal in front of you: what it is, how it was made, how you verify it, and what it costs. The Diploma is about the system the metal moves through — how a price is formed in London and landed in Mumbai, what a wrapper actually promises, who is liable when custody fails, and where education ends and regulated advice begins.

It is the tier built for people whose employer or licence gives the credential a use: dealers, appraisers, compliance officers, gold-loan and pawn staff, wealth managers and family-office analysts.

The assessment is the credential

Everything else is the teaching that gets you there. The Diploma carries identity verification at enrolment, twelve graded assignments, a banked randomised final examination, a professional practice portfolio, and a recorded oral viva of twenty to thirty minutes with a named examiner — mandatory to pass.

That viva is the single most important design decision in the programme. It is nearly impossible to fake, it costs almost nothing in software, and it is the honest answer to the reasonable question of how this differs from the £99 “diplomas” sold elsewhere in this category.

Choose a capstone

One brief, chosen at week 18 and defended at the viva:

• Authentication and valuation report on a real item — photographs, test protocol, findings, a defensible value opinion, and an explicit statement of residual uncertainty.
• Market analysis — a procurement or market-entry analysis for a specified market, every figure sourced and dated.
• Due-diligence file — a full OECD-aligned sourcing file for a specified supply chain.
• Buyer's decision memo — an all-in cost comparison across three purchase routes in one market, normalised per gram of fine metal, with the mis-selling risks named.

What it is not

The Professional Diploma is a professional development credential. It is not a degree, it does not carry academic credit, and it is not accredited by an accrediting agency recognised by the U.S. Department of Education. We say so here, on the certificate itself, and everywhere in between. The post-nominal carries the provider's name — Dip.PM (Aurix) — on purpose.