Stay on top of pressing industry topics and expand your product knowledge with Continuing Education by the GIA Alumni Collective. You’ll find diverse subjects—including laboratory-grown diamonds, pearls, jewelry design, verifying country of origin, and much more—that suit your interests and can advance your career.
Taught by GIA scientists, experts, and instructors, the seminars can be as short as two hours, while some advanced workshops are held over two to five days. The online and in-person seminars are designed to suit the needs of diverse audiences, from new sales associates to established professionals looking to hone their skills. Participants aren’t required to be GIA alumni; anyone can take part.
New programs are added throughout the year to the GIA Alumni Collective’s Continuing Education. All seminars are backed by GIA’s more than 90 years of gem research. The knowledge and skills you acquire will elevate your understanding of today’s key industry topics and build confidence when you are evaluating and discussing the quality of gems and jewelry you see every day.
Current seminars deal with such subjects as:
Natural and Laboratory-Grown Diamonds
Get brilliant about diamonds with introductory and advanced seminars on natural and lab-grown diamonds and diamond treatments. Want to know how to distinguish natural diamonds from lab-growns? Explore manufacturing and identification techniques with GIA experts, and have the opportunity to ask your instructors about this complex topic.
In addition to teaching about diamonds, these seminars provide overviews of the instruments and services that GIA provides to identify diamonds and assess their quality, so you gain knowledge about the reports, advanced instruments, and tools available to support your business.
Colored Gemstones and Pearls
Whether you’re looking for an introduction to colored stones or want to dive deep into each of the “big three” gemstones (ruby, emerald, sapphire), our Continuing Education program has you covered. Country of origin can dramatically affect the value of gemstones. Learn origin determination techniques for a variety of popular gems, including ruby, emerald, sapphire, and alexandrite, in the Advanced Colored Stones Country of Origin seminar.
A timeless classic, pearls are experiencing a revival in trendiness and popularity. The seminar on GIA’s trademarked 7 Pearl Value Factors (including color, matching, nacre, and surface quality) will educate you on how to assess the quality of your pearls.
Jewelry Design and Bench Skills
With custom designs on the rise, are you ready to meet your clients’ custom jewelry needs? Learn to create sketches on mobile devices with our self-paced Digital Jewelry Sketching seminar. In another class, you can learn ZBrush modeling skills to take your computer-assisted design to the next level. If you want to get hands-on, enroll in our five-day in-person Introduction to Repair and Setting seminar, which covers essential bench skills such as ring sizing, basic welding, and polishing using professional bench equipment.
Jewelry Forensics
The Jewelry Forensics class provides vital jewelry assessment knowledge for a variety of professions, including jewelry intake specialist, pawnbroker, appraiser, and vintage-jewelry store owner. This unique two-day session teaches participants to become jewelry detectives as they examine jewelry design and engineering to identify manufacturing methods, workmanship, value, and durability.
View all Continuing Education offerings from the GIA Alumni Collective here.