Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operative. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of co-operation.

This is the fifth co-operative principle, as published by the International Co-operative Alliance. It is not surprising that education was on the original list of seven Rochdale principles and has remained so following the various ICA-led revisions of these principles

Member education should help further understanding of the rights and responsibilities of membership, including their need to exercise their democratic rights. Member education can help secure an active and informed membership and ensure that elected representatives and leaders are ones who share their vision and aspirations for the success of their co-operative, and have the necessary skills to carry out their responsibilities.

Improving operational performance has been among key targets by various organizations globally including cooperatives. Among the major strategies to improve performance of various kinds in organizations is the provision of education and training to enable implementation of daily activities.

As an APEX body and same as other cooperatives, ICC needs continuous provision of education and training to the Board, members and management as a means to build capacity needed to attain the desired needs and aspirations. The initiated cooperative education and training system has served as an empowering tool to build capacity of cooperatives to reach desired end, including better provision of services to satisfy members.

In this regard, ICC in order to perform its duties, missions assigned to the law of the cooperative sector and based on its strategic and operational goals and plans to increase the productivity of human resources and empowering members, has established a training and research center in the cooperative sector.

This center will try to play a constructive role in spreading and promoting cooperative culture by regularly planning and holding educational, practical and purposeful courses, by using experienced professors, and by developing quantitative and qualitative activities.

 Online learning

The outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran and necessary measures taken to tackle the spread of the virus may cause significant disruption to the provision of education, training and mobility opportunities for cooperative sector in Iran

As per the assessment of the researchers, it is uncertain to get back to normal education anytime soon. This will have negative effects on education opportunities. Training and research center of ICC struggling to find options to deal with this challenging situation.

Some of the training courses that has been hold by ICC are as follows:

Conventional training courses

-         Introduction to commercial  cards

-         Description the provisions of the articles of association of cooperative Society

-         Management of Organizational Behavior

Online courses

-         Research and development in Economic enterprise and its role for after the COVID-19 pandemic

-         E-learning course on Time Management

-         Tax procedure

-         Principles of Protocol, Etiquette, for managers

-         Public Diplomacy

-         Business Boom Solutions After Coronavirus Pandemic