By Victoria Knight and Marietta Cauchi 

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[Excerpted from the original article]  Financial advisers, and even regulators, are going back to school to learn the A-to-Z of alternative investments spurred by the growing popularity of hedge funds with wealthy investors.

There's not a whole load of choice out there when it comes to education in the sector and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association is grabbing the growing number of hungry students around the globe.

Some 1,171 candidates in 50 countries took exams in February for the association's professional "CAIA" designation (pronounced "KAI-yah"), up more than 40% on the last exam session in July. The association expects 1,800 to register for this fall's exams, boosted by the adoption of the program by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and growing recognition of the designation in Europe and Asia where there has been a significant up-tick in enrollments.

Craig Asche, executive director of the CAIA Association says most academic programs at universities and company training schemes are still geared towards stocks and bonds, creating a supply demand mismatch in a nascent, but rapidly growing industry.

"If you are a young person looking to get into this field, then there is no other way to get educated than through this program," he says.

William Gruzynski is a portfolio manager and director at Emerald Strategies LLC, a Chicago-based alternative investment firm focusing on hedge funds, managed futures solutions and foreign-exchange strategies for wealthy individuals and institutions, such as foundations and endowments. He graduated from the CAIA program last year. Mr. Gruzynski, who has over 30 years of industry experience, says the program helped him learn in more detail about real estate and private equity. Although he isn't directly involved in these types of strategies, his new knowledge has helped him articulate the pros and cons to clients when questions about they come up.

"Clients tend to look only at returns and not take into account how they are generated and the risks that are involved," Mr. Gruzynski says.