UWI, ACCA sign strategic partnership for Cave Hill master's

The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Cave Hill Campus has become the first university in the Caribbean to introduce an embedded master's programme via an academic partnership with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). The programme provides for embedding all or some of the ACCA Strategic Professional level papers within a master's level qualification. The UWI, Cave Hill has now introduced a first-of-its-kind programme to its offerings in partnership with ACCA.

The papers at the strategic professional level of the ACCA qualification provide a unique blend of skills, real-world focus and specialisation options that will super-charge careers and impress employers. With strategic professional, ACCA set a new standard by fully integrating deep, broad and relevant technical expertise with ethics and professional skills. Because every element has a real-world focus, students will be well-prepared to handle the challenges they face in the workplace. The strategic professional comprises the following papers:

• Strategic Business Leader

• Strategic Business Reporting

• Advanced Financial Management

• Advanced Performance Management

• Advanced Taxation

• Advanced Audit & Assurance

Academic partnerships provide a progression route to master's level qualification for undergraduate accounting and finance graduates as well as cross-border education for regional and international students, thereby providing qualification and employability options to students who will become ACCA accountants and leaders of the future. For The UWI, Cave Hill to become an academic partner they needed to embed ACCA’s strategic professional level papers into their new or existing accounting and finance master's programme and meet the requirements of an 80 per cent-plus syllabus match in at least one strategic professional level paper, and in the case of UWI for all strategic professional level papers. The new embedded master's will be delivered within the guidelines of Cave Hill’s blended strategic approach. The embedded master's at Cave Hill is expected to officially begin in January 2021.

Students registering for this programme will also become students of ACCA and will be afforded discounted registration fees, free access to study resources from syllabus and examining team guidance, practice tests and FAQs to supplement their learning with Cave Hill.

Shelly-Ann Mohammed, head of ACCA Caribbean, who initiated the discussion with the university commented on behalf of ACCA, “This is a momentous occasion for ACCA and The UWI Cave Hill to introduce a programme such as the embedded master's to its offerings. ACCA is continuously developing innovative courses and programmes that can only add value to both students and professionals with a desire to be at the top of their game in the industry. This programme will afford students a double achievement – an academic designation and a professional qualification all within one package that can be attained in as little as 18 months. This will also help to support employers who will be able to hire qualified ACCA graduates right out of university. ACCA will continue to support the University as it seeks to launch in the new year.”

Jane Towers-Clarke, ACCA’s head of academic partnerships who has been instrumental in guiding the Cave Hill campus through the embedded master's process added, "We are indeed very pleased to have The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus on board as the first university in the Caribbean to promote and deliver the embedded master's programme. From inception, the university was unhesitating in its desire to add an innovative and new concept to learning to its existing products. We look forward to the continued partnership with UWI Cave Hill and the success of this new programme.”

Principal of Cave Hill, Professor V Eudine Barriteau, has welcomed the augmented academic alliance with the ACCA, noting that it not only burnishes Cave Hill’s reputation as a path-breaking tertiary institution but also advances the campus’ internationalisation agenda.

“This represents yet another first for The UWI, Cave Hill Campus, one that will set us apart as a university in the field of accounting qualifications available to our students. It is a further demonstration of the increasing innovation at the campus and extends our global reach and recognition. This embedded master’s programme will prove attractive to students worldwide by enabling them to benefit from cutting-edge instruction that combines academic and professional skills, and which links them directly and seamlessly to the international accounting profession and its markets.”

(Content courtesy ACCA)