Did you know that studying ACCA can lead to a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Applied Accounting degree from Oxford Brookes University (OBU)?
This month we’re celebrating two decades of partnership with Oxford Brookes University that has resulted in over 33,000 ACCA students gaining a BSc degree alongside their professional qualification. The BSc (Hons) in Applied Accounting is available exclusively to ACCA students and offers a cost-effective way to obtain an undergraduate degree.
That's because the ACCA Qualification Applied Knowledge and Applied skills exams are considered equal to bachelor degree level. If you want to gain the OBU degree, at the same time as sitting your ACCA papers, all you have to do is undertake the Ethics and Professional Skills module and successfully undertake a research and analysis project.
Essentially you're able to use the knowledge and skills from your professional qualification to contribute towards gaining a university degree.
But why would this route be better than the traditional university route?
There are many reasons why gaining the OBU degree while studying ACCA could be the best option for you.
Oxford Brookes University
With an international reputation for innovation, high quality education and research, and global relationships, OBU is frequently voted the best modern university in the Sunday Times Good University Guide.
Improve your employability
The benefits of gaining additional academic degrees to complement your ACCA Qualification are plain to see. It greatly improves your employability, making you more attractive to employers, managers and business owners. It provides you with a powerful combination of qualifications, which can help you climb the career ladder quicker, open avenues to more career paths and give you a greater depth of finance and business knowledge.
Work and study
Attending university, while a great experience both personally and academically, can be very expensive. If you’d prefer the flexibility to work while you study, but not lose out on achieving a university degree, then studying ACCA with the OBU degree in mind is a great option.The BSc can be completed entirely online, allowing you to work around your commitments.
An edge over your peers
Having a BSc in tandem with your ACCA Qualification can give you the edge over other professionals. It shows commitment to learning; it proves a greater ability of research and investigation; and it also shows you can engage with finance and business dynamically and theoretically.
Save time, achieve more… MSc
Gaining qualifications in this way is also time saving. As mentioned, you can get the OBU degree when you complete the Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams. You could then achieve an MSc from the University of London when you complete your Strategic Professional exams. From here you’re better qualified to apply for further education such as MBAs, PhDs or more specialist finance courses globally.
ACCA graduate insight
Full Name:Veronica Shalindri Homer
Country:Sri Lanka
Year of completing ACCA and the OBU degree:2015
Current Profession:Full-time lecturer for ACCA at a platinum status tuition provider in Sri Lanka.
Why did you choose a career in finance, to study ACCA and go the OBU route?
As a sixteen year old who had just completed my Ordinary Level examinations, I was looking for a flexible qualification in the field of Accountancy and Finance that I could pursue while completing my secondary education, as I always had a passion for numerical subjects.
Hearing about a novel and stringent qualification – ACCA – that could give me both an academic and a professional qualification, I decided to pursue it with the intension of gaining an added advantage over my peers with a dual qualification.
What was your experience of gaining a degree in this way?
The research project and the reflective statement that are the very core elements of the degree gave me a chance to integrate the knowledge that I had acquired through the first nine papers of ACCA and explore a real-world business to come up with recommendations. This gave me the chance to depart from the typical exam structure and be exposed to real-world corporate challenges.
Despite it being a demanding qualification, this was indeed the fastest route for me to gain a degree from a highly ranked university at a very minor cost.
How do you feel you have personally and professionally benefitted from gaining the OBU degree?
It has given me the critical thinking and analytical skills necessary to break down any problem so that appropriate solutions can be recommended. Also, I strongly believe that these skills laid the foundation I needed to win a world prize for a subject in the ACCA Professional level exams and end up as the top affiliate of my batch. I was lucky enough to become the graduate speaker at my regional graduation too.
As I pursue a career in full-time lecturing, the OBU degree gave me a chance to become a professional equipped with a holistic understanding in both finance and research, where I can confidently impart this knowledge to many others.
Find out more about the course.
