ASSOCIATION of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the University of London have agreed to offer a ground-breaking master’s programme to be made available to ACCA students and members around the world.

This marks the first time an accountancy body has joined with a university to enable students across the globe to gain a master’s degree and a professional accountancy qualification at the same time.

The combination of ACCA’s unparalleled global network of students and members, alongside the University of London’s unrivalled network of accredited teaching institutions, will present a powerful partnership.

“We are delighted to be the first professional accountancy body to be able to deliver this type of programme, meaning ACCA now directly offers choice from a complete suite of professional and academic qualifications,” said Helen Brand, ACCA chief executive.

“ACCA has a long history of working with academic partners and is proud of the opportunities these partnerships offer to our students and members. Consistent with this, providing global access to a prestigious master’s qualification as part of ACCA’s professional qualification will offer our students and members the opportunity to enhance their employability even further.

“Through our strong global relationships, we know that employers in many markets place a very high value on finance leaders having both a professional and a master’s qualification. We also know ACCA’s flexibility and portability are big factors for students when making their decision about which path to take, and ACCA and the University of London have just increased that access and flexibility.”

Sir Adrian Smith, vice-chancellor of the University of London, said the university is pleased to partner with ACCA to offer this pioneering programme.

“This programme fits well with the University of London portfolio of over 100 international programmes which are offered in collaboration with our internationally renowned colleges in pursuit of our 156-year-old widening access mission to learners worldwide. The programme will support students utilising modern online tools and interactive learning activities in addition to offering a range of learning support available through our well established community of teaching institutions and online tutors. Students successfully graduating from this programme will complement their professional skills with master’s level outcomes to support their career development.”

The masters programme will be available from early 2016 and will be delivered through online and local institutional support. Further details relating to the routes for ACCA students and members will be available in March.