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 Campus 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. 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 Campus 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%+ 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 the UWI Cave Hill’s blended strategic approach. The embedded master’s at Cave Hill is expected to officially begin in January 2021.

Jane Towers-Clarke, ACCA’s head of academic partnerships, who has been instrumental in guiding the UWI, Cave Hill Campus through the embedded master’s process, said: “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’ programme.“

Principal of the UWI, Cave Hill Campus, 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’ internationaliation 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.”