On Monday 14 July we welcomed academics from our Partner in Learning institutions to Chartered Accountants' Hall for a day of networking, discussion and debate.
This conference is the largest academic event that the Learning Team runs throughout the year. It gives our academic contacts a platform to discuss issues in higher education, present their research and demonstrate new and innovative teaching methods. Maintaining an open dialogue with academia and industry / practice, is vital to wider and easier access to the profession for university students. This event promotes collaboration and networking and helps to bridge the gap between the academic and professional worlds. Opening up this dialogue and blending academic and professional learning is the cornerstone of the ICAEW Partner in Learning scheme, and it is demonstrated most clearly at this yearly event.
Some of the main themes of the day focused on sustainability, technology and the future of the profession.
The roundtable sessions focused on how we can inspire students, some of the key themes and actions from this session have been laid out below:
CAH Visits for HEI Students – There is increased interest for students to have the opportunity to visit Chartered Accountants Hall, we are currently looking into how this would run and how we can make this fair for students and across the 90+ UK based Partners in Learning an update on this will be posted in academic year 25/26.
Student Engagement – The Early Careers team at ICAEW liaise with both the academic and careers teams at HEIs across the UK to provide a range of events including ACA Intros, Mythbusting, What do Chartered Accountants Do? And Q&A panels. These events can be both in person or virtual, for more information about events you can reach out to zoe.wells@icaew.com who will put you in touch with your regional early careers executive.
You can also find more information for students including case studies and links to online sessions on the Early Careers Hub.
Interactive Tool/Website for students – As well as the Early Careers Hub listed above the Early Careers team are also developing a gamified learning experience aimed at helping university graduates understand the journey to becoming an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. Through this interactive platform, students will explore the diverse roles and responsibilities of chartered accountants across different sectors. Details on this once it launches will be sent out via a HEI Alert.
Slides from the conference
A really good event with great opportunities for networking and understanding more how the links between ICAEW and HE do and could work.