PwC offers students an accelerated route to employment and an accountancy qualification through a new initiative in partnership with Henley Business School at the University of Reading and the professional accountancy body, ICAEW.
Henley Business School is launching a new degree programme in partnership with the UK’s leading graduate employer, PwC, which will give students who successfully pass their exams and perform well in work placements a guaranteed job after graduation. The initiative is a way of supporting wider access into the accountancy profession. Students will be paid as they study towards the degree, effectively mitigating the cost of their university tuition fees.
The four-year BA (Hons) Accounting and Business degree programme has been designed to give students a good business and commercial awareness as well as skills in marketing, law, governance and ethics. Like PwC’s traditional graduate intake, they will study towards the ACA, the ICAEW professional qualification, in parallel to attaining a degree, but unlike the traditional six-year route they will qualify only five years after starting the degree, a year after joining the firm.
Students will put theory into practice by working within PwC’s assurance team on their client projects over three paid, progressive work placements in years 2, 3 and 4 of the programme, providing them with vital employability skills before entering the workplace full time. Tuition fees in these years will be set at 80% of the University’s standard undergraduate fee.
Students can expect to earn at least £20k over the course of their studies and successful graduates will be offered a higher starting salary than other graduates joining the firm of up to £35k plus benefits, as they will be closer to qualifying as a chartered accountant than their peers from other degree programmes.
David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, said:
"I hope this innovative new scheme will prove to be very popular among prospective students. I congratulate PwC and Henley Business School on this exciting initiative, which is a great example of how new routes to the professions are being offered to help people reach their full potential. Social mobility is at the heart of the Government's agenda, and providing new routes to the professions is an excellent way of helping people reach their full potential.”
