University selection

Kingston or keele University? for Msc in Accounting and finance. Also I am complete fresher and with no experience in my field. Will this restraint me for placement and jobs in future?

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Saavi9

Kingston or keele University? for Msc in Accounting and finance. Also I am complete fresher and with no experience in my field. Will this restraint me for placement and jobs in future?

I am not entirely sure where to start with this one.

What do you mean a complete fresher if you intend to do an MSc?
Why an MSc in accounting and finance? Why not just do the appropriate professional qualification?
What do you mean by no experience in your field? In accounting?
What sort of job are you looking for? Academic/research assistant?
Will what restrain you fro placements and jobs in the future?

Please be specific.

(edited 5 months ago)

Reply 2

Saavi9

OP

2

Original post by MindMax2000

I am not entirely sure where to start with this one.

What do you mean a complete fresher if you intend to do an MSc?
Why an MSc in accounting and finance? Why not just do the appropriate professional qualification?
What do you mean by no experience in your field? In accounting?
What sort of job are you looking for? Academic/research assistant?
Will what restrain you fro placements and jobs in the future?

Please be specific.

Hey! Thanks for replying. So here's the thing. I am from India and recently I completed my graduation(Bachelor's of Commerce in Accounting and finance). I plan to study UK for my master's(Msc in Accounting and Financial management )for this jan intake and so i applied to university and got offer from Kingston and Keele University. So wanted to have some possible guidance which one to prefer.
About experience, its not related to my masters but still I am a bit concerned that after completing my masters, having no prior experience will pose many challenges while seeking jobs and that i should still consider to have experience first.

(edited 5 months ago)

Reply 3

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Saavi9

Hey! Thanks for replying. So here's the thing. I am from India and recently I completed my graduation(Bachelor's of Commerce in Accounting and finance). I plan to study UK for my master's(Msc in Accounting and Financial management )for this jan intake and so i applied to university and got offer from Kingston and Keele University. So wanted to have some possible guidance which one to prefer.
About experience, its not related to my masters but still I am a bit concerned that after completing my masters, having no prior experience will pose many challenges while seeking jobs and that i should still consider to have experience first.

Still haven't answered most of my questions, but anyhow...

I completed my graduation(Bachelor's of Commerce in Accounting and finance). I plan to study UK for my master's(Msc in Accounting and Financial management )for this jan intake
Note: if you already did a bachelor's in accounting and finance, you would have likely received exemptions for modules in a professional accounting qualification e.g. CA, CIMA, and ACCA (I'm ignoring the other British accounting qualifications for the time being).
A MSc in accouting and finance won't add any more knowledge to what you have already covered in your bachelor's. In all likelihood, you would be covering the same material in a shorter timeframe i.e. it's going to be mostly a repeat of your bachelor's in 1 year. Having said that, you do a dissertation on top for your MSc, which doesn't help that much if you intend to become an accountant or finance professional in industry.

got offer from Kingston and Keele University. So wanted to have some possible guidance which one to prefer.
Although I haven't done degrees from either universities, I think they are roughly the same in terms of reputation. I might be leaning more to Keele because they have a wider range of modules to choose from.
Since both degrees offer placements (note: you have to arrange your own placements), there isn't much to differentiate the 2 degrees otherwise other than location. Kingston is based in Surrey, a lot closer to London where a lot of businesses are and probably is better for networking. Having said that, there is nothing to say that you can't do your degree at Keele and then network elsewhere.
See: https://www.kingston.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/accounting-finance-msc/
https://www.keele.ac.uk/study/postgraduatestudy/postgraduatecourses/accountingandfinancialmanagement/
The other thing to note is that Kingston's degree states that its modules can lead to exemptions for CIMA and ACT, whereas Keele's doesn't specify which accounting qualifications you can get exemptions with.

Using ACCA's exemptions calculator, I have found that you can get 5 exemptions with Keele's degree, and none with Kingston's. See: https://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/help/exemptions-calculator.html
Using CIMA's exemptions calculator, I have found that you can get 4 with Keele's degree, and 4 with Kingston's. See:https://www.aicpa-cima.com/exemption-calculator/summary
I can't verify based on ICAI because they don't have an exemptions calculator to look into.
If you want to get something that would allow you to get full exemptions for ICAI's CA, then consider the UK's equivalent of ICAEW's ACA (Keele:0, Kingston: very likely 0 based on the naming of the modules): https://apps.icaew.com/cpldirectory

About experience, its not related to my masters but still I am a bit concerned that after completing my masters, having no prior experience will pose many challenges while seeking jobs and that i should still consider to have experience first.
Yep, pretty much the issue with any accounting role. Employers would likely be looking for people with experience over someone who has degrees. I am not entirely sure what it's like in India, but employers in the UK value experience and relevant professional qualifications over degrees.
If you have experience, your master's not likely to add much to your application because roles in accounting and finance don't really value degrees as much as professional qualifications and relevant experience. The only occasion where degrees are useful is if you intend to go into academia.

Feel free to get a second opinion on the above from any UK accountant.

Hi @Saavi9,

I hope you are well.

I'm a current student at Kingston University and from my experience, the university is supportive and has great networks.

Kingston is situated in an environment with great transport links which makes it beneficial for students commuting to the university.

The MSc in Accounting and Finance course in Kingston is accredited by the ACT and offers exemptions from its professional exams, along with providing entry to the CIMA Master's Gateway. It also covers aspects of the ACCA professional examinations.

Also as part of the course, you have access to use the Bloomberg and Thomson DataStream Advance.

You can have a look at Kingston University's website for more information- https://www.kingston.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/accounting-finance-msc/

I hope this helps you and feel free to ask further questions.

Kind regards,
May
Student Postgraduate Representative at Kingson University

(edited 2 months ago)

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