Buyers Remorse

gordotempo

I recently started ACCA after getting a few exemptions and sat 2 exams in Dec. When I started to attend lectures I was surprised by the amount of non irish in the class. I didnt dwell on it initially, until recently there was a bit of slagging going on from work colleagues, who are members with other institutes, about how the qualification was not what it used to be due to the amount of non irish who were sitting the exams and passing.
There point was that if people with english as a second language were passing supposedly difficult exams.
I understand that this is not the most pc of posts but am thinkning about jumping ship to another institute?

Am I being unreasonable? Has anyone out there heard anything similar?

Altreab

gordotempo wrote: »

I recently started ACCA after getting a few exemptions and sat 2 exams in Dec. When I started to attend lectures I was surprised by the amount of non irish in the class. I didnt dwell on it initially, until recently there was a bit of slagging going on from work colleagues, who are members with other institutes, about how the qualification was not what it used to be due to the amount of non irish who were sitting the exams and passing.
There point was that if people with english as a second language were passing supposedly difficult exams.
I understand that this is not the most pc of posts but am thinkning about jumping ship to another institute?

Am I being unreasonable? Has anyone out there heard anything similar?

I suspect that their comments say more about them than it does about the course or the people passing the exams. Remember this ..its usually the emigrants who work the hardest to prove themselves. They tend to place a very high value on education for themselves and their families, which usually results in emigrant families doing extremely well within a generation.
Networking with your class mates may just be the smartest thing you can do ....that and passing the exams of course

gordotempo

Thanks for the input. I don't want this to turn into an immigration detate tho. Any accountants there with any insight?

chump

The fact that ACCA has more letters than ACA suggests it is compensating for something.

Ignore them

Triple A

I would tend to agree with Altreab. Some of the most intelligent, hard-working and naturally gifted accountants i have met in my time have been from Asia, especially Malaysia.

And thats speaking as an employer.

If you are thinking of "jumping ship" because of a little slagging or because you yourself have issues thats more a reflection on yourself than the Association.

Cantoris

Plenty of non-irish (particularly asians) in college with me. worked their socks off precisely because they did not know the language fully. Spent hours with dictionaries beside them and worked a hell of a lot harder than me. They either came from wealthy backgrounds where achieving a foreign degree was seen as an honour to the family or from ordinary backgrounds whose family wanted the best education for them. So they work hard. Forget about what your colleagues are saying. My bro keeps reminding me that his ACCA was harder than my ACA as he had no books to bring in with him. At the end of the day they are only letters!!

The CCAinsider

There are a number of reasons why there are a lot of non nationals doing ACCA:

DBS have a sister college in Malaysia and after doing their degree in Malaysia there is a scheme for the students to come to Ireland and do ACCA. I think it is even Malaysian government funded and only the very best students can do the scheme. So if you are in DBS that is the reason you will see a lot of head scarves.

Non EU ACCA students can get a student work visa if they study ACCA, so it is a way into Ireland for lots of Chinese, Indian and Malaysians etc… The visa allows them work full time during the day and study at night.

If a non EU national passes their ACCA exam and becomes a member of ACCA they are entitled to a “green card” and can stay in the country and work.

And finally if the non nationals ever go back to their home country the qualification is recognised there and ACCA is likely to have a local office.