A degree of change

John Woodley, Oxford Brookes BSc programme director, introduces the revised degree, discusses the similarities, and explains the changes

The Oxford Brookes BSc (hons) degree in applied accounting has been revised to reflect the ACCA Qualification. The revised degree is effective immediately for ACCA students who registered after 1 January 2007 and who will sit the new ACCA Fundamentals level papers in December 2007.

To be awarded the BSc degree, an ACCA student must successfully complete the nine Fundamentals level exams and the Professional Ethics module, and then submit and pass the revised Oxford Brookes Research and Analysis Project (RAP). This must be done within 10 years of first registering as an ACCA Qualification student.

The first submission period for the revised RAP, and the first award of the revised BSc degree, will be after 1 August 2008. As before, to complete the RAP, a student will be required to have a project mentor.

ACCA students who registered before 1 January 2007 can complete the current BSc degree scheme if they completed their Part 1 and Part 2 exams by (or at) the June 2007 exam sitting, and submit and pass the current RAP before 31 July 2008.

Students who registered before 1 January 2007, and who do not complete the BSc degree by 31 July 2008, can still be awarded the degree after 1 August 2008, but only if they fulfil the revised scheme requirements after that date. So a student must complete the Fundamentals level exams (taking into account any converted passes from Parts 1 and 2) and the Professional Ethics module, and submit and pass the revised RAP.

Although the structure of the revised BSc degree is similar to the current degree scheme, there are a number of important differences.

Question: How did Oxford Brookes revise the degree scheme?

Answer: We undertook a thorough review of all aspects of the degree scheme, and also reviewed the feedback that we have received since it was established in 2000. We considered the impact of the ACCA Qualification syllabus, and defined the changes we wanted to make to meet wider educational objectives. Oxford Brookes discussed and agreed these objectives and changes with ACCA. The revised BSc degree scheme was examined in detail, and approved by Oxford Brookes under the university’s standard quality assurance procedures.

Question: What exemptions are available in the new degree scheme?

Answer: Oxford Brookes will give credits for exemptions awarded by ACCA for any of Papers F1 to F6. Every student who wishes to gain the revised BSc degree also has to sit and pass Papers F7, F8, and F9, as well as completing the Professional Ethics module and passing the RAP.

Question: Have there been any changes to the Oxford Brookes 10-year rule?

Answer: No. An ACCA student must complete the BSc degree within 10 years of their initial registration for the ACCA Qualification, even if they convert from one ACCA qualification to another during that 10-year period.

Question: Why is completing the Professional Ethics module a requirement of the revised BSc degree?

Answer: Oxford Brookes believes that all accounting graduates should be aware of the possible ethical issues that they may face in practice. This is particularly important for BSc graduates who are all ACCA students or members. Oxford Brookes is happy to be able to incorporate the new Professional Ethics module into the BSc degree scheme, and all students must complete the Professional Ethics module before submitting their revised RAP.

Question: Do I have to attend any courses at Oxford Brookes University?

Answer: No. As for the existing degree scheme, Oxford Brookes does not run courses for the BSc in applied accounting. Students have access to study texts and tuition providers to prepare for the ACCA exams. There are also approved RAP study texts, and students must find a project mentor to assist them in preparing their RAP.

Question: When do I need to opt in to the BSc scheme?

Answer: An ACCA student is automatically opted in to the BSc scheme when they register for the ACCA Qualification. If a student chooses to opt out of the revised degree scheme on registration, they can opt back in before they have passed either, or all, of Papers F7, F8, or F9. This is a fundamental requirement of the Oxford Brookes degree scheme.

Question: In the revised degree scheme, the RAP is to be given a grade, rather than just awarded a pass or fail. The RAP will also count towards the overall class of degree. Could you please explain these changes?

Answer: For some time we have thought that it was unsatisfactory to only mark the project as a pass or fail. This doesn’t give the successful student any feedback on how good their work was, and we know that students spend a lot of time and effort producing their RAP. We will have three pass grades for the RAP - A, B and C; by grading the RAP in this way, we can provide students with more information on the standard achieved.

We also concluded that the RAP should have a greater weighting within the degree scheme overall, to better reflect the work that students put into it. As a result of this increased weighting, we have increased the RAP word limit to 6,500 words, and now expect students to demonstrate that they understand why they are using a particular accounting or business technique, in addition to applying it and analysing and evaluating their results.
After 1 August 2008, the degree class awarded will be determined by combining the student’s average ACCA mark and the RAP grade. The marks awarded for the ACCA Fundamentals level, Skills module papers (Papers F4 to F9) will be used to calculate the ACCA average mark, and this will be the primary determinant of a student’s degree class. This means that for some students, their performance in the RAP will have a direct impact on the class of degree that they could be awarded. We hope this will encourage these students to produce good quality RAPs.

For many students, the RAP grade won’t have such a direct effect, but we hope that students will still be motivated to produce a high quality RAP. A student who achieves a grade A for their RAP can demonstrate a high level of graduate skills to potential employers.

Question: What does the revised RAP demand, and what do I need to do to pass?

Answer: The revised RAP consists of a Research Project (which has very similar requirements to the current Research Report) and a Skills and Learning Statement; this is different in emphasis to the current Key Skills Statement, but still requires students to reflect on their experiences of undertaking the project, including the impact it has had on their other studies and their job (if appropriate).

To pass the RAP, a student must pass the Research Project and the Skills and Learning Statement separately. A student who fails either or both will be allowed to resubmit those part(s) of the RAP that have not yet achieved the pass grade.

Question: In the new scheme, are there any limitations if I have to resubmit my RAP?

Answer: Yes. First, a student who does not pass the Research Project at the first attempt will only be awarded a maximum of a grade C for the RAP if they pass at a subsequent attempt. Second, a student will only be given three opportunities to pass the revised RAP. If the student does not pass at the third attempt, then they can no longer work towards the BSc degree. These changes bring the BSc more in line with standard university practice.
There will be students who fail the RAP before 31 July 2008 under the current scheme and who want to complete the degree after 1 August 2008. Such students will be given a fresh start and have up to three attempts to pass the revised RAP after 1 August 2008, provided they are still within the 10-year time limit available to them to complete the degree.

Question: If I pass the revised RAP first time and am awarded a grade C, can I resubmit the RAP to try to get a higher grade?

Answer: No. Once a student has achieved a pass grade in the RAP after 1 August 2008, then they have met the scheme requirements and they will be awarded the BSc degree. It is not possible to resubmit the RAP, so students will have to ensure that the quality of their first submission is as good as possible.

Question: In the current RAP guidelines, Oxford Brookes gives a list of recommended project topic areas. Will this list change?

Answer: Oxford Brookes will still produce a list of recommended topic areas, but some of the titles may be changed to reflect the new RAP requirements. Oxford Brookes will still be pleased to consider students’ own proposals for their RAP research work.

Question: The ACCA average mark in the revised degree scheme will only be based on the results of the Fundamentals level Skills module exams (Papers F4 to F9) and won’t include marks achieved in Papers F1 to F3. Also, students who have passed Part 1 Professional Scheme exams won’t have these marks counted towards their class of degree if they complete the BSc after 1 August 2008. Why have you made such a significant change?

Answer: Following the review of the degree scheme, Oxford Brookes and ACCA agreed that after 1 August 2008, a student’s average ACCA mark should be determined only by their performance in the higher level papers - Papers F4 to F9 in the ACCA Qualification, and the six Part 2 papers in the Professional Scheme.

This is more consistent with practice in higher education, where a student’s performance in introductory papers doesn’t usually count towards the final degree class. Introductory papers are designed to give the student the opportunity to develop their learning style and their understanding of the basics of the subject. Students who don’t do well in the introductory papers should not be disadvantaged by their performance, as they may go on to achieve good marks in the higher-level papers. We believe that success in higher-level papers is a better reflection of academic performance.

There is a practical point as well. Many ACCA students are awarded exemptions from the three introductory papers as a result of their success in other relevant exams. By restricting the calculation of the ACCA average mark to six papers after 1 August 2008, we will ensure a greater level of comparability between students’ performance.

Students who have passed Part 1 papers will have their marks included in the determination of their degree class if they complete the BSc before 31 July 2008.