Academia meets business

This event, organized by ACCA aimed to link academic institutions offering ACCA qualifications and the approved ACCA employers in Uzbekistan.

This was the the first-ever roundtable discussion held in Uzbekistan of its kind. Each table consisted of professionals from Big4, Banks, national qualification organizations and learning providers across the country. 

The discussion was based around three main topics/ questions.

Q1: How can employers and universities adapt to meet evolving expectations of students and retain top talent?

Professor Mohammad Tareq, from New Uzbekitan University provided valuable insights from his experience. According to him, US education lets students try different courses and spheres within the first two years at university. In year 3, students choose their major and in year 4, they graduate this major. This enables students to decide the one specialty after trying many and specialize in this field, thus becoming a true professional of the diploma, not just the diploma holder.

Professor also mentioned that the gap between what employers require and what universities teach is also partly attributable to higher education requiring entry teachers to have PhD degrees and a few publications. Offering some flexibility, that is, allowing industry professionals to teach students would help students get hands-on experience of what it feels like to work in the industry and get knowledge that can be used after they graduate. 

Audit companies, including Big4, have emphasized the importance of exam taking. EY, for example, requires new employees in year 1 to have certain ACCA papers and the requirement goes on until they finish all ACCA papers.

Q2: How can educational institutions and employers collaborate to nurture mindset of entrepreneurship while still preparing students for traditional corporate jobs?

Universities have career centers, which clearly show students the pathways to employment, different outcomes. Starting from year 1, these career centers help students choose the right specialty, guide them through both hard and soft skills necessary to become professionals of their chosen degree. 

Hamkorbank appears to have a special bonus system in which employees will get sizeable bonus if they take ACCA papers or even lifetime bonus ( until the end of employment) for those employees with DipIFR certificates. 

In addition to this, there is a special paid-vacation before exam sessions. That is, employees are paid for the days they prepare for exams. 

I also had such a privilege while I was working at Akfa Group. One week before each P level of my exam, I would go to work but not for working. I would be at work and study my own ACCA papers and enjoy the free lunch at the same time)

There is also an informal statement that 1 year of experience at Big4 = 3 years of Industry experience. 

While Big4 recognizes the ACCA qualification, university degree remains to be the mandatory step to land in Big4. 

Q3: What are the most critical human skills that employers need from graduates, and how can educational institutions embed  these into their learning experience?

Most opinions on this question were around the ethical issues of using AI and integrating pro-AI skills at Universities and effective use of AI.