LIMPOPO – Last week, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) made the announcement that the UL gained accreditation effective from January next year. Together with the undergraduate accreditation that the UL received in 2011, this means that aspiring chartered accountants CAs(SA) will now be able to complete their full four years of study at the UL.
SAICA Senior Executive for Professional Development, Mandi Olivier, says the SAICA accreditation process is a rigorous and extensive one as they undertake an academic review process to assess whether the university’s specific programme(s) that lead to the CA(SA) designation have the necessary resources in place to deliver a high quality programme.
“The purpose of an accreditation visit, which we undertook for the UL in April this year, is to establish if the criteria for an accredited academic programme are being met and that they meet the Council of Higher Education’s (CHE) definition as being a purposeful and structured set of learning experiences that lead to a qualification,” Olivier explains.
This accreditation for next year means that the UL’s postgraduate diploma in accountancy is now recognised by SAICA for entry into the first of its professional examinations, the Initial Test of Competence. This means that UL students no longer have to continue their studies at other universities as they are now able to complete their studies at the UL before entering a three-year training programme, writing SAICA exams and registering as chartered accountants.
SAICA Executive Director for Professional Development and Nation Building, Chantyl Mulder, says she is delighted at the institute’s achievement.
“The UL postgraduate degree accreditation would not have been possible without the partnership entered into between the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the UL to provide the appropriate capacity building support and development of staff. Staff from both universities must be congratulated on this achievement as it is a direct result of their willingness to collaborate and learn from one another that accreditation has been achieved,” she says.
Mulder praised the leadership of the UL, saying their vision and continued support in the implementation of this capacity building project made all of this possible. She adds the benefits of this accreditation extend far beyond just the institution and its students.
“For years, the inability for accountancy graduates from historically disadvantaged institutions (HDIs) like the UL to register for SAICA examinations without first completing both a bridging programme in addition to their CTA has not only carried a negative stigma but rendered these institutions less competitive in the labour market. This is no longer the case for students at the UL. Now that full accreditation has been achieved, the province’s aspiring CAs(SA) students will no longer have to move to other provinces to enrol at accredited institutions in order to achieve their goals,” explains Mulder.
She says this will help keep talented individuals from migrating to big city centres to find work and will in turn, assist in boosting Limpopo’s economy.
