Higher education

I hope you were able to get some time off during the summer holidays. The weather in the UK was a bit of a lottery, with the first half of summer evoking memories of 1976, and the second half turning a little bit more damp.

We’ve not been resting on our laurels at the HFMA. Preparations are afoot for the annual conference in December, and plenty of other events in the meantime, with eight of the branches hosting their own annual conferences during this autumn. 

In addition, we’ve been gearing ourselves up for another intake on our advanced qualifications, where once again we’ve seen a healthy number of applicants. If you turn to page 28, you will find a new monthly column dedicated to our qualifications and news from our HFMA Academy.

The new qualifications are a major development for the association and, we believe, for the NHS. So we make no apology for raising their profile in this way.

Over coming months, you can expect to hear from our education director, Alison Myles, and other key staff, as well as from tutors and students, as we attempt to give you a range of perspectives of the qualifications and highlight new and upcoming developments.

The first 20 places on our new Supporting patient care with patient-level costing module were snapped up quickly and we have seen a good  uptake on the other modules as well. 

In addition, we have the first cohort of students ready to take the MBA top-up year with our partners at BPP University.  There are just a handful at the moment, but in future years we will see this grow.

The HFMA advanced diploma and higher diploma programmes are set at Level 7, which is masters level. This is deliberately pitched to follow on from the professional accountancy qualification, and designed to be a prestigious programme. However, this is part of a whole series of educational offerings the association wants to develop and take forward. 

Keep reading the new academy column for further developments, including the launch of our level 4 intermediate diploma programme later in the year.

Those of you who can’t wait can contact  my colleague Natalija Elphick ([email protected]), who can also talk you through the availability of discounts for the first 20 places to be booked.

Many members ask me if we have programmes that could be funded using the apprenticeship levy.  The answer is not quite yet. However, we are hoping to have some additional information about that later this year or early next year. 

In the meantime, we’re excited about our educational programmes and want to develop more to meet the needs of the finance community. 

We’re also always on the look-out for tutors, so if you think you’ve got something to offer, please do not hesitate to contact my colleague Emily Osgood ([email protected]) – it’s an excellent way to give back.