At this time of year my email inbox fills with ‘out of offices’ from colleagues across Europe. As part of our strategic focus is on the ACT pulling its weight internationally this is in many ways a good time to take stock.
So much of what we are doing with our qualifications is set in this international strategic context and I wanted therefore to give part of this message to Doug Williamson, an ACT tutor; he describes how the ACT’s learning methods and delivery have changed over the last year.
Doug has worked closely with the ACT’s internal team on increasing the accessibility of our distance learning material and providing tutor support to those studying at Certificate, Diploma and Advanced Diploma levels.
Before handing over to Doug I want to mention our most recent award of Honorary Fellowship and to give an update on some of our recent events. Council agreed in July to appoint Alastair Clark as ‘Hon FCT’. He recently retired as Adviser to the Governor of the Bank of England, where he was formerly an Executive Director of the Bank. Alastair has been an MCT level member of the ACT for many years and is also a member of the Advisory Board.
During his career at the Bank Alastair was a strong friend and supporter of the ACT and always encouraged us to maintain contact, particularly through the regular lunches we have held between the Bank and the ACT team. With his strong commitment to financial stability he has been a valuable sounding-board and on occasion a conduit for the views we hold on issues affecting corporate life in the UK and elsewhere. I am very pleased that we have been able to mark his contribution to the ACT with this award.
Once again our recent events have proved extremely popular with ACT members and friends and we have been delighted by the positive feedback on the strength of the event programme. Close to 100 delegates attended Changing Landscapes in Pensions on 27 June. Delegates commented on the quality of the speakers and the stimulating programme. For those who missed out, we are pleased to be holding a Pensions Evening Symposium on 7 February 2008 – full details will be available in due course.
Early July saw us in Düsseldorf for the third in the talkingtreasury series – a thought leadership forum for international corporate treasurers. With once again a panel of expert speakers from European companies, delegates benefited from the opportunity to exchange ideas and share experiences in a lively and open environment. We have also been delighted by the success of the Derivatives series of breakfast symposia, which attendees found to be an excellent way of gaining detailed insight into this challenging area.
Upcoming events include our Mergers and Acquisitions Masterclass on 13 September, which will provide an in-depth look at managing M&A; places are selling fast so you should book early.
Our next regional conference and networking event will be a South West conference on fundamental treasury topics in Bristol on 19 September. Our regional conferences are an invaluable opportunity to discuss issues and share experience. We are also taking bookings for Private Equity and the Role of the Treasurer on 22 November. This conference will cover leading issues in the area and will offer a balanced view from both PE houses and corporate treasurers who have been involved in PE transactions.
I’ll now hand over to Doug Williamson.
This quarter saw substantial advances in the global reach of our qualifications. This progress occurred simultaneously in our face-to-face teaching and in our online and open learning provision. The ACT’s students have a diverse range of learning styles and needs, both internationally and in the UK.
Our highly successful International Cash Management (CertICM) residential school has been running this summer in Chicago, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
At the same time MCT students are studying and attending online tutorials from the United States, Trinidad, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Switzerland, Poland and the Netherlands, as well as from Hong Kong and the UK.
Following the success and experience of delivering the MCT online we have introduced a tutor guided open learning option for Financial Mathematics and Modelling (CertFMM). Among other advantages, candidates following this route complete selected Excel modelling assessments and mock exams which are marked by a dedicated tutor to provide detailed individual feedback throughout the study period. Although particularly designed and recommended for overseas students who cannot attend face to face tuition in the UK, both MCT online tutorials and the CertFMM open learning programme are also attracting significant proportions of UK-based students.
All candidates for the ACT’s qualifications now enjoy the use of a dedicated e-learning website – the last migration took place at the beginning of this year for CertICM’s e-resources which now sit alongside the other AMCT and Certificate papers. This allows – for example – all candidates to access a single database of consistently defined technical terms, but with a view tailored to their particular course.
