Sham Mathura: “Embracing the digital era to equip future accountants”

In less than fifteen years, Sham Mathura has been able to make of his school of accountancy one of the most successful professional institutions in the island. He next challenge is to train future accountants who are IT proficient and thus increase their employability. This ready-for-the-job training was the missing link in professional studies.

How do you mix studying for an ACCA certificate and training for an IT diploma?

BSP School is embracing the digital era as from this semester whereby our students will be encouraged, trained and expected to be IT literate. The world of accountancy is changing and the shift towards complete digitisation is within sight. Taking the lead as a professional accounting school, we want to ensure that students are equipped to fearlessly embrace change, so they can utilise the full breadth of benefits offered by modern technology. As is often the case, some people shy away from change. It is true that bookkeeping is a must for accountants but going digital can help you to say goodbye to that disorderly heap of paper as even the authorities are going online. To adapt to these changes, BSP School proposes training in accountancy while embracing the digital era. We are offering training on Microsoft and accounting software so that our future accountants are fully equipped before they join the job market.

What innovations do you propose for the next generation of accountants?

BSP School is proposing the following: Upon enrolment, students will no more have the worry to look up for placement as BSP School is providing job placement to its next generation of accountants to gain experience and at the same time they will be able to follow their coursework. Our students no more need to carry books and study materials, as we shall have access to the cloud system, through tablets we provide them, thus making studying more flexible and easy. As from July 2016, BSP School will be having all its activities in only one campus which we shall turn into a Digital one and at the same time, increasing on our customer and student support services. We will achieve this by:

• Make our building a digital one; free Wi-Fi access
• Ensuring our students are equipped with their laptop/tablets
• Free Microsoft office and software training
• Free e-books, e-kits and e-hand outs
• Introducing the BSP Cloud System where students can download notes
• Investing in high quality camera giving access for remote and live classes

What is the track record of the BSP School of Accountancy?

BSP School of Accountancy and Management is a registered institution with the regulatory body, the Tertiary Education Commission – TEC. Our school offers financial courses like ACCA, CIMA, BSc Oxford Brookes in Applied Accounting, CFA, and CLARITAS. All programmes are approved by TEC and Mauritius Qualification Authorities. BSP School has been set up in June 2011 and is offering full-time and part-time courses from Foundation level to Professional level. It started with its strategic campus in central Port Louis giving accessibility to all students across the island. We also have students from Rodrigues Island. We also have foreign students, they are mainly from India, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Africa. From 2011 to date, BSP has enrolled around 11,500 students which cater for around 22,000 ACCA Papers. With a rapid growth in 2012, BSP expanded its operations to Curepipe in order to facilitate students from areas in the southern part of the island to register for ACCA courses. In 2014, BSP School expanded in the financial city of Ebene to allow working students to follow evening classes. During its very first semester; July to December of 2014, BSP School enrolled around 650 students, which was indeed very motivating to move further. In quest of expansion and to diversify our courses, BSP School acquired a 7-storey building in Port Louis. With such a huge investment and capacity to accommodate up to 800 students at any one time, it was inevitable to close Ebene and Curepipe campuses and to focus on our tower for future growth.

With such a number of students, how do you meet the needs and requirements for one and all?

The top management, with the support of the Head of Academics, is committed to ensure that customer requirements are fully understood in to achieve customer satisfaction, coordination of permanent and visiting faculties. The primary customers of the college are individual students. They are unemployed students who usually enrol with BSP School after their high school. We have also designed a trainee accountant course known as the SME Outsourcing training programme whereby full-time students are trained in our accounting firm which is also a Platinum Approved Employer recognised by the ACCA. Our students gain working experience for three months. At the end of this MQA-approved course, students are offered a certificate of attendance.

You may have a good number of students but what about coaches?

We have high calibre local and foreign lecturers to ensure that the students get value for money. Study materials, including manuals and revision kits of high standard from Kaplan UK are being offered at low prices with payment facilities in order to cater for the needs of students. Our tutors are mostly from Pakistan. With quality education and intensive coaching, we have obtained many prizes both at national and international levels on specific ACCA papers. Since its inception, BSP has always created prize winners at every examination. One of our regular prize winners for almost all papers of ACCA (local and international) and at the same time our scholarship awarded student Miss Farheen Bibi Chutkai, received awards of appreciation for having topped in two specific papers last semester. How much it cost to study accounting? For the next intake scheduled for July this year, fees per module are as follows:

• Level 1 – Rs 5,000
• Level 2 – Rs 6,000
• Level 3 – Rs 7,200

These include Microsoft, Sage Pastel Accounting Software and Quick Book training.