Study in the UK
ACCA is a professional qualification, not a degree — so the visa-safe UK routes are an accounting degree that clears up to nine of the thirteen papers, or a one-year master's built around the final Strategic Professional exams.
Duration
3 years full-time for a BSc/BA with exemptions; 12 months for an ACCA-linked master's
International fees / year
£16,100 – £18,970
Intakes
September & January
English requirement
Typically IELTS 6.0 overall for the undergraduate accounting degrees and 6.0–6.5 for the ACCA-linked master's, with no band below 5.5. PTE Academic and other approved tests are widely accepted, Brighton considers MOI letters from certain institutions in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and pre-sessional English is available if you fall just short.
Overview
ACCA is a professional accountancy qualification, not a university degree — and for international students that distinction matters more than any league table, because a UK Student visa requires a full-time course with a licensed student sponsor, and standalone ACCA exam tuition at a private college usually cannot provide one. The good news is that the visa-compliant routes are also the best-value ones. The first is an ACCA-accredited BSc or BA in Accounting and Finance: graduate from a degree such as Sunderland's, Greenwich's or De Montfort's with the right module choices and you can typically claim exemption from up to nine of ACCA's thirteen papers — everything before the final Strategic Professional stage — while holding a full Student visa and earning a genuine bachelor's degree, with 2026/27 fees from £16,100 a year. The second suits students who are already part-qualified: a one-year master's built around the Strategic Professional exams. Brighton's MSc Accounting (ACCA) (£18,792 for 2026/27) admits students who have passed all nine Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills papers, while BCU's MSc International Professional Accounting (ACCA) (£18,970) accepts a 2:2 in accounting or a business subject with significant accounting content. One famous route has now closed: the Oxford Brookes BSc (Hons) Applied Accounting took its final submissions in May 2026 and closes completely in December 2026, and ACCA's replacement degree partnership with the University of London is distance learning — so it does not come with a UK visa. We help you pick the route that fits your stage, free of charge.
Where to study
Birmingham, West Midlands
PG fees from £18,970/year
Intakes: September, January
BCU profileBrighton, South East England
PG fees from £15,960/year
Intakes: September, January
Brighton profileSunderland, North East England
PG fees from £16,500/year
Intakes: January, September
Sunderland profileLondon, Greater London
PG fees from £18,700/year
Intakes: January, September
Greenwich profileLeicester, East Midlands
PG fees from £16,100/year
Intakes: September, January
DMU profileBradford, West Yorkshire
PG fees from £15,700/year
Intakes: January, September
Bradford profileAfter you graduate
Trainee and part-qualified accountant roles in practice — audit, tax and accounts positions at firms from the Big Four to regional practices. Be realistic: the largest graduate schemes are highly competitive, and some firms ask for longer-term UK work rights than the Graduate Route provides.
Industry finance roles — assistant accountant, management accountant and finance analyst positions across UK businesses, where part-qualified ACCA students are in steady demand and employers commonly fund the remaining exams and membership fees.
Financial services and fintech — London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester all have large banking, insurance and fintech employers recruiting into finance operations, risk and financial reporting roles.
Full ACCA membership — the honest picture: exams alone do not make you a qualified accountant. ACCA membership requires passing all thirteen papers (minus your exemptions), completing the Ethics and Professional Skills module and logging 36 months of relevant, supervised work experience — which most graduates complete while working in their first role in the UK or back home.
Post-study work on the Graduate Route — you can currently stay and work in the UK for 2 years after your degree if you apply on or before 31 December 2026 (18 months for applications from 1 January 2027), which is typically the window graduates use to land a trainee accountancy role and keep qualifying while employed.
A globally portable qualification — ACCA is recognised in over 180 countries, so a UK degree plus ACCA exemptions keeps doors open in the Gulf, South Asia, Africa and beyond if you later return home.
FAQ
At the universities we work with, ACCA-accredited accounting degrees cost roughly £16,100–£18,600 per year for 2026/27 — Bradford from £16,100, De Montfort around £16,800–£17,300, Sunderland £17,500 and Greenwich £17,975 — while the one-year ACCA-linked master's routes are £18,792 at Brighton and £18,970 at BCU. Budget separately for ACCA's own registration, exemption and exam fees, and around £9,000–£13,000 a year for living costs outside London. Automatic awards such as BCU's £3,000 postgraduate scholarship reduce the headline fees at several partners.
Not for standalone ACCA papers in most cases. A Student visa requires a full-time course with a licensed student sponsor — below degree level it must involve at least 15 hours a week of organised daytime study — and typical exam-preparation courses at private ACCA tuition providers do not meet that test. The realistic visa-compliant routes are a full-time ACCA-accredited degree or an ACCA-linked master's at a university; every university on this page is a licensed sponsor. See /visa-process/ for how the CAS and financial requirements work.
It has closed. The long-running ACCA–Oxford Brookes partnership took final Research and Analysis Project submissions in May 2026, with one resubmission opportunity in November 2026, and the programme closes completely in December 2026. ACCA's current degree partner is the University of London, offering an MSc — and, from 2026, a BSc — in Professional Accountancy, but both are studied by distance learning, so neither comes with a UK Student visa. If your goal is ACCA plus UK experience, an exemption-heavy campus degree is now the route.
Yes, for the master's route at BCU: its MSc International Professional Accounting (ACCA) accepts a 2:2 honours degree — typically around 50–55% from a recognised university in Pakistan, India or Nigeria — in accounting or a business subject with significant accounting content. Brighton's MSc works differently: entry rests on having passed all nine ACCA Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills papers rather than your degree classification, and Brighton also runs a Diploma in Professional Studies in Accounting covering the Applied Skills stage — ask us whether it fits your visa position. For the bachelor's degrees, school results of around 60–65% usually secure entry, with foundation year routes below that.
Sometimes. Brighton formally considers MOI letters from certain institutions in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, BCU accepts Indian Standard XII English at 65% or above in place of IELTS 6.0, and WAEC/NECO English at C6 or above covers Nigerian applicants at several partners. PTE Academic, Duolingo and other approved tests are widely accepted, and pre-sessional English is available if you fall just short. Policies change every cycle, so contact us via /contact/ and we will confirm your exact position before you book anything.
September is the main intake across this page: the undergraduate accounting degrees at Sunderland, Greenwich, De Montfort and Bradford currently run September starts, and BCU's MSc International Professional Accounting begins in late August/September. The useful exception is Brighton's MSc Accounting (ACCA), which also offers a January start — handy if you finish your Applied Skills papers mid-cycle. Apply three to six months ahead: deposits, CAS issue and visa processing all take longer than most students expect.
Not automatically — and any agent who tells you otherwise is misleading you. ACCA membership requires passing all thirteen papers (minus your exemptions), completing the Ethics and Professional Skills module and logging 36 months of relevant work experience. What a UK degree or ACCA-linked master's gives you is most of the exams plus the Graduate Route — currently 2 years of post-study work if you apply on or before 31 December 2026, 18 months from 1 January 2027 — which is exactly the window most graduates use to secure a trainee accountant role and finish qualifying while employed.
Fees, entry requirements, English-language policies and intake dates are correct to the best of our knowledge at the date shown, but universities review them every cycle and immigration rules change. Always treat figures as a guide — we confirm the exact, current requirements with the university before you apply.
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