A fresh approach to finance lands Firoz a teaching excellence award

Firoz Jethwa, lecturer in accounting and finance from the university’s Institute of Business, Industry and Leadership, has been selected as the UK’s Teaching Excellence Country Champion 2022. He received his award on Friday 9 December at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Academic Partner Excellence Awards.

CIMA specialise in management accounting and a virtual awards ceremony was held online, jointly hosted by Karen Phang, Associate Director - Global Academic Engagement (AICPA & CIMA) from Malaysia and Nora Luquer Lead Manager - CGMA University Initiatives (AICPA & CIMA) from the US.

There were over 650 nominations across seven categories. The teaching excellence award recognises a CIMA subject lecturer who has demonstrated excellent engagement with CIMA students and effectively helped them to enhance their understanding of the subject taught. This year, applicants were also asked how they are incorporating digital topics into the modules that they are teaching.

Firoz won this award because the judges recognised he was using innovative teaching approaches to engage with students. As a result, students gained a greater appreciation of the subject. His notable achievements included establishing a finance forum which brings together the local community and university students to discuss trending finance topics, and revising some of the assessments which students have to undertake to make them more relevant to real life experiences.

Firoz said: “There are a lot of preconceptions about a subject like accounting. Many people assume that accountants spend all day at their desk crunching numbers.

“This couldn’t be further from the truth. Accountants help businesses evolve so that they can move on to the next level. They are at the forefront of business strategy.

“As well as participating in the finance forum, our first year students now pitch a business idea as part of their assessment. This encourages entrepreneurship and highlights the important role of accounting in business.”

Firoz’s nomination was supported by his colleagues from the institute and University of Cumbria Associate Professor in International Business, Raye Ng attended the online ceremony.

Raye was delighted with Firoz’s win and said: “Congratulations Firoz, what an achievement, you’re a real inspiration to staff and students, thank you for what you’ve done for us.”

Following his win, CIMA have asked Firoz to share the teaching resources he has developed and his finance forum will be included on the classroom resources page of their website.