Peer-to-peer networks
As students begin a new academic year, University Engagement Manager Judith Wilson explains how ICAS’ campus ambassador programme is communicating the value of the CA qualification to the next generation
Peer-to-peer networks
As students begin a new academic year, University Engagement Manager Judith Wilson explains how ICAS’ campus ambassador programme is communicating the value of the CA qualification to the next generation
As University Engagement Manager, my overall objective is to develop relationships and activities on university campuses with a view to maximising student intakes. This means engaging with universities across the UK on accrediting their accountancy degree programmes. We currently accredit 141 degrees across 37 different universities and this is increasing all the time. This makes it easier for graduates with ICAS-accredited degrees to qualify for exemption from the initial Knowledge stage of the CA qualification.
The other key part of my job is increasing brand awareness on campus. We work with most UK universities from the ancient to the red brick, from metropolitan to the Russell Group, with colleagues from careers, business school and accountancy departments to encourage students to consider becoming a CA.
From left: Judith Wilson (left) with campus ambassadors; ICAS at the University of Aberdeen
From left: Judith Wilson (left) with campus ambassadors; ICAS at the University of Aberdeen
We’re keen to reflect our intake, so we work across campus as widely as possible, targeting the significant proportion of students who come to ICAS without an accountancy degree. We have also recently accredited the new accountancy degree at the Open University, which we hope will further support widening opportunities and pathways into the profession.
The challenge to attract young talent at this early career stage is more competitive than ever, not only in accountancy but across all sectors. Graduate recruitment is a very crowded marketplace, with industries, employers and individuals vying for student attention, shouting: “This is the career for you!” This is a particularly important time to dispel myths and get the message through to students who will be comparing salaries and reading reports about the entry-level roles they might have expected to fill being under threat from AI.
At ICAS we have become increasingly aware that this generation look to their peers for advice, rather than responding to traditional advertising and face-to-face methods. Whether that’s people they know or online consumers they don’t, the reliance on word-of-mouth in the decision-making process has exploded over the past few years.
Last year, we started our campus brand ambassador programme, employing undergraduates to represent ICAS on campus. We expanded it in 2025 to have ambassadors on 18 different campuses across the UK. As well as the peer-to-peer influence they can bring, they have access to departments, lectures, societies, social media, digital chat and noticeboards, and on-campus events for which to hand out flyers, put up QR codes, promote ICAS event sign-ups or give lecture shout-outs in a way that we, as an external party, just don’t have.
We use a third party, Sanctuary Graduates, to recruit, employ, train and manage students on our behalf. They are early-careers recruitment and diversity experts, who specialise in peer-to-peer connections.
“The ambassadors also offer us valuable insights as to what’s happening on campus, what resonates with them and what other options students are considering”
They have one-to-one meetings with the ambassadors every week, managing their activity and weekly objectives. It’s important to work with each of them individually because those young people are all different students on different campuses, doing different subjects, with different qualities and strengths and different networks. If you’re a cheerleader doing accountancy, your peer group is unlikely to resemble that of someone who is doing maths and is a member of the Women in Business Society.
ICAS is involved in the initial selection and training and gives clear guidelines for the ambassadors. However, this year we’ve also encouraged them to be creative in their social media posts, maybe doing some video content, as members may have seen on LinkedIn. But however they choose to reach out to our target audience, it feels more authentic because it comes straight from a peer.
From left: Wilson (centre) with a colleague and CA student at the Scottish Graduate Fair; online recruitment
From left: Wilson (centre) with a colleague and CA student at the Scottish Graduate Fair; online recruitment
Some of those ambassadors will be studying accountancy, but not all. We want to reflect our intake and ensure other degree disciplines are represented so they can engage effectively across the whole student population. The ambassadors are generally in their penultimate year of study, so they don’t have to juggle the role with doing their finals. They also offer us valuable insights as to what’s happening on campus, what resonates with them and what other options students are considering.
We’ve only been using campus ambassadors for a year, so it’s too early to give definitive results. But the early signs of engagement have been very positive, enabling us to access harder-to-reach talent on campus, and therefore enhancing our student pipeline with ambitious, high-achieving graduates.
Find out more about how to become a CA
As University Engagement Manager, my overall objective is to develop relationships and activities on university campuses with a view to maximising student intakes. This means engaging with universities across the UK on accrediting their accountancy degree programmes. We currently accredit 141 degrees across 37 different universities and this is increasing all the time. This makes it easier for graduates with ICAS-accredited degrees to qualify for exemption from the initial Knowledge stage of the CA qualification.
The other key part of my job is increasing brand awareness on campus. We work with most UK universities from the ancient to the red brick, from metropolitan to the Russell Group, with colleagues from careers, business school and accountancy departments to encourage students to consider becoming a CA.
From left: Judith Wilson (left) with campus ambassadors; ICAS at the University of Aberdeen
From left: Judith Wilson (left) with campus ambassadors; ICAS at the University of Aberdeen
We’re keen to reflect our intake, so we work across campus as widely as possible, targeting the significant proportion of students who come to ICAS without an accountancy degree. We have also recently accredited the new accountancy degree at the Open University, which we hope will further support widening opportunities and pathways into the profession.
The challenge to attract young talent at this early career stage is more competitive than ever, not only in accountancy but across all sectors. Graduate recruitment is a very crowded marketplace, with industries, employers and individuals vying for student attention, shouting: “This is the career for you!” This is a particularly important time to dispel myths and get the message through to students who will be comparing salaries and reading reports about the entry-level roles they might have expected to fill being under threat from AI.
At ICAS we have become increasingly aware that this generation look to their peers for advice, rather than responding to traditional advertising and face-to-face methods. Whether that’s people they know or online consumers they don’t, the reliance on word-of-mouth in the decision-making process has exploded over the past few years.
Last year, we started our campus brand ambassador programme, employing undergraduates to represent ICAS on campus. We expanded it in 2025 to have ambassadors on 18 different campuses across the UK. As well as the peer-to-peer influence they can bring, they have access to departments, lectures, societies, social media, digital chat and noticeboards, and on-campus events for which to hand out flyers, put up QR codes, promote ICAS event sign-ups or give lecture shout-outs in a way that we, as an external party, just don’t have.
We use a third party, Sanctuary Graduates, to recruit, employ, train and manage students on our behalf. They are early-careers recruitment and diversity experts, who specialise in peer-to-peer connections.
“The ambassadors also offer us valuable insights as to what’s happening on campus, what resonates with them and what other options students are considering”
They have one-to-one meetings with the ambassadors every week, managing their activity and weekly objectives. It’s important to work with each of them individually because those young people are all different students on different campuses, doing different subjects, with different qualities and strengths and different networks. If you’re a cheerleader doing accountancy, your peer group is unlikely to resemble that of someone who is doing maths and is a member of the Women in Business Society.
ICAS is involved in the initial selection and training and gives clear guidelines for the ambassadors. However, this year we’ve also encouraged them to be creative in their social media posts, maybe doing some video content, as members may have seen on LinkedIn. But however they choose to reach out to our target audience, it feels more authentic because it comes straight from a peer.
From left: Wilson (centre) with a colleague and CA student at the Scottish Graduate Fair; online recruitment
From left: Wilson (centre) with a colleague and CA student at the Scottish Graduate Fair; online recruitment
Some of those ambassadors will be studying accountancy, but not all. We want to reflect our intake and ensure other degree disciplines are represented so they can engage effectively across the whole student population. The ambassadors are generally in their penultimate year of study, so they don’t have to juggle the role with doing their finals. They also offer us valuable insights as to what’s happening on campus, what resonates with them and what other options students are considering.
We’ve only been using campus ambassadors for a year, so it’s too early to give definitive results. But the early signs of engagement have been very positive, enabling us to access harder-to-reach talent on campus, and therefore enhancing our student pipeline with ambitious, high-achieving graduates.
Find out more about how to become a CA
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