Meet our students
Rachel Hinde: BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance
Rachel Hinde turned up at a UHI Inverness Open Day after redundancy and she will be forever grateful for the advice she received. It led to her studying an NC in Business and Accounting, followed by Accounting HND and in September 2022 she graduated with BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance. She is now studying a PGDE in secondary teaching at UHI Inverness and is on her way to achieving her dream to become a business teacher.
Rachel (49) from Inverness said: “It’s not that long ago I would have thought obtaining an honours degree and becoming a teacher was impossible. I hope my journey as a mature student inspires others in the same position to consider further and higher education to improve their chances of having a fulfilling and successful career.”
“My highlights were the opportunities I’ve been presented with, the friends I’ve made, my lecturers, and the overall feeling of positivity being around other people committed to achieving their goals.”
Rachel said the degree course suited her very well.
“Having a good grounding from learning in the HND gave me the motivation to progress on to degree, which as a current student, was an automatic pathway to work towards my personal and future employment goals without having to reapply,” she said.
“The module content was so relatable to everyday life. It has helped me to think more deeply about the effects of businesses on different sections of society and the part accountancy plays in that impact, from giving strategic advice, to taxation and financial reporting standard-setting. The latter inspired my dissertation topic, and I would say the sense of achievement from carrying out and completing my own piece of research made persevering through a challenging learning experience, including adapting to learning online, entirely worthwhile. Overall, it’s been great to be part of something so positive which involved not just what I was learning, but also the people I was learning with which helped to expand my ideas by listening to others.”
Rachel was a Student Voice Representative for most of her time at UHI Inverness and that led to a part-time position as an Associate Trainer with Student Partnerships in Quality Scotland (sparqs), giving her valuable skills to take forward into teaching.
Rachel said: “Studying at UHI Inverness has opened up so many opportunities for me from career options due to gaining higher qualifications, to meeting new people who have become friends for life. Various employment seminars provided by course lecturers, communications regarding training and job opportunities, and presentations to help with CVs and interviews by the careers department were all entirely useful for the future.”
“My degree has enabled me to pursue a teaching career which has been a dream of mine ever since being reintroduced to the learning environment. I am proud and excited to be continuing my studies.”