MSc Finance & Investment Management

This established programme has enabled many students to achieve their finance career or PhD ambitions over the years. It has now been radically revised for 2013/14 to give students the opportunity to take the leading professional qualification, CFA level 1, during the course. Many students of the course in the past have finished the MSc and then had to take CFA exams as soon as they commenced employment. Attaining this qualification whilst doing the MSc will put graduates of the programme ahead of others competing for jobs in the finance industry and mean they have less professional exams to take once they are working. The course is designed to maximise students’ chances of being successful in the CFA exam – with six weeks of the programme dedicated to this and supported by professional finance trainers, who work for many of the leading finance companies in London and around the world Those students who do not wish to take the CFA exam have an alternative research-based programme whilst their colleagues are working on the CFA material.  The university has market-leading financial databases (the Thomson-Reuters Eikon suite) to support both the teaching and the individual study of students.

The academic programme is up-to-date and provides a high level of understanding of both theoretical and numerical material.  All students finish their programme with a dissertation, giving them the opportunity to show their ability to address and answer a research issue under the supervision of academic staff.

Bringing together faculty interests, knowledge, experiences and a strong commitment to graduate employability prospects, the programme consists of eight modules and a dissertation/project which is designed to enable you to prosper in what is a complex and competitive and continually changing market place or to prepare for further research in finance if that is your career aim.

Teaching includes traditional methods as well as computer lab based time and other up-to-date teaching and learning styles.

Stage one:  Issues in Corporate Finance; Economic Analysis; Accounting; and Quantitative Methods

Stage Two: Financial Analysis and Markets; Empirical Methods in Finance; Portfolio Analysis and Management; and either Professional Finance (CFA study and exam) or Studies in Finance (academic-led research skills course).

Final Stage: Dissertation

Assessment

Our programme employs a variety of assessment methods which are designed to assess knowledge, competencies and skills that are required in the modern financial world.. Predominantly this means you will be required to prepare reports, group and individual presentation etc as well as traditional exams and academic essays.

This programme has been designed to prepare you for a successful career in a wide range of finance –related roles – working for an investment bank, hedge funds, or in a regulatory agency. Alternatively, if you choose not to take the professional finance (CFA) module, the course can lead to further academic study of finance – potentially a PhD and a career as as an academic as it has done for numerous students in the past.