Finance and Investment - MSc drafted

Program Overview

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Discover our Accounting and Finance Postgraduate Degrees - Birmingham City Business School

This course has recently been updated. Please download the course specification for the up to date information.

The dynamic and fast-moving industry of investment offers wide variety of careers; it demands professionals with high level of finance knowledge, technical skills and the abilities that quickly adopt to new challenges.

The MSc Finance & Investment degree at Birmingham City University will equip you with the knowledge, skills and abilities required to start a graduate level career and make a difference in the industry.

As the investment professionals of the future, you will gain knowledge as well as the essential soft skills like adaptability and lifelong learning skills. While you progress throughout the course, you will become more effective and creative in problem solving. You will develop ways of

analysing

and thinking about investments that will remain with you in the years ahead when new and different investment opportunities become available.

This course is

open

to

International

students.

What's covered in this course?

The course curriculum is aligned with professional programs - the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (CFA)*, the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment (CISI) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA), and is well suited in preparing students to complete the relevant professional examinations.

You will be provided a solid grounding in finance theories, investment techniques and strategies as well as their real-life application. You will also have the opportunity to gain real world trading techniques from professional traders with first-hand knowledge of the financial markets.

We offer flexible learning that will enable you to specialize in particular subject areas, as well as allowing you to tailor your course to a specific career aim. Based at the University’s new campus in the UK’s second city, you’ll live and study in a vibrant environment and engage with local,

national and international businesses. You will be taught by highly-qualified, research-active academics with industrial and professional experience.

The international focus of the course is derived through a variety of means including the student body, the teaching team and the use of international teaching materials.

Moreover, the course also enables you to be confident in the application of industry-specific skills, for example, with the use of platforms such as Thomson Reuters Eikon and DataStream, and with problem-solving approaches having been exposed to real-life scenarios through industry guest-speaker workshops.

To help you develop the skills that leading employers ask for, and let you see how traders work, we can access Thomson Reuters Eikon in our

iCITY Trading

room.

You will have the opportunity to take the Professional Placement version of the course, which is offered as an alternative to the standard version of the course. This will allow you to complete a credit bearing, 20 week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Master’s Degree. The Professional Placement will enhance your employability and transferable skills and allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market.

These skills enrich your experience and provide an added advantage in your endeavors to pursue their future professional careers in a highly competitive industry.

*Trademark Disclaimer: CFA Institute does not endorse, promote or warrant the accuracy or quality of the products or services offered by Birmingham City University. CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

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Why Choose Us?

Our MSc finance suite will prepare you to deal with tomorrow's financial, banking and investment challenges and enable you to get cutting-edge knowledge of contemporary global finance

You will gain contemporary knowledge regarding global financial issues, ethical and sustainable financing, and financial innovative products

You will learn to design strategies to deal with the various financial risks faced by businesses, multinational companies or global investors

You will get access to the same investment analysis software that traders, financial analysts and decision makers use in the investment industry in our University’s ‘CITY Trading Room’

You can gain experience of working in the industry through our Professional Placement route

We will equip you for a variety of career paths, including fund manager, financial analyst, investment banker or financial manager, treasurer, and retail banking

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Studying with us during the Covid-19 pandemic

The University has put in place

measures in response to Covid-19

to allow us to safely deliver our courses. Should the impact of the pandemic continue in future years, any additional or alternative arrangements put in place by the University will be in accordance with the latest government public health advice, health and safety legislation, and the terms and conditions of the

student contract

.

Program Outline

Modules

Professional Placement Year

Modules

In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 160 credits):

Advanced Corporate Finance 20 credits

This module is designed to help students to critically analyse the key theories, concepts and principles of corporate finance grounded in the academic literature and pertinent for the practitioner. In particular, this module provides a thorough treatment of the key aspects in the financial decision making process in a corporation, including project appraisal under uncertainty, cost of capital, source of finance, capital structure, divided policy, corporate governance and working capital management.

Strategic Risk Management 20 credits

The module assumes that students have the basic knowledge of risk management concepts. It is design to review the risk management process and risk governance in organisations. It will provide the skills to identify and evaluate company’s or portfolio’s exposures to financial and non-financial risk factors in the business environment. Numerical skills in the calculation and evaluation of value-at-risk (VaR) and other credit risks of investment positions or financial derivatives such as forward contracts, swaps and options.

Financial Institutions and Regulation 20 credits

This module provides an overview of the nature and activities of the main groups of financial institutions within the UK. It aims to offer insight into bank regulation within which financial institutions operate, especially those emanating from financial crisis.

This module focuses on students developing and having a good grasp of recent and ongoing events within financial institutions and its regulation, with the aim of appraising and developing potential changes in the landscape.

Portfolio Management and Analysis 20 credits

This module is designed to help you critically understand the important principle and practice of investment analysis and portfolio management. It provides a systematic understanding of financial decisions on investment.

Applied Financial Econometrics 20 credits

The module explores the attributes of financial econometric modelling and forecasting in the field of finance, banking and economics. Students are expected to develop then skills to construct, apply and assess the limitations of various models for effective decision making. It will also empower the students to carry out an independent data empirical analysis including critical thinking and analysis.

Business and Management Research Project 60 credits

This is an integrative module which is the culmination of your studies and it is designed to be developmental in nature. It enables you to develop a deeper understanding of methodological paradigms to enable you to develop a robust proposal and enable the successful completion of the dissertation/project.

In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the following indicative list of OPTIONAL modules:

Derivatives Investments 20 credits

This module aims at enabling you to understand, apply and evaluate derivative contracts (securities) for both investment and risk management purposes. The module covers the use of derivative contracts to get exposure to different asset classes and markets as well as management of risk i.e. hedging. You will be able to learn the use of futures, forwards, options, swaps and other derivative securities to alter the risk and return characteristics of investments and hedge financial risks.

Behavioural Finance 20 credits

This module is consistent with the programme philosophy. It covers important irrationalities on financial markets. Traditional theories in Finance assume that investors and managers are rational, making the best decisions in every situation. Nevertheless, research in psychology has shown that peoples’ actual behaviour exhibit systematic ‘errors’ that violate this assumption. Hence this module’s main aim is to provide students with a deeper and more realistic understanding of emotional and cognitive behavioural biases, how these biases may influence individuals’ perceptions, investment and financing decisions

Investigating Finance Practice 20 credits

This module allows you to apply the critical analysis and thinking skills in a problem based learning approach to investigating a contemporary issue of your finance studies and/or finance practice in which you have a particular interest. The critical analysis and critical thinking skills required in the module characterise a master’s level (level 7) piece of work.

All core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.

Professional Placement Year

In order to qualify for the award of MSc Finance and Investment with Professional Placement, a student must successfully complete 180 credits of the Level 7 modules listed above as well as the following Level 6 module.

Professional Placement 60 credits

This module is designed to provide you with the opportunity to undertake a credit bearing, 20-week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Master’s Degree. The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market. Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace.

Download course specification

Download now

All modules will mix face-to-face lectures with online activities. As a practice-based course, sessions will usually involve the application of academic concepts to real-world scenarios. Online delivery will also be provided via the University’s virtual learning environment, and modules will also require you to engage with online study to prepare for, participate in and further develop your skills.

Due to the professional alignment of the course , examinations will be a common feature when it comes to assessments. However, a variety of methods will be used, and you’ll be required to deliver reports, presentations, essays and project plans, both individually and within a group.

You will regularly engage with tutors, working together to identify any gaps in your knowledge and finding appropriate learning activities to suit your individual needs. A variety of learning activities will be used, whether it be a short written piece or a reflective journal, and you’ll be given regular feedback by your personal tutor.

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Trips and Visits

You will have the opportunity to go on relevant trips such as visiting the Bank of England and the London Stock Exchange.