Cardiff Metropolitan University. Department of Accounting, Economics & Finance. MSc Financial Management (with Pathways) June 2015

Transcription

1 Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff School of Department of Accounting, Economics & Finance MSc Financial (with Pathways) June 2015 DAEF: MSc Financial Page 1

2 Contents Welcome Letter from the Head of Department 3 Induction programme outline 4 Academic Calendar 5 Teaching and Assessment methods 6 Student Support 6 Programme overview and structure 7 Preparatory work to be completed before commencement of the course 10 Further Opportunities 10 From the Programme Director 11 DAEF: MSc Financial Page 2

3 June 2015 Welcome from Head of Department I would like to wish you a very warm welcome to the Department of Accounting, Economics & Finance and to the MSc Financial programme. As an adult learner and possibly, a practicing professional you will be bringing valuable experience to the course. The aim is for you to build upon this experience and I hope, enjoy your study. My colleagues and I are very aware that: for many of you this will be a natural progression flowing on from a previous qualification; for some of you this will be a return to study after a long period of time; and for others it will be attending University to receive formal recognition of the work that you do in the workplace. These programmes have, therefore, been designed to cater for the needs of a wide range of candidates from various settings. Whatever your route into the course, be assured that the programme team will endeavour to provide appropriate support and encouragement. Further, these programmes have all been designed within the couple of years in conjunction with leading national and international organisations so you can be assured that they are relevant to your career aspirations. As a postgraduate student, it is important to recognise the commitment you are making; you may have work commitments, home/family commitments and social commitments, and taking on this course injects another commitment a commitment to study. You will have the challenge of managing these varying commitments. No doubt, at this stage, you will feel that you have been bombarded with information, but it offers you the opportunity to consider it at leisure in readiness for the start of the academic year. I look forward to meeting you at enrolment and the programme team looks forward to working with you. Chris Russell Chris Russell Head of Department, Accounting Economics and Finance crussell@cardiffmet.ac.uk DAEF: MSc Financial Page 3

4 Induction Dates/times to be confirmed by the programme leader in due course Week commencing Induction is probably going to be your first real introduction to Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University and the team within the DAEF in particular. In essence it s a chance for us to say Hello to each other and for you to meet others on your programme and we (and they) are not as daunting as you might think. As postgraduate students you already have some idea of what University Life about, some of you will have studied in the Wales before, others have come from further afield, since 2011 we have welcomed students on this programme from all 5 continents and 28 countries and this year we are hoping for an even wider range.. As always there will be a formal programme of induction events held by the University and the Students Union and details of these will follow but as a Programme Team we have a specific range of events Meet the Tutors - Nobody has two heads and we d all like the chance to say hello and tell you a little about our modules Introduction to the Library - A tour around the Library Facilities and the Learning Centre Introduction to Moodle - All of you will be aware of Virtual Learning Environments VLE s here in Cardiff Met we use Moodle and in order to get the most of your studies you need to be comfortable with how it works. Tour of Llandaff Campus As well an impressive Building there are host of other facilities on this campus a gym and a bar to begin with and we ll show you round them all. Knowing how to get where you re going can be confusing here and hopefully this will help Legends from around the World Wales is the land of song and our symbol is the Dragon and has rich history and it has even been suggested that JRR Tolkien was influenced by some of our myths when writing Lord of the Rings we d like a chance to share some of this Welsh Folklore with you BUT we want something back --- what s your favourite home legend? Do Dragons and Wizards appear in your country s history let s share. DAEF: MSc Financial Page 4

5 Academic Calendar TERM DATES Autumn Term Mon 5 th October - Fri 11 December 2015 Spring Term Mon 4 th January Fri 18 March 2016 Summer Term: Mon 4 th April 2016 Fri 24 th June 2016 Please note that these are currently provisional and that these may change by up to 7 days either side. You may well see different dates starting two or three weeks earlier or coming back from breaks later. Those dates are for undergraduate students whose course of study is longer than yours. The fixed dates will be given to you as soon as possible. You will be sitting examinations at the end of each semester in January and May/June. In the event of you needing to resit an examination the following rules apply: January resits in May/June May/June resits occur last week of August/first week of September. In some cases it may be possible to resit these examinations abroad but you must apply for permission to the programme director at least 8 weeks before the examination date. I know it s a long way ahead but hopefully in June 2016 you will be starting your dissertation. Under our regulations you have a year to complete this this does not give an automatic extension to any visa although this can supported if deemed appropriate by your supervisor and programme director. Many students will chose to submit at the first possible opportunity September 2016 to allow a November Graduation. Others will wait until the last opportunity - May 2017 either is acceptable but both have drawbacks. A September 2016 submission may end up being rushed and consequently failed. You do get a chance to resubmit but for a maximum mark of only 40% - and that really hurts your chance of a Merit or Distinction overall. Leaving until May 2016 can t be classified as rushed but is no guarantee of passing either. Failing in May 2016 means you are out of candidature and unable to resubmit. The highest award you could achieve then is a Post Graduate Diploma. My academic opinion (which you are not obliged to take) is that you should aim to submit January 2017 plenty of time for you to do the best piece you can but still giving time of a resubmission as a worst case scenario. DAEF: MSc Financial Page 5

6 Teaching You can expect a wide range of teaching methods over your year with Cardiff Met. These range from the traditional didactic lecture to the you teach us approach. There will be seminars, tutorials, study sets (which you may have already experienced) and some things which may be new to you. With a committed teaching team, with extensive experience at teaching both undergraduate and post graduate students, the approach to teaching and learning on this programme of study will reflect best practice in the field. Assessment You will be exposed to a wide range of assessment methods over the year some, such as essays, will be familiar to you but other such as learning and reflective logs could be knew to you. Don t worry as tutors we are here to help and we have a team of personal tutors available 5 days a week to offer help and support. Student Support The primary basis of student support is to be provided by the Programme Director and the associated administration team. In addition support will be provided by: The school-wide student mentoring scheme. This provides a point of regular and personal contact for all students studying with CSM. An induction programme Student handbook and module guides. The Moodle Virtual Learning Environment. Library and study skills packages. Library and learning resources of both Cardiff Met and Cardiff University (by arrangement). Specialist computing facilities including interactive and multi-media labs. A 24-hour open access IT facility on the Cyncoed and Llandaff campuses. Unlimited worldwide web access. DAEF: MSc Financial Page 6

7 Programme Overview and Structure The world of Business post 2008 is complex and uncertain and despite hopes that the world economy would have recovered from the Credit Crunch and be moving forward by now that isn t the case. History will tell us if the Sovereign Debt crisis is the last major after shock from 2008 or a major new, separate event but the moment countries, businesses and individuals are just trying to survive. Whatever new landscape emerges over the next decade will impact on your career throughout your career - and we believe that more Masters level individuals able to operate at higher levels of understanding are going to be essential in a world that is becoming increasingly more complex. We ve designed this programme to meet that need. For many organisations the broad knowledge possessed by traditional MBA students is insufficient as financial constraints and pressures increase and financial prudence becomes the watchword. Our Masters programme in Financial has been designed to enable students to: 1. Building on existing, successful, undergraduate study 2. Improving the quality of vital skills within our post graduate body 3. Adding further value to a first degree by developing a more integrated and critical awareness of accounting & finance 4. In addition it will seek to enhance the effectiveness of the individual as mangers within this process. In March 2015 we underwent a successful review of the programme and this introduced some interesting and challenging developments often student driven. Subsequent to that the core purpose of the programmes have been refocused to: promote the advanced study of finance in a practical and well as theoretical context prepare for and/or development of a career in banking, finance, business and similar fields by developing skills at a professional or equivalent level, or as preparation for research or further study in the area develop the ability to apply knowledge and understanding of Finance to complex issues, both systematically and creatively, to improve business and management practice enhance lifelong learning skills and personal development so as to be able to work with self-direction and originality and to contribute to business and society at large DAEF: MSc Financial Page 7

8 Core Modules Capital Markets & Derivatives Corporate Finance & Risk of Finance Professional Development and Practice in Business and Quantitative Finance Research Methods new- Dissertation Options pick two Module Title Behavioural Finance Crisis, Risk & Strategic Change Contemporary Issues in Finance, Accounting & Economics Delivering Successful Projects Finance of International Business Global Business Strategy Industrial Work Experience International : People and Operations International Politics Islamic Investment Banking Managing People and Markets across Cultures Principles of Islamic Finance Project Theory & Practice DAEF: MSc Financial Page 8

9 The current range of options has been developed in line with previous student comments and hopefully you will find module that will captivate you. The main programme award is MSC Financial but by choosing specific options you can be awarded MSc Financial (pathway). These are currently Change (2 from) Crisis Risk & Strategic Change Managing People & Markets across Cultures International People & Operations Islamic Finance Principles of Islamic finance Islamic Investment Banking Strategic Crisis Risk & Strategic Change Global Business Strategy International Finance Finance of International Business Global Business Strategy International Politics Project Delivery Successful Projects Project Theory and Practice International People & Operations To achieve the pathway you will also need to focus your dissertation in that area. Please note that we share some modules with other programmes so you could be studying with Masters students from Tourism, International or the MBA. There are two main advantages here 1) is increased exposure to different ways of looking at things and 2) modules are more likely to run. Sadly we cannot run modules on very small numbers and we cannot guarantee that every module will be available. DAEF: MSc Financial Page 9

10 Preparatory work to be completed before commencement of the course As general Background reading you might like to consider: Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed Great-Depression- Bankers/dp/ X/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=1-8#reader_ X Peter Bernstein Classical collection The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson History/dp/ /ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=1-2 Also watching specialised channels such as Bloomberg, CNN and Fox can only enhance your general understanding and awareness of the complicated, exciting world you are entering. Further Opportunities Many of our MSc students took part in the Bloomberg Institute Assessment test. This is designed to test a wide range of knowledge,understanding and personal attributes and candidates results are may available (anonymously) to City Institutions if your skill set meets the parameters they set they ask to be allowed to meet you. You can of course say no but I know of at least one student this year who has been invited for an assessment day. This test takes place in your own time but Cardiff Met provide the examination room (it s a fully computer based 3 hour test) and Bloomberg s supply the questions, the invigilator and the marking. So it s independent of your Programmes grades Best of all it s free. DAEF: MSc Financial Page 10

11 June 2015 Dear Student Having read this far you now, hopefully, know a lot more about the course you have chosen and will be more convinced than ever that you have made the right choice to join us. The Head of Department has already welcomed you and I would like to add my welcome. Meeting new students is one of the main pleasures of my job and hopefully over the next 12 months we ll become friends as well as tutor and student. If there is anything in this letter you are not clear about please don t hesitate to contact me on (+44) or cparry@cardiffmet.ac.uk. You can find me on Facebook but it s pretty dull reading. I d much prefer to meet you face to face chat and am usually in my office if not teaching. At a push you might catch me on Christopher.parry3 (Skype). It would be useful if you E mail first to book a Skype call as I am not on line 24/7. This year we will be using a trading simulation with all our finance students and I hope you ll engage fully with that. I am looking forward to meeting you soon. Best wishes Chris Parry Programme Director MSc Finance / MSc Financial DAEF: MSc Financial Page 11