Getting ahead in the booming finance sector
The global finance industry is one of the biggest employers in the world. Postgraduate study is essential if you are looking to move up the ladder in this booming area.
"Finance is an industry that moves very quickly, with constant innovation in terms of new products and services, even entirely new markets," explains Professor Phil Dolan, Director of Macquarie University's Applied Finance Centre (MAFC). "It is incumbent on those seeking success in the industry that they keep their skills up to date."
Macquarie University Applied Finance Centre
Macquarie's Applied Finance Centre runs the biggest Master of Applied Finance course in the world, as well as offering a wide range of short course options for busy professionals. These programs are proving highly popular in the ever-changing finance industry, with Sydney enrolments up five percent this year.
"The finance industry is like the medical field in that it has become so complex, people are increasingly choosing to specialise and must spend time updating their skills," says Dolan. "Once upon a time you could simply say that 'I work in finance'. Today it's more likely to be 'I work in Aussie dollar/Japanese yen foreign exchange transactions', or 'I am an equities investment manager focusing on the infrastructure sector'."
Corporations sponsoring study
Not only are finance professionals choosing to undertake postgraduate study for their own development, many corporations are providing financial assistance for employees to enhance and improve their skills.
"With the enormous growth in the industry many financial sector corporations are being held back because they can't get access to enough highly qualified people," says Dolan. "Many companies are paying for workers to do our courses as they see it as an investment."
Programs to suit busy professionals
The programs offered by the MAFC are tailored to suit busy professionals. The majority of the Centre's programs are conducted during the evening in the city, or on weekends at the North Ryde campus.
"Our aim is to accommodate people fitting in part time study around full time work," says Dolan.
New courses catering for changing industry
Managing Operational Risk is one of the new Masters and short course programs offered by the MAFC in 2006. This course is intended to meet the growing need for operational risk managers and focuses on emerging models and tools for identifying, measuring, monitoring and mitigating operational risk.
The Ethical Risk in Finance course places an emphasis on learning and practices of critical ethical reflection, with strong practical outcomes. This course will be of interest to business and finance professionals who wish to become more professionally aware of ethical risk factors and are interested in creating and maintaining a more ethical climate in their institutions.
A Masters course in Equity Analysis will be offered in 2007. One element of this course will look at socially responsible investment (SRI). With many members of superannuation funds demanding SRI options for their retirement savings, this course will examine the issue, among others, from the point of view of a manager of an institutional-size investment portfolio.
For further information on the programs offered by the Macquarie University Applied Finance Centre visit the website: www.mafc.mq.edu.au/