The new degree, which has endorsements from several leading financial institutions and seed funding from gifts exceeding £2.5million, will complement the School’s highly successful pre-experience, research-oriented Finance MPhil, and sit alongside its flourishing post-experience MBA.
During the spring and summer of 2007, Dr Simon Taylor, Director of the Master of Finance programme and Professor Arnoud De Meyer, Director, Judge Business School, met with senior staff in investment banks, hedge funds and private equity firms to involve them in the syllabus, structure and goals of the course.
Dr Simon Taylor said: “One consistent message emerging from this consultation process was that there is a shortage of people who can combine a thorough technical foundation in finance and financial products with a good understanding of the business context of finance. Many people employed in the City have either excellent technical skills or a good set of communication and business skills but too few have both. It is becoming evident that you need both to reach the highest levels in a financial career.”
The programme aims to attract exceptionally bright, analytical and motivated people with the ability to communicate, lead and inspire people. The course will provide a rigorous and intensive academic experience, combined with a high level of practical content from City practitioners. Students will put their learning into practice in a series of projects and internships.
Additionally, following recommendations from several banks, short but highly focused reviews of related subject areas will be included in the programme to provide context for the use of finance in business organisations – for example corporate strategy, marketing, organisational behaviour and business ethics.
Professor Arnoud De Meyer commented: “This new degree in finance is a major development for the School and is part of our strategic plan to establish the School as a global centre of excellence in the field of business finance. It is a logical step since we already act as an interdisciplinary interface with the rest of the University of Cambridge, a renowned world leader in maths, law, economics, engineering and finance. We are also less than an hour from London, which is outpacing Wall Street as the world’s financial centre, and we are situated in Cambridge’s Silicon Fen, the most dynamic and successful cluster in Europe which attracts a significant proportion of all European venture capital.”