Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Advertisement

This Finance and Investment Masters programme is a specialised postgraduate degree course focusing on security/portfolio investment decision making. As such, it is structured around the syllabus of the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute. The emphasis of this postgraduate course is on issues related to investment in capital markets, such as investment strategies, the evaluation of investment performance, and the use of financial statement information in evaluating company performance. The MSc in Finance and Investment at Brunel provides a systematic understanding of the techniques of modelling financial decisions, the valuation of investments and pricing securities using data from a range of different markets.

Aims

This postgraduate degree will allow students whose career choices are likely to lie with financial institutions or in financial management to develop the relevant analytical tools and techniques necessary for such a career. The Finance and Investment MSc should also be of interest to applicants who are already practitioners in the financial field. The aim of this course is to produce graduates with an advanced knowledge and understanding of corporate finance, financial markets, financial institutions and securities.

The MSc course is designed with four equally weighted modules in each of the first two terms, with three being compulsory and one an option from a list. The dissertation carries one third of the marks for the course and is undertaken after the taught modules have been completed. The compulsory modules provide an excellent coverage of core material in finance designed in a way to be applicable to the areas of finance and investment.

All modules are compulsory for this Master's programme.

Taught modules are subject to change.

Essentials of Mathematics and Statistics: The aim of this module is to ensure that students have a systematic comprehension of the required minimum knowledge of mathematics and statistics to successfully meet the learning outcomes at postgraduate level. This module covers all the preparatory technical material needed to undertake the MSc in Finance and Investment, and feeds in to all assessed modules.

Financial Theory: This module is designed to provide students with a thorough knowledge of financial theory through the study of the interaction between firms, individuals and the macroeconomy. The module provides an opportunity for students to develop an understanding of capital markets through the study of portfolio theory, equilibrium asset pricing models and efficient market theory.

Financial Analysis: The module provides the analytical tools to evaluate financial securities and a critical understanding of the relevance of accounting information for security valuation. The role of accounting accruals is explored and their impact on earnings as a timely firm performance measure is considered. The module also examines how excess volatility arises in financial markets, its relationship with the theory of market efficiency and why some investment strategies yield positive excess returns over time.

Security Analysis and Funds Management: The aims of this module are to: 1) Provide an overview of securities traded in fixed income, stock and derivative markets and their characteristics along with the stylised facts of financial markets; 2) Introduce classical models used for portfolio selection and risk management.

Modelling Financial Markets and Forecasting: This Investment and Finance module aims to provide participants with the skills necessary to conduct their own empirical investigations of a range of economic and financial relationships and with the knowledge necessary to understand the related academic and practical literature. The emphasis throughout is on the rationale of the econometric methods analysed and their use in practice to both model and predict economic and financial problems.

Macro and Financial Econometrics: This module provides a broad introduction to the theory and practice of econometrics. Econometrics is concerned with the systematic study of economic phenomena using observed data. The aim is to help students use statistical methods to estimate the parameters of economic models, and test economic hypotheses. The module provides a firm foundation in the theory and practice of econometric modelling of financial markets and is both theoretical and applied, and includes a number of empirical examples and applications.

Corporate Finance: This module is designed to provide the student with a thorough knowledge of corporate finance through the study of the interaction between firms and the capital markets. This involves option pricing theory and applications, the firms capital structure decision, the firms dividend policy, the firms mergers and acquisitions decision, and the firms decision to go public.

Derivative Securities: The module enumerates and describes the various securities and financial markets in a clear and concise manner that accurately blends theory and practice. This module describes the financial derivative securities that are used in modern finance, and outlines the principles behind their valuation. Finance and Investment MSc students are introduced to options, futures, swaps, bonds and the yield curve. This is followed by option pricing techniques, notably the continuous time no arbitrage pricing theory of Black and Scholes, and the lattice approach of Cox, Ross and Rubinstein, applied to options on stocks.

Risk Management: The main topics of study on this module are financial deregulation and how globalisation and technology have combined with advances in risk analysis to create the discipline of risk management. Students are introduced to the risk management of financial instruments portfolios using risk measures, such as conditional volatility models, value-at-risk and credit risk. The module concludes with an introduction to numerical methods.

Dissertation: A 60-credit dissertation is mandatory for all postgraduate students who undertake this Masters in Finance and Investment. Students are invited to select a research question which they investigate under supervision by an academic. Data support is provided by the Economics and Finance Department, including Bloomberg and Bankscope. Dissertations raise the employability of students by allowing them to choose research questions that are specific to their job market requirements. Recent examples of dissertations by students taking the Finance and Investment Masters programme include:

* Modelling and forecasting risk using value-at-risk; evidence from 12 EU stock market indices
* How to deal with the pensions crisis in China
* The term structure of interest rate.

A UK First or 2.1 Honours degree (or equivalent internationally recognised qualification) in Economics, Finance, Accounting, Mathematics, Engineering, scientific subjects with some study of Corporate Finance, International Finance & Securities Applicants with a 2.1 in Business Subject should demonstrate some exposure to Corporate Finance/Financial Engineering/Securities Analysis and Mathematics/Statistics/operations research Applicants with relevant professional qualifications will be considered on an individual basis. Applicants with a 2.2 degree in the specified subject areas that have high grades in the core subjects e.g. maths/stats/econometrics/finance will be considered on an individual basis. Applicants with a 2.1 degree not in the specified subject area but with a statistical background or relevant work experience will be considered on an individual basis English Language Requirements * IELTS: 6.5 (min 6 in all areas) * Pearson: 58 (51 in all subscores) * BrunELT: 65% (min 60% in all areas) English Language Requirements IELTS band: 6.5 CAE score: (read more) Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) is part of the Cambridge English suite and is targeted at a high level (IETLS 6.5-8.0). It is an international English language exam set at the right level for academic and professional success. Developed by Cambridge English Language Assessment - part of the University of Cambridge - it helps you stand out from the crowd as a high achiever. 60 (Grade C) TOEFL paper-based test score : 580 TOEFL iBT® test: 92 IMPORTANT NOTE: Since April 2014 the ETS tests (including TOEFL and TOEIC) are no longer accepted for Tier 4 visa applications to the United Kingdom. The university might still accept these tests to admit you to the university, but if you require a Tier 4 visa to enter the UK and begin your degree programme, these tests will not be sufficient to obtain your Visa. The IELTS test is most widely accepted by universities and is also accepted for Tier 4 visas to the UK- learn more.