Engagement with practitioners and student employability: an integrated approach

Fernando MoreiraUniversity of Edinburgh Business School

26th April 2016

Since Sep 2012 Seven core courses on:

Banking, Financial Markets and Institutions Statistics and Econometrics Analysis of Corporate Financial Information Risk Management for Banks SAS (business analytics software)

Eight possible option courses on: Risk Management, Economic Analysis, Data Mining Investment, Finance, Accounting

Dissertation

On average: 35 students Focus on:

Risk modelling Risk Management (in particular, commercial banks) Investment (in particular, risk analyses)

Usual employers Commercial banks Investment/Asset Management firms Auditing firms Consultancy firms (including IT services)

Accredited by the Chartered Banker Institute

UK’s second largest financial centre A major European centre for asset

management 36,400 employees in the financial/insurance

sector (2014)

Headquarters of, e.g. The Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life and retail banks, such as Tesco Bank and Sainsbury’s Bank

Motivation for engagement Student employability Student satisfaction

Needs observed in: Student surveys Personal tutor meetings Student Staff Liaison Committee Informal chats with students

Additional benefits Executive Education Research

Types of engagement Seminars/lectures by guest speakers Coffee/lunch (students and guest speakers) Joint training events (organised by us) Social events (students and practitioners) Career lounges Case studies Consultancy projects Dissertation projects Visits (‘treks’) to financial institutions ‘Shadow Bankers’ ‘Honorary contributors’

Guest speakers Lectures Tutorials Independent seminars (not part of courses)

Coffee/lunch with guest speakers Meetings at cafés all students

Meetings at cafés and restaurants selected students (based on marks or

competitions)

Joint training events Organised by us Practitioners invited Team building, problem solving, etc.

Social events Students and practitioners Relaxing environment

Bowling ‘Casino Experience’

Career lounges Informal meetings: practitioners and students Around 10 students Questions about tasks carried out by practitioners,

important skills, etc.

Case studies Based on daily tasks Initial presentation by practitioners Also used as assignments (coursework)

Consultancy projects Based on challenges faced by institutions Usually in groups Competitions Opportunity for students to impress

potential employers

Dissertation projects Several topics related to banking and risk

management Some students are paid and work at the

institutions Projects from several types of institutions

Commercial banks Investment banks Consultancy firms Credit rating agencies

Institutions from UK/EU, US, Latin America and Australasian

Visits to financial institutions Presentations on, e.g., important skills, career

opportunities and technical issues

Shadow Bankers

‘Honorary contributors’ Those practitioners who have given outstanding

support to our programme

Profiles (photos and short bio) on the programme’s website

Initially, five individuals from: Royal Bank of Scotland Standard & Poor’s (London) Standard & Poor’s (New York) Williams and Glyn Bank (RBS Group) Baillie Gifford Investment Management/ Kames Capital

Stimulate further contributionsPS: provisional title

Initial contact: CRC, engagement teams,

conferences, personal contact

Guest speaker

Joint training (+ colleagues)

Coffee/lunch with students

Social events(+ colleagues)

Career lounges

‘Shadow Bankers’‘Honorary contributors’

(MSc website)

Job (interviews)

Visits to financial institutions (‘treks’)

Dissertation projects

Consultancy projects

Case studies for courses

Internships

Examples of successful cases

Permanent position offerred to a student after she concluded her dissertation project Placements along with dissertation projects Invitation for visits (‘Shadow Bankers’) during a coffee meeting with a practitioner Invitation for visit (‘Shadow Banker’) in a presentation delivered by a practitioner

Internal supporters

Credit Research Centre Student Development Team Alumni Team Business Development Manager Corporate Engagement Manager

Final remarks Our objective is to gradually strengthen our links

with practitioners by starting with relatively simple activities

We corroborate the findings presented in the literature - e.g. Ehiyazaryan and Barraclough (2009)

We go beyond some models suggested – e.g. Franz (2008)

Approach should also be used on UG programmes Companies (financial institutions) are eager to

work with us as we can help them with their recruitment processes

MSc in Banking and Risk University of Edinburgh Business School

http://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/msc/banking-risk

Director: Fernando MoreiraFernando.Moreira@ed.ac.uk

Q&A