Media Release
Macquarie University’s Applied Finance Centre Recognized As
CFA Program Partner Institution
University students trained in CFA Program’s Candidate Body of Knowledge™ will have strong foundation for CFA exam preparation, career success
Sydney, Australia, June 2, 2006 — Macquarie University’s Applied Finance Centre is pleased to announce that is has been appointed a CFA Program Partner and will offer a degree program that covers at least 70 percent of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge, the CFA Institute Ethical and Professional Standards, and other requirements.
The Macquarie Applied Finance Centre’s Masters in Applied Finance program is the largest of its kind in the world, and is offered in Sydney, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Melbourne and Brisbane. It offers students the opportunity to enhance their skills and employment prospects in each of the main areas of finance, including investment management, institutional banking, corporate finance, treasury and financial risk management. All teaching faculty combine both high level academic qualifications and many years of senior practical experience in the area in which they teach, thus ensuring students are exposed to both relevant theory and the kind of “real world” applications that employers value.
The CFA Program sets a standard for developing the skills, standards, competence, and integrity of financial analysts, portfolio managers, investment advisers, and other investment professionals worldwide. It is widely considered the investment profession’s most rigorous credentialing program. Administered in English, the CFA curriculum and examinations are identical worldwide. Fewer than one in five candidates who begin the program successfully complete it and go on to earn the coveted CFA charter, the “gold standard” for investment professionals. Recognition as a CFA Program Partner signals to potential students, employers, and the marketplace that the university curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and is well-suited to preparing students to sit for the three levels of CFA examinations.
“It is a pleasure to announce that Macquarie’s Applied Finance Centre has been appointed a CFA Program Partner”, said University Chancellor and Chairman of the Australian Stock Exchange, Maurice Newman. “This appointment recognizes both the depth and the breadth of the curriculum offered by the Centre, and also the strongly applied emphasis and “real world” focus of its teaching. It is further evidence of the way it prepares its graduates for rewarding careers in the world of finance.”
“Students in this program will study the Candidate Body of Knowledge, concepts and principles that have been identified by investment industry leaders worldwide as essential to global practice,” said Bob Johnson, CFA, managing director of the CFA and CGIPS Programs Division. “By mastering these fundamentals of the CFA Program, students will be well on their way to earning the highly-valued CFA charter.”
Professor Phil Dolan, Director of the Applied Finance Centre, said:
“We are delighted to be the first Australian CFA Program Partner. The investment industry is increasingly global in nature, and the demand for investment professionals now operates on an international scale. In such a market for talent, employers need a means to evaluate the qualifications of potential employees. The CFA charter is recognized as the pre-eminent professional certification for those working in the investment industry. Our students will now be able to combine in a highly efficient manner the study necessary to attain both a well regarded academic qualification and the investment world's foremost professional certification."
The initiative offers students in the program access to CFA Institute textbooks, journals, Webcasts, and other educational resources. Students will also benefit from professional development events held in conjunction with the CFA Society of Sydney, the local membership body for CFA Institute candidates, charterholders, and members.
About Macquarie University’s Applied Finance Centre
The Macquarie Masters in Applied Finance program is the largest of its kind in the world and accepted its first students in 1986. The program consists of a set of core units in areas such as Investments, Financial Instruments, Corporate Finance, Financial Risk Management and Legal Risk in Finance. It also offers a wide range of electives that cover areas such as Private Equity, Venture Capital, Applied Portfolio Management, Corporate Treasury Management, Derivative Valuation, Mergers and Acquisitions, Credit Risk Management, Operational Risk, Infrastructure and Property Investment, Debt and Equity Capital Markets, and Project Analysis and Finance. The program stresses applications, with all teaching faculty combining high level academic qualifications and industry experience in the area(s) in which they teach. The program is offered to approximately 900 students in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Tokyo, Singapore and Beijing.
Further details can be found at www.mafc.mq.edu.au.
About CFA Institute
CFA Institute is the global, non-profit professional association that administers the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) curriculum and examination program worldwide, publishes research, conducts professional development programs, and sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance reporting standards for the investment industry. CFA Institute has more than 82,000 members in 126 countries and territories, including the world’s 68,000 CFA charterholders, as well as 134 affiliated professional societies in 55 countries and territories. CFA Institute is headquartered in the USA in Charlottesville, Virginia, with regional headquarters in London, Hong Kong, and New York.
More information may be found at www.cfainstitute.org. (Bloomberg users can find CFA Institute at 497458Z).