 Welcome to the School of Finance and Management. Welcome to our webinar on the various postgraduate programmes that we offer. I'm Dr Richard Alexander. I'm the Learning and Teaching Coordinator of the School of Finance and Management and I also personally oversee the postgraduate programmes in particular and even more specifically I'm the Program Coordinator of the MSc Finance and Financial Law programme. All three pathways we'll go into a little later on. So at a glance we offer not just in the School of Finance and Management, across the whole of SOAS we have over 100 graduate programmes. Our library is one of the UK's national research libraries. There are only four of them and these are specialist libraries for particular areas and in the case of SOAS we are the national research library for studies in African, Asian and Middle Eastern studies. We offer, it says on the slide I'm paralleled, it is a parallel range of non-European languages. We literally teach Yoruba to Korean and everything in between. In total degree combinations that might be single armours, law, it might be degree combinations double armours, it might be Arabic and History, more than 400 combination of degrees are taught across SOAS and we have one of the most diverse student bodies anywhere in the UK. 50% of our students are from outside the UK and I can say within the School of Finance and Management when you look at our postgraduate programmes, any of our postgraduate programmes that number goes up to well over 50%. So we have currently in one class we have students from Bulgaria, from Egypt, from Hong Kong and in keeping with that we have the largest concentration of specialist staff of any university, not just in the UK but anywhere in the world. Now we were formerly known as DEFIMS, the Department of Financial Management Studies. We became the School of Finance and Management in 2016. Just after the 2016 Guardian League table came out and we were ranked sixth in the United Kingdom and first in London for Business and Management and yes that means that for Business and Management we were ranked above the LSE, we were ranked above Queen Mary's and other universities and colleges you may or may not have come across. In the latest National Student Satisfaction Survey, this is a survey of final year undergraduates, 96% of final year undergraduates in the School of Finance and Management said satisfied with the overall quality of that course. That put us fourth out of the 116 Business and Management departments across the entire United Kingdom and within the School of Finance and Management we ran a range of master's degrees. Most of them MSc but in one case an MRI as a master's of research are coming to that. We teach MSc international programs with regional specialisms in China, Japan and Middle East and North Africa. We have an MSc finance program. We have an MSc finance and financial law program with three different pathways. We have an MSc public policy management and an MSc public financial management and finally we have a master's of research and MRES in finance management. Now the MRES as we'll see focuses more on research skills. So let's look at the three regional international management programs. They focus on finance and its environment in China, Japan and the Middle East and North Africa respectively. So we combine the core principles of international management which would apply wherever you're managing a corporation with specific regional modules training you how to manage an enterprise in China, Japan, the Middle East as the case may be and also incorporating a number of finance disciplines. So how does that work in practice? When we move to the next slide. Right we start off with two generic core modules international management and research methods in management. We teach you how are the key research methods that will feed in to your dissertation that you take at the end of the program which is a piece of extended research, extended writing of 10,000 words and to put that in context the assignments that are that you will write one for each module that's 2,500 words. So 10,000 words is an extensive dissertation. The research methods in management module is designed to teach you the skills that you'll need to complete that. Then there are regional core modules depending obviously on the region we're talking about. Management in China are two of them, the first looking at domestic perspectives, the second international perspective management in Japan, one management in Japan, two there rather than taking two distinct perspectives what we have is we have two regional core modules the second building on the first over two towns and finally for the Middle East and North Africa again two regional modules economic business and institutional environment for the Middle East and North Africa and management perspectives and sectors and then we offer a range of optional modules and we offer we offer several of them and in total in total you will take four of these making eight modules in total all our programs all our MSC programs consist of eight modules and the balance between core modules and optional modules or electricity like they vary slightly from program to program. So as we see in the international management programs there are four core modules for optional modules and you choose from this list and you can see on the slide bank and capital markets, Chinese commercial law, corporate finance, corporate governance, cross-cultural management, international business strategy, international resource management, just to warn you incidentally before I go on to the second part of the list that we do we do not guarantee that in any particular year all every optional module on this list will be running it varies slightly from year to year but this gives you an idea of the range of options we offer that international marketing, international securities regulation, Islamic bank and finance management and topics in the Chinese economy. We also offer a range of language optional modules now here I should be clear that the language modules are optional so if you wish to take international the MSC international management in China for example and you don't want to take any language options that is perfectly possible we do not require you to learn Chinese in order to complete the program however several of our students do want to take this advantage so those that already have a significant knowledge of Chinese would take advanced or could take advanced Chinese for business we also offer a range of special courses in Chinese of various levels going up from level one basic up to level four quite advanced and for Japan again we offer a range of Japanese language options starting with basic Japanese one going right up to higher advanced Japanese. Moving on to the MSC finance program now if the object of the MSC international management programs is to train you in the particular skills that you will need to exercise a management function in business enterprise in either China or Japan or the Middle East and North Africa or alternatively play a management role in an enterprise or corporation had courted in China, Japan, Middle East and North Africa in a different part of the world the MSC finance program as it says on the tin focuses on the finance sector and the object is that you will acquire the key analytical tools either for career in finance or to go on to join one of my colleagues undertake further research at PhD level and become a researcher in finance and so we teach you the main issues and methods they're not the same thing so the issues of theory the methods of practice in corporate finance risk management banking financial econometrics the idea is that you apply these in a profession and so we start off with a with a pre-sessional introductory module robotics and statistics for for finance and this is this is a pre-sessional course so you take that at the beginning over three weeks in September before the the main part of the MSC gets going at the beginning of October and again as with all our MSC programs you finish with the 10 000 word dissertation in between you take four core modules corporate finance economic principles and data analysis finance and the market risk management and then again we offer a range of optional modules now all the we don't offer language options on the MSC finance program what we do offer is all other non-language options on the but you could take on a management program so all those international marketing international securities regulation topics in the china's economy all of these are offered plus advanced quantitative research methods if you really want to get into quantitative finance bank regulation and resolution of banking crisis i mentioned already that we offer international securities regulation we also complement that with a separate module on banking regulation and blockchain and distributed electronic measures moving on to my own program the msc finance and financial law now this was created excuse me this was created very much as you know as a specialist program addressing a key gap a key key lacuna in the financial sector what we found was with a typical bank you will have a group people in the various departments of the bank who were experts in the finance and principles of finance were experts in the financial products that they worked with but had no significant knowledge of the law regulation relating to their work for that they relied on the compliance department but if you asked about that and they said yes the compliance department deals with that just as you were leaving to talk to compliance they would say but the problem is that the people compliance do not understand our business they don't understand what finance is actually about then when you got to the plans department you would find that this was broadly speaking true uh that they were typically lawyers they had a good law or regulatory background not such a good knowledge of the principles of finance but they would say just as their finance just as their colleagues in the other department said if only the compliance officers had an understanding of our core business the compliance department would say if only my colleagues in the other department had a reasonable understanding of the law and regulation certainly don't have to come to us every five minutes so the finance and financial law programs created to train a new breed of financial professional somebody with an understanding of both sides so we prepare students for employment in international banks and investment funds number of graduates from the program have taken up positions in banks in London in Hong Kong in Singapore legal practice a number of a number of them have gone into law firms incidentally I mentioned in terms of the international banks and investment firms either big financial centers London, Hong Kong, Singapore but you also other more regional centers such as Lagos and Nigeria others have taken up positions in regulatory institutions some of them started in one move to another I think of one former student who worked for Deutsche Bank for some years in Beijing and then moved to the Hong Kong Securities and Features Commission and some have gone into academia we train you for all these potential different careers and then you in terms of the specific modules and study path you take you move into one or one of the others and we look at both national and international finance modules and more domestic in nature others and more international and we look at how financial and legal principles are applied in the context of actual case studies so again we start off with pre-section introduction modules again over three weeks in September introduction to financial analysis introduction to law and legal method to teach you the key principles of law and finance that the other modules will build up then as I mentioned there are three pathways there's what I called a generic pathway with about MSc financing financial law which is pretty much evenly balanced between the finance side and the law side you can alter that balance a bit through your choice of electives but it's designed to be more or less MSc finance and financial law with a major on finance or MSc finance and financial law majoring on the law side so for the generic program if you like we start off with we have five core modules you take three electives core finance funds in the global market financial law legal aspects of corporate finance and legal aspects international finance all of these are core modules compulsory modules then on the for the electives again all the non-language modules were offered as electives or optional modules on the international management programs are offered as elective or optional modules on finance and financial law in addition we offer bank regulation and resolution of banking crisis and there are some students who take both the international securities regulation module and the bank regulation module and finally again blockchain and distributed electronic ledgers on the finance side you take four more four core modules now even where you major in finance or law we feel it's important if you're going to graduate with a degree with with the title MSc finance and financial law you should have studied something of both sides so you take as your core modules corporate finance financial law risk management and finance the global market so three finance modules one one law module then again on the elective side all the non-language management options plus bank regulation and resolution of bank crises blockchain and distributed electronic ledgers and legal aspects of corporate finance what's the legal one of the legal issues involved in how corporations finance themselves and on the law side again it's four core modules but it's weighted more on the law side financial law legal aspects of corporate finance and legal aspects of international finance plus one finance core module corporate finance and the similar list of elective modules moving on MSc public policy and management public policy and management and it's just of course if you like MSc financial management what these do is they offer both the technical education but also critical and comparative material how is public policy developed and implemented how is the public sector managed across the world in particular in the MSc public financial management how are public finances responsibly managed so starting with public policy and management there are four there are four core modules public policy and management perspectives and issues public policy and strategy managing organizational change and research methods and management again finishing up at the end with a 10 000 word dissertation and a range of optional modules and these modules are aimed more at the public policy side so we don't simply say we offer all the non-language management electives as we do on the MSc finance and on the MSc finance and financial law we focus more on on management and policy so we do offer blockchain and distributed electronic ledgers cross-cultural management what's involved in either managing an office an enterprise in this particular case a public sector enterprise in in a culture different to the one you grow up what is involved if perhaps you're working in an international organization where with people under you from a variety of different cultural backgrounds international human resource management some issues but more on the human resource side managerial accounting macroeconomic policy and financial markets and two public financial management modules planning and performance and revenue meanwhile the public financial management programmers would expect focuses more on the public finance side and there are there are three core modules in public financial management as you can see financial reporting planning and performance revenue again finishing in order to prepare you for the dissertation research methods and a range of optional modules blockchain and distributed electronic ledgers international securities regulation macroeconomic that's important because because government also engage in securities trading and investments macroeconomic policy and financial markets managerial accounting and then public financial management audience and compliance now you might say well why is that an elective module because not everyone in gay training for public financial management will want to specialize to that degree in audit and compliance but some well and then public policy and management perspectives and issues public policy and strategy and finally the masters in research now this is not an msc it is designed to train you in the skills that you're going to need to undertake extended and more in depth research it's designed to do one of two things either for those who know that they want to go on to do a phd and understand that that their bachelor's did not provide them to not prepare them with sufficient research skills and furthermore an msc will get them partway there but memories will give them greater preparation specifically in research skills or maybe it you know or maybe it's it's for for someone who says i don't want to be an academic but i do understand that in my future career i will be in charge of a major research project and i want to gain the skills that they put me to do that so we have four core modules analyzing qualitative and quantitative data theories in management and finance research design and epistemology and advanced quantitative research methods so what if you like one theory module meet others rule about analyzing data research the dissertation is not 10 000 words it's 20 000 words and there are a range of optional modules with a smaller range uh by a bank regulation resolution of banking crises corporate finance corporate governance international securities regulation islamic bank and finance address management and just to flag up so far i've been talking about our on campus programs uh our our on our on campus programs provided over one year full time or two years or occasionally three years three years is right normally two years part time here at the so-as campus in london but we also run a number of distance learning or online programs and we offer those at msc level they can make a list of eight modules and we also offer postgraduate diploma six modules uh unlike the on campus programs where each module is 15 credits on our distance learning or online programs these are 30 credit modules so so rather so rather more rather will study uh over the week and indeed there are two assignments as we'll see rather than some p1 and you can take an msc finance or or postgraduate diploma with four different pathways first pathways are economic policy banking financial sector management and quantitative finance you can take a msc or postgraduate diploma in finance and financial law in international business administration public financial management or public policy management and we offer postgraduate certificate programs uh so uh so these would be so these would be two module programs in banking economic policy financial law specifically financial or rather finance and financial or financial sector management public policy public management and quantitative finance and if you're particularly interested in our distance learning programs details of those are set out on a separate website which we created dedicated to our online learning programs and the the link is there on the screen www.saphems.ac.uk and also i thought it'd be useful uh if any of you already aware that you want to vote you're interested in these specific program i've put on this slide a list of all the program conveners and and yes uh i will be making these slides available uh to my colleague who can who can send them out to those who've registered for the webinar so uh so in answer to claudia's question yes we can do that these are the uh the slide gives you the email address of each of your each of the conveners and very briefly application process we ask for the equivalents at first degree about this degree with good grades in any subject and what we mean by good grades is equivalent to a uk upper second class honors degree or in the us system a gpa of 3.3 more or less and the chinese system we would look for an hour for an average average grade of 80 very slightly if you if you come to us with a with a bachelor's degree from stanford with a gpa of 3.1 that's not could be a major problem similarly if you come if you come to us from central university finance economics from futan with or another or even any of the project 211 universities with uh with an average of 75 it'd be likely to be uh be successful we consider relevant professional qualifications and experience but we don't require them so if anyone's watching this webinar and thinks just i'm just coming to the end of my bachelor's degree i don't have any professional experience yet don't be put off what uh what this is saying is if you have professional experience we will take that into account particularly if and it happens your first degree didn't go quite so well a relevant professional qualification or work experience can compensate for that but if you've come straight out of your bachelor's degree please do apply to us and our application system is online we don't some universities have a formal closing date we don't but we would encourage you to apply early uh particularly those of you who be required to use your visa the early you apply the easier it is to get your feet to go through the visa process in good time in order to to start the program in the in the autumn so finally are there any questions over to you uh a very interesting question just came in uh from the who is who is not a speaker of arabic and was asking about the islamic finance the islamic bank and finance module and would the problem is that would it be a problem taking that module if you don't have a knowledge of arabic no not at all the islamic bank and finance module does not assume any prior knowledge of arabic it's true some it's quite popular with students from the middle east who who may well have knowledge of arabic but all the necessary arabic language terms are explained to you as concept in the course of the module so no if you don't if you don't speak read or write arabic don't be put off do if you're interested in role for that module and you certainly uh what what i would say is although some students from the middle east from a muslim background uh take islamic bank and finance others don't with no with no arabic at all and they do very well in the module so if you're interested in the concept sign up for it uh is the is the literature uh that i could send out uh to help help people help potential students to start reading up uh certainly when you enroll on a particular program you will then be sent a reading list uh either by admissions or by the department and student support officer a reading list that is tailored to that particular module um you uh all all those who enroll will get one of those um be difficult really because of the breadth of the range of the programs that i've gone through it'd be difficult to come up with a list of literature relevant to all of them but if you got in touch with me or with the convener of a particular program you're interested in we could certainly send you a preliminary reading list yes uh uh you somebody asked uh are are my contact details are the contact details uh are our email addresses also on the soas website yes they are if you go to the soas website and you'll see uh departments uh you then click on funds and management and then then you click on staff and there you've got uh are various are various contact details or alternatively from the school funds and management website a web page if you like a section of the website you can click on the degree program you're interested in op will calm the name and email address of the content of that program okay i think uh that pretty much uh brings us out of time so i i'd like to finish by thanking you very much for your attention and i do hope to be seeing some more hopefully even all of you hear it so us in the autumn so thank you very much