Two of the finance sector’s peak bodies, the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia) and Macquarie University’s Applied Finance Centre (MAFC) have partnered to provide high quality graduate education to early-career finance professionals.
The partnership provides the opportunity to study a graduate finance program with MAFC, the industry’s leading postgraduate education provider, combined with access to industry networks and career development programs offered by Finsia, the leading membership association for financial services professionals.
From 2015, graduates with degree qualifications in any discipline can enrol in MAFC’s new Graduate Certificate of Finance (GCertFin), and commence their postgraduate studies with MAFC as they build their professional work experience in the finance sector. At the same time, students join Finsia to access the benefits of membership, complete the requirements for the Financial Services Associate program and attain professional membership of Finsia.
With a global reputation as the market-leading applied finance graduate education provider, MAFC delivers the best graduate programs for finance professionals with unmatched career progression.
Director of MAFC, Professor Kevin Jameson SF Fin, said, “This partnership is great news for the finance industry. With employers identifying critical thinking, understanding of the industry’s commercial drivers and analytical skills in an applied setting, as key employability skills, graduates studying the GCertFin will be both attractive and relevant.”
“The partnership provides a new type of framework to support early-career finance professionals, including those seeking to transition from undergraduate studies in a non-finance discipline. They will have access to an extremely valuable industry network and career support through membership of Finsia, as well as developing fundamental finance knowledge, quantitative skills, critical, analytical and interpretative skills. They will also be able to start a journey that can lead to our market-leading Master of Applied Finance award. We’re delighted to offer Finsia’s members high-quality postgraduate finance education,” added Professor Jameson.
Finsia’s CEO, Russell Thomas, said, “Finsia is proud to be partnering with MAFC, an acknowledged leader in applied finance postgraduate education with an excellent track record across the Australia and the Asia region. Finsia and MAFC are both strong advocates for the important role that industry practitioners play in the development and delivery of current, relevant applied finance education.”
“Supporting closer working relationships between the finance industry and the education sector is a core strategy for Finsia. We have a number of partnerships in place to affect this, primarily in undergraduate finance course offerings. The MAFC Finsia partnership builds on this, in the postgraduate space and opens up opportunities to more effectively engage with the Asia region,” added Mr Thomas.
The Graduate Certificate of Finance is designed as a comprehensive gateway program in graduate finance education. It may be taken as a stand-alone award, or enable its graduates to satisfy entry requirements for further studies with the MAFC such as the Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance, or the Master of Applied Finance, once relevant professional work experience is undertaken.
The partnership also delivers a host of benefits for students enrolled in the Master of Applied Finance. Finsia will grant significantly discounted professional membership status at the level of Associate, allowing use of the post-nominal designation (A Fin), along with an invitation to contribute to the Young Finance Professionals (YFP) activities and access to professional mentoring programs to advance careers in the industry.
