HKUST and New York business school provide a comprehensive overview with a global perspective Finance professionals are desperately sought after in an ever-evolving industry launching new tools and knowledge all the time. To help cope with the lack of professionals in the region, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School teamed up with the New York University Stern School of Business and created a Master of Science in Global Finance programme in November last year. The programme accepts but is not exclusively for those with business, finance or related degrees. Most of the 32 students admitted come from the banking industry, but there are also many from the non-finance area. Maya Lin, director of Poscelin, a garment trading and manufacturing company, graduated with a communications degree before she studied fashion design. She worked for luxury brands Louis Vuitton and Fendi and is managing her family business while doing projects for Cartier. 'For my family business, I do need a lot of financial background information to work with other banks and also again for the course, the time is very flexible and very good for my schedule,' said Ms Lin. Stuti Jain, assistant manager of audit, KPMG, applied to do the course to get a feel for finance and the programme enabled her to work as she studied, while aiming to get into the corporate finance and advisory field. '[The programme] covers everything; we start with corporate finance, that includes derivative markets, there's a lot about the financial market, the stock market and portfolio management,' she said. 'That's why you get an overview of global finance.' Even the experienced professionals find it essential. Winson Fong, managing director and head of Greater China equities, Societe Generale Asset Management (Hong Kong), has worked in the investment banking industry for 20 years in Japan, Asia ex-Japan and China. '[The 10 modules were] very useful,' said Mr Fong. 'Especially if you look at the content. They may be talking about the same thing, corporate finance, derivatives, but I think every three or four years, the knowledge itself would evolve, so it's very important for them to upgrade.' The three students found the programme very useful in giving them a broad sense of what the finance industry is about, through its modules including asset markets, corporate finance, portfolio management and asset allocation, derivatives markets, applied corporate finance and valuation, foreign exchange markets, financial engineering, fixed income instruments and markets, risk management and other topics in financial markets and innovation. In addition to focusing on the Hong Kong or Asian financial markets, the course also brings them to Wall Street and gives them an opportunity to see the financial environment in the US financial capital. The final three modules of the programme will be taught during a two-week in-resident programme in New York and it ends with a two-day in-resident stay in Hong Kong for project presentation and programme closing. Choosing from more than 100 applications, the academic director of the programme, Kalok Chan, said this programme helped students expand their knowledge in different finance functions by giving them much more comprehensive knowledge. 'These different areas [of the finance industry] are in fact quite integrated,' said Professor Chan. '[Students] are about to see how one function is really related to the others, so even for the students who are already working in the industry, it is really going to expand their knowledge and domain.' Students meet for four consecutive days each month where one module is covered. But they would have to put in much more time and effort than that. Two weeks before the module begins, students are given materials and have to complete a pre-module assignment. 'We make sure the students have read the materials and have even practiced some of the exercises before they come to class so they already have some kind of background,' said Professor Chan. 'Over those four days of classes, it's going to be very intensive, so we want to make sure that students are prepared before they come into each module.' During the four days of classes, students are required to do some in-class exercises on an individual or group basis and have to complete individual projects after each module. Time commitment and management is extremely important for students to stay in the programme. They have to attend all of the modules and some will fly in every month for the lessons from places such as Seoul, Tokyo, Texas, the Philippines, Taipei and Shanghai.