Given the recent global economic crisis, derivatives and risk management have become critical areas for banks and other financial institutions. City University's (CityU) college of business offers a master of science degree in financial engineering to provide essential skills in these fields.
Programme leader Dr Humphrey Tung Kwong-kwai says the course aims to help professionals from banking and finance, information technology industries and engineering to enhance their knowledge and skills in financial engineering.
'It provides training for the advanced quantitative skills to analyse sophisticated derivative models, to price and evaluate the risk of complex financial instruments, and to develop appropriate risk-management strategies,' Tung says.
Applicants must have a bachelor's degree from a recognised university, preferably with at least two years' full-time work experience in banking or finance, and a strong foundation in quantitative analysis.
Candidates who have outstanding academic records without relevant work experience will be considered. It will be advantageous if they can submit their Graduate Management Admission Test or Graduate Record Examinations results. The programme can be completed in one year, full-time, or two years, part-time. Classes are held on weekday evenings and at weekends. There are about 45 enrolled students every year.
One of the graduates, Kevin Cheung, says he took the course to upgrade work-related knowledge. 'It equipped me with the latest knowledge in computing technology, financial products and risk management,' says Cheung, who is head of structured equity derivatives IT in Asia-Pacific, global banking and markets division at HSBC. 'I had the opportunity to meet with students from different financial institutions.'
