Finance and Investment – (M.Sc.)

In the competitive environment of finance and economics, companies are increasingly selective in their choice of employees. Whilst a good first degree will provide a strong foundation for career development, a Durham MSc aims to give you a head start by providing you with both general and specialist knowledge that can be applied in a wide range of organisational settings, and a skills toolkit much valued by employers. Together, these optimise your changes of an accelerated career path by becoming a more knowledgeable practitioner.

The Durham MSc degrees are perfect if your career choice lies in the financial sector. The granting of partnership status with the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) Institute is testament to the practical content and relevance to industry of the Durham MSc portfolio. Only eighteen institutions in Europe have this partnership status (51 worldwide). All Durham Finance and Economics MSc programmes include more than 70 per cent of the study required for all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Programme, thus further enhancing the employability of our students.

Our reputation is enhanced by first class teaching faculty and cutting-edge research of international standing: our teaching was rated as excellent with the award of 24/24 in the latest QAA Subject Review, and 95% of our research output was judged to be of international quality and above in RAE08.

Our MSc programmes were included in the FT Masters in Finance Programme Listing, June 2009. Our MSc programmes have received recognition for Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funding as part of 1+3 PhD studentships: this award acknowledges the quality of our degrees and the excellence of our research training programme. They can also be used as a platform from which to progress to study at PhD level.

The one-year, full-time Durham Economics and Finance MSc degrees analyse the theory and practice of finance, focusing on financial decision making, financial analysis, and financial markets and institutions. Through the core modules, the aim of the course is to provide on the one hand a rigorous treatment of the theory of finance and on the other the econometric techniques necessary to understand the literature and undertake empirical investigations in the area of finance. Through the optional modules, the programme is also designed to offer you a broader perspective on the subject matter and allow you to specialise in those areas of finance that are of particular interest to you.

You do not require any previous training in finance, but will usually have a background in a related academic discipline or relevant work experience. Finance professionals can use this degree to gain a broader view of financial markets and institutions than they may normally be exposed to and thus further their career development. Given the nature of the material and the diverse background of students, a preliminary one-week course in mathematics and statistics is offered prior to the commencement of the programme.