BI’s master of science program in finance is currently the only Norwegian business school program that has been approved by CFA Institute as a participant in the University Affiliation Program.
The six point credit course has seen increased interest from students over the past years, partly due to BI’s previous success in the annual CFA Research Challenge, a global competition that provides students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics, otherwise not easily accessible in other courses.
“It’s a realization that enhanced practical training in applied finance including modeling, analyst report writing, and presentation skills all improved working closely with industry mentor and guest lecturer, make participating students more competitive in the job market, “says Professor Janis Berzins at the Department of finance and faculty advisor to the winning teams.
“Some also catch the “competitive bug”, he adds.
Real world experience
In front of an experienced panel of judges consisting of investment bankers, M&A experts, corporate finance professionals, and consultants from top companies in Norway that were invited to BI, the students assumed the role of research analysts arguing for their stock recommendation of Oslo listed fish farmer Bakkafrost, which is this year’s research challenge case.
“The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an opportunity for students to grow at accelerated rate professionally and for our school to connect to the industry to deliver education that is in high demand and involves important issues such as sustainability, “ says Berzins.
Working in teams, students gain real-world experience and are judged on their ability to value a stock, write a research report, and present their recommendations.
"Compete to win"
The two teams are now back to the drawing board reflecting on what they think should be improved before facing students from Nord University, OsloMet, and NTNU in the national final at Danske Bank's headquarter in Oslo February 27.
The EMEA regional final is held April 1 in Jordan, while the global final is held in New York April 22. For the past three consecutive years, students from BI has won the national competition and represented Norway in the regional final.
“It is a competition and we want to make students realize individually their own top potential and to exhibit that in a group delivery in one of the toughest competitions in finance. We compete to win," says Berzins.
About CFA Research Challenge:
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. Each student will be tested on their analytical, valuation, report writing, and presentation skills. They gain real-world experience as they assume the role of a research analyst.
BI Norwegian Business School’s Master of Science in Finance programme is an affiliated programme, as conferred by CFA Institute. As such, the Master of Science in Finance programme covers a significant portion of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK) in the programme curriculum and conforms to the CFA Institute Code of Ethics.