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Finance
lecturers build global links in Virginia, USA
A team from the Finance Section of the School of Management Studies
has recently returned from Charlottesville in the US where they built
relationships with global academic partners of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
Institute. Dr Francois Toerien and Mr Ashwin Prayag were among the 53 delegates
representing 49 universities from 19 countries who attended the 4th
CFA Program Partner Conference.
Amongst the countries represented were the USA, Argentina, Canada,
Chile, Mexico, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal,
Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan,
Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Dr Toerien said: “We were inducted as new partners of the CFA and
made aware of the benefits of collaborating with global partners in both
research initiatives as well as developing curricula. It was also a great
networking opportunity to connect with the CFA global leadership and academics
from a range of countries.”
The new partnership between UCT and the CFA, which was signed in
Cape Town earlier this year, also opens the door to one of the world’s top
competitions for finance students and UCT is currently selecting a team to enter
this prestigious global universities challenge. Last year’s global winners, a
team from Singapore, were given five minutes of airtime on CNN after the
prize-giving.
An interesting trend picked up by the UCT academics at the
conference was the upbeat mood of academics. Dr Toerien said: “Studies in
Finance appear to be anti-cyclical. Despite the global downturn in the economy,
the experience of other business schools around the world is that many people
are using the recession as an opportunity to study further so that they are well
placed to take advantage of the upswing, when it happens.”
President of the CFA, John Rogers wrote in welcome to the UCT team:
“The world of investment finance, and of financial education, has changed a
great deal ... We are very pleased that you will work with us to identify
enduring principles to guide our profession through these difficult times.”
For the
UCT team a visit to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, one of the
greatest US presidents and the main author of the Declaration of Independence, as well as a
trip to Washington DC, contributed to making the 40 hours sitting in aircraft
worthwhile. The flights, which entailed stop-overs in Johannesburg and Atlanta,
included a 16½ hour trans-Atlantic crossing, which was the single longest flight
of all delegates (with the delegate from China, however, having the longest
overall distance to cover to Charlottesville). The team was impressed with the
efficiency of Atlanta airport, which is the world’s busiest airport and serves
as hub for two major airlines, including Delta Airlines, the world largest
commercial airline.
A word of warning from the UCT team to anyone flying into the US:
“Make sure you use cable ties rather than locks on your luggage, as the very
zealous airport officials cut your locks!”
Francois
Toerien -
Head: Finance Section, School of Management Studies (UCT),
Dennis
McLeavey - Head: Education EMEA (CFA Institute), Merridith Schifferdecker -
University Relations Coordinator (CFA Institute), Bob McLean - Head: University
Relations (CFA Institute) Wanda Kerr - CFA Program Partner Specialist (CFA
Institute), Ashwin Prayag - Lecturer: Finance, School of Management
Studies (UCT) and Allison Grant Williams - Director: Diversity Outreach (CFA
Institute).
Posted 14/08/2009 by Carolyn McGibbon
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