Skip to main content

The ICMA Centre Launches new Portfolio Simulation Platform

MSc and BSc students at the ICMA Centre that take the portfolio management course are involved in an assessed group project where they have to build and evaluate a hypothetical portfolio with securities of their choice using real time data. The new web-based ICMA Centre portfolio simulation platform that has been developed by StockTrak Inc and customised by Dr George Alexandridis allows students to trade securities in most major markets around the world in real time and build and manage large portfolios.

Dr George Alexandridis, Lecturer in Finance at the ICMA Centre said:

"Our custom made portfolio simulation platform and other simulations used in the centre can really help us bridge the gap between theory and practice and progress the students' learning experience to a higher level. Students can apply the tools they learn in the class and improve their investment skills. It is very much like real-life on-line trading platform, that not only allows students to get some hands-on experience but also ignites a spirit of competition in the class room. Moreover, it helps improve students' investment awareness and potential in securing better jobs after graduation"

The MSc Portfolio Management challenge runs between January and April by Professor Jacques Pezier. Each group of students is required to submit a detailed report where they critically explain and justify their trades and profitability compared to appropriate benchmarks. The final winners are determined based on both their final profit and reports. This allows for students to be evaluated on their critical judgment as well as their skills of practically applying what they learn from core courses such as portfolio management and derivative markets.

Professor Chris Brooks who runs the BSc Portfolio management course commented:

"The simulated portfolio challenge is an integral part of the portfolio management module and links closely with our ambition to equip students with the transferable and practical skills that they will need to be successful in their future careers. The students typically enjoy the experience enormously and learn much more about the process of forming and evaluating equity portfolios than they could from simply reading a book. Some of our graduates have commented that the exercise inspired them to work in that part of the industry and helped them field questions at interviews."

The ICMA Centre is one of the very few Business Schools in the UK that have adopted similar portfolio simulation platforms that are becoming an essential training tool in business and finance education.

Published 1 February 2010

You might also like

ICMA Centre Student Commended in Eurekahedge Prize

12 February 2007

Can we predict when football managers are no longer effective?

7 August 2019
As the new football season commences, the media is speculating on who will be the first manager to be sacked. Whilst economists have used their models to predict football events, academics from the ICMA Centre have developed a model to see if they could predict when a football manager is no longer being effective.
Business News

Institutional investors, business and the public good from transactions to relations by Colin Melvin

13 January 2015
Colin joined Hermes Fund Managers in 2002 and became CEO of Hermes Equity Ownership Services in 2005. Colin provides advice and assistance to pension funds and other institutional investors in the areas of responsible asset management, corporate governance, voting and engagement. He is currently an Associate of the Centre for Corporate Governance Research of the University of Birmingham and a non-executive director of Aedas Europe, an architectural firm. Colin is currently an active member of various industry steering groups and committees including those of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative (for which he was the first Chair), Tomorrow’s Company Inquiry into Corporate Ownership, the Work Foundation Panel of Inquiry into Work and Enterprise, the Global Institutional Governance Network, the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change and the International Corporate Governance Network. Previously, Colin was Corporate Governance Manager and Secretary to the Ethics Committee at Standard Life Investments and Head of Corporate Governance and responsible investment at Baillie Gifford.