ICMA Centre students have taken part in the annual CFA Institute Research Challenge, an international competition open exclusively to undergraduate and postgraduate students of official CFA Programme Partner institutions.

The competition requires participants to use every bit of their skills in analysis and synthesis, critical thinking, and in-depth knowledge of the market in order to produce an extensive valuation report on a subject firm.

Third year student and participant Dina Ghanma commented in her blog post: “The experience was very hands-on and engaging! I’m strongly considering a career in this field, so the Challenge was valuable practice, and I now feel even more prepared to face not only my upcoming IMC exams, but also the actual investment appraisal industry in the ‘real world’.”

The team of four BSc Finance and Investment Banking students (Thomas Bowrey, Dhina Ghanma, Sean Harper and Gerald Lim) did an incredible job taking part in the challenge, and although they didn’t make the UK finals this year, the value of the experience was more than compensation.

Dr Ioannis Oikonomou, Programme Director and mentor for the team, commented: “This was the first time we took advantage of the opportunity to participate in the competition through our institutional affiliation with the CFA Institute. It was a steep learning curve for all of us and I have to commend our team for their dedication, hard work and excellent quality of their report. I hope that in the years to come we will have more students who participate and approach the process with the same zeal”.

The ICMA Centre’s MSc in Investment Management has been a Program Partner of the CFA institute since 2006. In addition, in 2014, the BSc Finance and Investment Banking became one of very few undergraduate degrees in the UK to also be awarded a CFA partner status.

If you are considering launching a career in Finance, visit our undergraduate and postgraduate web pages to find out more about our CFA Institute Program Partner courses, or contact us for more information on admissions@icmacentre.ac.uk.