UK – With reports that talent is leaving the asset management industry, Brunel University is offering a finance MSc degree specialising in the subject – the first of its kind in the UK.

The two-year MSc course launching in September this year will give students seeking high level careers in the financial sector the option to specialise in financial risk management, asset management or corporate finance and accounting.

Work placements will be provided as part of the course. Financial and commercial sector collaborators already providing sandwich placements for Brunel undergraduates in economics and finance include: Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, HSBC, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture, Lloyds TSB and Barclays Bank.

Comments Philip Davis, a professor at the university: “All three of these options provide attractive long term career prospects for top students. Financial accounting is a perennial growth area; asset management will benefit from the ageing of the population and pension reform, while risk management is coming increasingly to the fore as financial activity and regulation becomes ever more complex.”

Davis feels that such courses are essential given the way recent reports highlight that talent is leaving the industry. A recent survey by consultants Watson Wyatt revealed that more fund managers are leaving the industry than at any point in the past seven years.

Further details about the course can be obtained by emailing ec-pg-enq@brunel.ac.uk.

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