Students from Cranfield School of Management are preparing to compete against their peers from around the world in a global financial management contest.
Five Master’s students will compete in the CFA Institute Research Challenge in April, an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis.
A team of Finance and Management and Investment Management MSc students from Cranfield won the UK round of last year’s competition, beating more than 20 top UK universities.
This year’s team will consist of students Akshay Sam, Friedrich Hecker, Edward Jaggard, Sibi Aravindh and Andres Silva.
Edward said: “I am very excited about taking part in this competition as I know it is something that I will both enjoy and learn lots from. After four years of university and school before that, it is great to have the opportunity to produce a piece of work similar to what may be expected in the workplace, and to the same high standards. Completing a company valuation is also a great opportunity for me to implement all the skills and methods I have learnt so far during my time at Cranfield.
“I hope to gain confidence in presenting and a deeper knowledge of the subject. I am looking forward to learning as much as possible about our chosen company, and to the feeling of satisfaction and relief you get once you submit a tough piece of work that you worked hard on.”
The first CFA Institute Research Challenge competition was hosted by the New York Society of Security Analysts in 2002 and involved five teams from the New York area. Since then, the competition has grown to include around 5,000 students from more than 1,000 universities in some 75 countries.
Students work in teams to research and analyse a publicly-traded company that is assigned to them, including meeting company management. They then write a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell or hold recommendation. If their report is selected, the team will be asked to present and defend their analysis in front of a panel of industry professionals.
Dr Vineet Agarwal and Dr Andrea Moro, Readers in Finance at Cranfield School of Management, will mentor the students ahead of their competition debut. Dr Moro said: “We are very much looking forward to this year’s CFA Institute Research Challenge. Last year’s team performed exceptionally well and we are hoping for another good performance this year. We have a strong team and I know they will all do their best at the competition in April.”
About Cranfield University
Cranfield has been a world leader in management education and research for over 50 years, helping individuals and organisations learn and succeed by transforming knowledge into action. We are dedicated to creating responsible management thinking, improving business performance and inspiring the next generation of business leaders. We work to change the lives of our students and executives by encouraging innovation and creative thinking, as well as the drive to succeed and make a real impact on their organisations.
Organisations as diverse as Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems, Royal Dutch Shell, L’Oréal, UNICEF and the African Development Bank have benefited from our work, which ranges from management research projects, through staff talent management development on our MBA courses, to customised executive programmes.
Cranfield is one of an elite group of Schools worldwide to hold the triple accreditation of: AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and AMBA (the Association of MBAs).
We are in the Top 10 International Business Schools in the Forbes’ ranking.
Our open and customised executive education programmes are ranked in the top five in the UK, according to the latest Financial Times survey, and in the top ten in the world for international reach. Over 10,000 people come to Cranfield each year to benefit from our executive and professional development programmes.
