You can see finance working everywhere. From a simple savings account and planning for retirement to investing in stocks, bonds, hedge funds and private equity, finance leaves its footprints. The rigorous NUS Master of Science in Finance programme helps the next generation of financiers to make deep marks in the finance industry. Associate Professor Yeo Wee Yong, Academic Director of the programme, tells us more.
The aim from the very beginning was to design a rigorous and high-quality programme that adapts to the changing needs of the marketplace, said Associate Professor Yeo Wee Yong, Academic Director of the NUS Master of Science in Finance programme. “The resulting product is a very carefully crafted programme to add the most value to our students, training and preparing them well for what the finance industry needs.”
The first semester starts with a three-week intensive course, with preparatory modules on finance and accounting, followed by 10 weeks of programming and financial modelling. In the second semester, students go through core finance modules that cover applied corporate finance, investments, derivatives and fixed income securities, and international finance and economics. In the final semester, students take up electives relevant to the industry they wish to enter.
NUS MSc Finance students receive rigorous training in finance.
The academic team is always on the lookout for what the market needs. When the programme began in 2018, there were two specialisations, namely Corporate Finance and Investment Finance. With a growing industry focus on technology, it launched the Finance and Technology specialisation in 2020.
Covering more than FinTech, the new specialisation revolves around understanding the role technology plays in the current and future state of the finance industry. From understanding systems and technologies in financial markets and institutions to entrepreneurship, disruption, and the regulatory environment, the specialisation seeks to prepare students to harness the power of technology as a strategic competitive advantage.
Assoc Prof Yeo added, “We have also worked with the Chartered FinTech Professional (CFtP) programme to give our students a head start in the certification. Students who take certain modules in the MSc Finance programme are waived from the first level of the CFtP certification examinations.”
Making finance relevant
Assoc Prof Yeo’s commitment stems from his love for education. “I think the key to helping students internalise the concepts being taught is to understand how they think and the difficulties they might be experiencing at the moment, and more importantly, making the knowledge relevant to them and what they wanted to achieve,” said Assoc Prof Yeo.
Assoc Prof Yeo, a finance major from NUS, returned to his alma mater to teach finance.
He likes to point out the relevance of finance to his students in the things they come across daily, even from the songs they hear and the movies they watch. They can visit a shopping mall and think about how the mall, as a property within the portfolio of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), is changing the way they conduct their business. They can even do a quick mental valuation of the mall!
Assoc Prof Yeo’s efforts for making finance relatable saw him clinch numerous Outstanding Educator Awards since he joined NUS as a senior tutor in 1996. He also won the university-level Annual Teaching Excellence Award in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
But awards are not his goal. He said, “I can speak on behalf of most instructors. We teach because we love the finance discipline, we love the students, we love contributing to the university as a premium location of business leadership, and Singapore as a financial and education hub. All our professors teaching in the programme are similarly motivated and committed to ensuring students get the most from what we teach.”
Assoc Prof Yeo’s mission is to grow the next generation of financiers. He is on the lookout for inquisitive and broad-minded students. He said, “We want students to be curious, students who can think and connect pieces of information in insightful ways, and students who strongly desire to make positive contributions to the finance community and society at large. And so, if you want a rigorous programme to help you understand finance, be trained well for the ever dynamically developing finance industry, and be willing to take challenges, then the NUS MSc in Finance programme is the one for you.”
Learn more about the NUS MSc in Finance programme at https://mscfin.nus.edu.sg/.
