Investment and Portfolio Management
The University of Illinois has extraordinary strengths in finance education.
First, we offer a full range of finance curricula, covering not only traditional
corporate and investments finance courses but also banking, insurance, and real
estate. Second, we have a large number of world-class faculty with research
interests in empirical finance. Work by Louis Chan, Narasimhan Jegadeesh, and
Josef Lakonishok has been widely influential in the current reassessment of the
efficient markets model, and has lead to a resurgence of interest in certain
types of investment strategies (see, for example, numerous citations in InvestorHome).
The Finance Department offers a thorough grounding in investments at both the
undergraduate and the graduate levels. An undergraduate student may major in
finance through either the College of Commerce and Business Administration
(leading to a Bachelor of Science in Finance) or the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences (leading to a Bachelor of Arts in Finance). The goal of the
undergraduate program is to prepare students for a wide variety of entry-level
jobs at some of the best corporations and financial institutions in the country.
In addition, we are currently offering two Master’s level programs, leading to
Masters of Science in International Finance and Masters of Business
Administration with a Professional Track in Finance. Finally, our doctoral
program trains graduates for jobs in consulting, research, and teaching.
Our students benefit from the presence at UIUC of an exceptionally strong
accounting department. The College of Commerce and Business Administration’s
Department of Accountancy is one of the best in the country by any measure.
Students at every level find it financially advantageous as well as
intellectually satisfying to combine a strong background in finance with
advanced courses in accounting. Many firms who recruit at Illinois find such a
combination to be particularly valuable. Also, some undergraduate students
prepare for the CPA exam while pursuing an undergraduate degree in Finance. In
addition, a strong accounting background is essential when preparing for the
Chartered Financial Analyst exam. Master level students, especially those with
international interests or an international background, can sit for the first
level of the CFA exam in the same year in which they complete their masters (see
. This is also an option which is open to undergraduate students in their senior
year.
Students interested in training for a career in derivatives may benefit by
investigating courses in commodity futures and options offered by the Department
of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, a long-time leader in commodity futures
research. The Office for Futures and
Options Research maintains a number of useful web pages including course
descriptions and links to class web pages offered by both ACE and the Finance
department.
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