Queen Mary University of London has just launched a new student blogging service to give potential applicants a greater sense of what it's like to live and work as an undergraduate student here.
You can view the blogs here:
http://blogs.studentlife.qmul.ac.uk/department/economics/
http://blogs.studentlife.qmul.ac.uk/
Undergraduate news
Post date: 8th March 2013
IMC – Investment Management Certificate Advantage Programmes Recognised by CFA UK
The School of Economics and Finance’s undergraduate programmes: BSc Economics and Finance and BSc Economics, Finance and Management, have been recognised and aligned with the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) from the Chartered Financial Analyst Society of the UK (CFA UK).
The IMC accreditation acknowledges the relevance of the two programmes in providing an up-to-date curriculum that endows our graduates with the most appropriate knowledge and skills for a career in the finance and banking sector.
The Investment Management Certificate (IMC) is the most widely recognised and established qualification of its kind in the UK. Students who undertake these BSc programmes can undertake the IMC examinations and obtain the IMC certificate on completion of their studies, adding value to their degree and increasing their employability.
This profession's benchmark entry-level qualification, the IMC is used by most
leading investment firms to demonstrate competence for regulatory purposes. The IMC offers an excellent foundation to careers in the investment profession and is an excellent first professional qualification for students wishing to pursue a career in finance. Employers agree that it demonstrates an impressive commitment to the profession.
More information on the IMC and the CFA can be found here: https://www.cfauk.org/qualifications/imc-exam.html
Signing of CFA agreement by Professor George Kapetanios (Head of School of Economics and Finance) and Nick Bartlett (Director of Education CFA UK)
Post date: 11th February 2013
The School of Economics and Finance has recorded a significant rise in its undergraduate programme applications of almost 37 per cent relative to last year, according to UCAS statistics.
This is an exceptional result that has been achieved despite the pressures created by the new fees and funding system and without compromising standards.
To find out more about our programmes and the opportunities we provide for our students please see: http://www.econ.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/why-study-economics-at-qm
Post date: 11th February 2013
Yasmin Desai, a BSc student studying Economics, Finance, and Management, recently attended a two-week entrepreneurship programme at Babson College in the United States. Babson, the top-ranked university for entrepreneurship education in the world, holds this entrepreneurship programme for students from all over the world to attend. Yasmin entered to be part of the Babson Entrepreneurship Program in partnership with Santander and was accepted to the programme after completing a 500-word report on how participating would help her with starting her own business in the future.
Upon arriving at Babson College, Yasmin discovered that she was one of the youngest of the 30 participants, with students’ ages ranging from 19 to 31. While she said working with older students who had more professional experience than her was intimidating at first, she said it was very interesting and that she learned from them all. Yasmin gained knowledge on a variety of business and entrepreneurship-related topics, including Business Planning, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Idea Creation, Marketing Tests and Business Models, and Sustainable Entrepreneurship.
At the end of the two-week programme, participants formed teams to create and develop a new venture, and were required to present their pitch using all of the knowledge they had gained throughout the programme. Yasmin’s group focused on a range of hair-colouring products. She found it very fun and valuable to learn how to pitch a business plan in less than three minutes.
Yasmin claims that some of the most important things she learned were to follow your passion when seeking a career, never underestimate the importance of internships or work placements, and use every opportunity to network and gain feedback about your ideas. Her own business will benefit from her gaining expertise in many different areas of entrepreneurship as well as from learning the future trends of business.
Currently in her second year, Yasmin is a committee member for ENACTUS (formerly named SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise)) and YELP/TEAM UP, she is also on the committee for Queen Mary Entrepreneurs. She is following the advice of one of the programme supervisors and focusing on acquiring an internship for next summer. She has a part-time job at a start-up company and is aspiring to create her own new business. In order to share the valuable knowledge and skills that she learned at Babson, she is hoping to create a larger and more progressive network of students at Queen Mary who are interested in entrepreneurship.
Post date: 7th December 2012
This year the Careers Centre worked with a leading Investment Management firm, Blackrock, to set up a mentoring scheme for undergraduates from a range of universities. Four individuals from SEF gained a place on the scheme, which involved taking part in the Spring Insight week and meeting 1-2-1 with professionals working at Blackrock. Ahmed Yaqoob talks about his experiences on the scheme:
Its been very helpful for my career choice – it has meant I can eliminate loads of career options I otherwise wouldn’t know about. I've also learnt so much more about different options within Asset Management.
The programme has also made me much more confident about being able to talk to people, and have background knowledge direct from people working within the organisation.
From the Spring programme I've learnt in depth about the division I was assigned to, and from the mentoring programme I have been able to understand technical concepts and have been introduced to essential readings for my intended career. I have also been given guidance and help with my CV and application forms for the oncoming Summer Internships.
The overall experience increased my confidence very much and has allowed me to be able to sustain a conversation about a career I am passionate about without having to think twice about worrying how underprepared I am, or not being confident. The spring programme gave me a much needed direct insight, whilst the mentoring is allowing me to become more expressive about my opinions which in turn allows me to increase my knowledge about the know-hows within the industry.
To find out about employers on campus and careers events go to www.careers.qmul.ac.uk/events and www.facebook.com/careersforeconomics
Post date: 6th December 2012
The past year has been especially exciting for us – we joined the Russell Group of leading UK universities, testament to our enduring excellence in research and teaching; we were at the centre of this summer’s memorable sporting and cultural events; and we also celebrated the 125th anniversary of the People’s Palace.
More information is at http://www.qmul.ac.uk/film/
Post date: 6th December 2012
They play an important role in supporting the School carrying out its various events and activities. They are the student helpers and ambassadors! This year more than 20 year 2 and 3 students volunteered to become helpers and ambassadors. They provided great support during induction and in the smooth running of the guest speaker’s lecture delivered by Professor Lord Richard Layard. The School always welcomes new helpers and if you are interested in becoming one just contact Agatha Jones (a.m.jones@qmul.ac.uk) to express your interest. Pictured are four of the current helpers: (from left to right), Fatima, Chi-Kwan, Deepinti and Yong-Hun.
Post date: 6th December 2012
Who are we?
The Economics Society committee is formed of undergraduate students from Economic disciplines. Membership is open to all students at Queen Mary. Although diverse, we are unified by our interest in economics and finance, and are one of the university’s largest student societies.We aim to provide a platform for students to network and build relationships with peers, School staff and prospective employers, in addition to trying to boost the employability of our members.
What do we do?
We have a variety of careers events coming up that you might be interested in.You might think of an Economics graduate working as a Wall Street type banker donning a crisp suit, wearing highly polished shoes to match his shiny sports car, shouting across the trading room floor whilst wielding three telephones.You may associate it with greying, bearded, monocle-wearing wise old men sat around a circular glossed mahogany table in a dimly lit room, discussing inflation, economic growth and monetary policy in some obscure corner of the Bank of England.
While it is not uncommon for Economics and Finance graduates to go in to these roles (with or without the monocle), the Economics society can introduce you to careers that you haven’t considered, or help you get the connections and information you need to target the job you want.This isn’t limited to Economics students either; we can assist anyone that is interested in exploring their potential career paths.We are excited to be participating in a CIMA business game at the CIMA headquarters on 21st November. Alternatively, an upcoming event with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales might be more up your street.
In addition, we host lectures with guest speakers.This semester, we have already had the privilege of presenting Sir Frank Chapman, Chairman of BG Group, who discussed the future of the UK energy industry. BG Group is the oil and gas exploration arm of the former nationalised British Gas, and is one of the leading energy companies in the world. Those who attended had the opportunity to drill down and engage with the raw message of his argument, extracting the information that could channel their resources towards or away from a career in the energy sector.
We are also excited that Detlev Schlichter, an Austrian School Economist and financial markets professional, will be joining us on 15th November to give a 30 minute talk about his latest book 'Paper Money Collapse,' followed by a Q&A session. He is a senior fellow at the Cobden Centre, London, a free-market think tank devoted to issues of money and banking. He has appeared on BBC Radio 4, Sky News; been published in The Wall Street Journal, City A.M.; and has spoken at the Adam Smith Institute.
The Economics Society hosts a student versus staff football tournament every Monday between 2:00-3:00pm at QMotion, among other sporting events throughout the year. So if you enjoy a kick-about (or have a vendetta against a particular lecturer) you may want to fasten your football boots and join us. For those of you who like to meet new people, perhaps at a less energetic function, our regular social events might interest you!
We will be getting in to the festive spirit early, and having a well-earned celebration following the completion of the first semester: our end of term social extravaganza has been confirmed for the 3rd December in Drapers from 5:00pm onwards.
Keep on the look out for our Economics Society journal, ‘Economic Affairs’ which will be coming out shortly.
Whatever your discipline, or economic consciousness, the Economics Society has something for you! So buy your membership for just £2 at the SU now to avoiding missing out on the exciting year we have planned!
In the photo: (Back left to right): Lewis Corfield, Jack Furlong, CEO Sir Frank Chapman,Tom Ireland, Raj Chahal, Alexandra Cordato, Hana Hammouda, Anna Bukowiecki
Website: http://www.qmuleconsoc.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/qmeconsoc
Email: qmeconsoc@gmail.com
Facebook: QMUL Economics Society (Group)
Students’ union: http://www.qmsu.org/economics/
Post date: 6th December 2012
Semester one was been a busy one for careers activities in the School. Two ‘Focus on Finance’ weeks in October had many SEF students turning out for talks on banking, insurance, risk and accountancy. A couple of weeks later and a roomful of first and second years heard about how to get onto an internship/insight week from Paul Evans and Afzal Hussein, who did this successfully last year with Credit-Suisse and Blackrock respectively. Paul was just one of a number of this year’s finalists I could name who have been offered a graduate job upon completing an internship, showing how employable SEF students are!
There were a two great opportunities with RBS. I took one group of Maths and SEF students for an afternoon at the RBS Liverpool Street offices. There, we were hosted by individuals from the finance division who gave the group a quick tour of the trading floor, presented an overview of investment banks, led an interactive exercise where participants had to come up with the skills required in different types of banking jobs and finally offered CV advice to individuals. Another group of students were successful in gaining mentors from RBS, and they will be starting that mentoring relationship in next few months.
Throughout last semester I was particularly impressed by how pro-active the current first years are in trying to gain relevant work experience and in attending careers events. It is this sort of switched-on attitude which will lead to even more individuals graduating with a fantastic graduate internship or job lined up, and a rosy future ahead of them!
Abi Sharma
Post date: 6th December 2012
Being a first year Economics student, I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do in the future. I decided to go to the careers office at Queen Mary and find out what options were open to me. This turned out to be some of the most helpful advice I had ever been given in terms of improving my CV, what spring internships were available and how I could go about furthering my knowledge of economic news. After a few weeks, I heard about an event hosted by Queen Mary Careers for the School of Economics and Finance called “LinkedUp”. Here students would meet professionals in the finance industry who were alumni from QM. Each student met two professionals on a 1-2-1 basis and we were given plenty of time to ask any questions we had about their jobs and if they had any helpful advice for us related to university or finding a job. After the meeting, I felt a lot better as I gained a better insight into what working environments were like. One of the finance professionals I met with did postgraduate study at Queen Mary and now works in private wealth management. She asked me to produce a research paper on the economies of China, Japan, the US and Europe. Even though it was a tough and daunting task, I managed to get through it and after a month (it took very long, I know!), I hand delivered my paper to her. Little did I know the visit to her office would turn out to be an interview with her and the CEO of the company. Although it all came as a shock to me, I wasn’t particularly that nervous as Queen Mary Careers had already helped a lot by giving great interview advice and how to stand out. After a couple of weeks, I was offered a 10 week summer internship which was a very pleasant surprise!
I began my summer internship in June and now that I am halfway through, I can already say I have learnt so much. I can understand financial terms that I never knew even existed, I can question people on the validity of economic data and I have also been able to master the Bloomberg terminal. Having a meeting or two every other day with fund managers became a normal part of my internship and was probably one of the most exciting aspects of it as I got to meet incredibly intelligent and attention-grabbing people. Understanding what private wealth management is about and the different investment techniques used with high net worth individuals was what interested me a lot as it is one of very few jobs that is essentially client focused.
I have to reiterate that going to career related events and using Queen Mary’s careers service will literally change your life (no exaggeration!). Being in your first year and going to career events does not mean you have to make decisions about your future straight away, but in fact it will help shape your future and give you a better understanding of the options available to you. I am so thankful I went to the career related events at the beginning of my first year, as I was able to implement the help and advice I was given at my interview and obtain the first year summer internship. Now, I have even been offered a graduate job with the company!
Post date: 6th December 2012
