Finance, Investment & Risk BA (Hons)

Glasgow Caledonian University

The financial services sector in Scotland manages over 800 billion pounds in funds and generates around 8 billion pounds for the Scottish economy (Scottish Financial Enterprise). This programme, almost unique in being targeted specifically at the sector, has a track record of producing in-demand graduates with the knowledge and expertise needed to succeed in the fast-moving world of financial services.

BA(Hons) Finance, Investment and Risk programme is accredited by the CII, the world's largest professional body for insurance, risk and financial services. As its name suggests, the degree focuses on specific areas key to financial services and, indeed, to finance generally. These are: personal finance, corporate finance and investment, risk, banking and international finance.

You can choose to study a language in Years 2-4 of this degree. GCU offers modules in French, German, Italian and Spanish from beginners to professional level.

Our students are offered free student membership of the CII, which gives them access to online resources and local industry and networking events. The department also organises its own events for students, where they can meet and chat with a range of industry professionals.

Assessment

Our assessments are designed to develop our students' independent learning while testing their ability to address problems, formulate arguments and analyse issues. As a result, the programme adopts a wide range of assessment styles, geared to the content of the modules, and enabling the students to show the development not just of their written and numerical skills and learning, but also in skills such as presentation, team working, problem-solving and leadership, and in the use of the IT and social network resources such as Twitter.

Accreditation

Our students have the option of taking additional CII units at a discounted rate; around a third of the amount charged to insurance and personal finance professionals.

Teaching Methods

Our approach to the learning, teaching and assessment is tailored to the needs of the financial services industry. We adopt a wide range of learning and teaching methods to ensure our students gain the necessary knowledge and understanding,while developing their intellectual and personal skills to become lifelong learners.Wherever possible, our teaching considers real world situations in the financial services sector, both in the UK and internationally, and includes input from industry practitioners in the creation or development of modules and resources.

To facilitate this approach, we use 'GCULearn', the university’s virtual learning environment, across all programme modules. Through GCULearn, course materials, reading resources, assessments and feedback are all available online. It is also used to enable students to undertake online activities and tasks, listen to podcasts, be involved in online discussion groups, and take part in blogs and Twitter-based learning activities. This approach is blended with more traditional lecture, tutorial and seminar contact.