The Masters of Science in Global Financial Information Systems (MSc in GFIS) at South East Technological University (WIT) has been shortlisted for the Best New Course 2014 in the Postgrad Ireland Awards. The awards ceremony will be held at the Mansion House, Dublin on 30th April 2014.
The annual Postgrad Ireland Awards reflect, reward, and celebrate excellence in postgraduate course provision and the Best New Course Award specifically recognises the importance of developing new courses that meet the emerging needs of students, industry and institutions.
The objective of the MSc in GFIS is to enable high calibre graduates to rapidly develop quantitative, analytical, and ICT skills and experience, embedded in a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of Financial Services.
The Programme Director, Dr. Aidan Duane explains that “one of the key factors of the MSc in GFIS is that it is designed in an innovative and inclusive manner to enable graduates from disciplines other than Business and ICT, including Science, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Construction Studies, etc., to transition to a career in Financial Services through intensive re-training and up-skilling”.
Dr. Duane explains that “the MSc in GFIS is an intensive, innovative and highly practical programme that equips graduates with the practical skills, knowledge, and experience required to immediately take-up employment in a wide variety of roles in the Financial Services sector in Ireland and internationally”.
The high quality, standard, and transferability of the skills developed on the programme, means that graduates are also in demand from companies in other professional industries. Dr. Duane continues, “The fact that many of the graduates from the South-East were able to secure employment in the region which has been decimated by job losses over the past seven years, has been a particularly satisfactory outcome for the programme, and one we are striving to repeat over the coming years”, according to Dr. Duane.
The MSc in GFIS commenced in September 2012 and has a 100% full-time professional employment rate for students on completion. It is a 16 month programme, with a 6 month Professional Internship at the core. The 2012-2013 MSc in GFIS graduates have progressed to full-time roles as Business Analysts, Data Analysts, Risk Analysts, Credit Control Analysts, FIS Analysts; Operations Analysts; Social and Economic Policy Analyst, and Business Operations Executives. The 2012-2013 MSc in GFIS graduates now work for companies such as IBM; Kerry Group; Glanbia; The Central Bank; Bank of Ireland; Sun Life Financial Services; Citco Banking & Fund Services; Ernst & Young; EBS; AON Centre for Innovation and Analytics; Financial Control Outsourcing Services (FCOS); DePuy Synthes (J&J); and Colgate Palmolive.
Industry engagement is integral to the MSc in GFIS. Dr. Duane describes how “in the past few weeks alone, our students have had an opportunity to engage with senior banking and finance representatives from the Bank of Ireland (BOI), Allied Irish Bank (AIB), Permanent TSB, KBC Bank Ireland, Rabobank, and The Central Bank of Ireland. This high level of interaction enables the students to develop a deeper insight into the industry, its practices, and its future development, while also boosting their exposure to the industry from a career perspective”.
Further information on the MSc in GFIS is available from www.wit.ie/gfis or by visiting the programme’s dedicated Facebook Page www.facebook.com/witmscgfis. Alternatively, enquiries can be emailed to Dr. Aidan Duane, the Programme Director at [email protected].