Entry requirements
2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Finance, or in Accounting with a significant number of finance and/or quantitative modules studied. Applicants from other commerce (e.g. Business Studies or Economics, that contain finance or quantitative modules) or science-related (e.g. Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, Computer Science or another quantitative subject) subjects are also encouraged to apply.
If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.
Months of entry
October
Course content
The investment management and financial analysis sectors require industry professionals with advanced technical knowledge, plus practical experience with programming. Our Investment Management and Financial Analysis MSc (IMFA) programme is designed to equip you with these skills, and help you acquire your CFA Level II professional qualification.
As such, the course offers modules that are academically more advanced and, at the same time, more practice-oriented than those offered by a typical UK master's programme in finance. You will study technical and practice-oriented modules. LUMS accounting and finance specialists and expert tutors from Fitch Learning will prepare you to complete CFA Level II. Core modules embed training in financial programming languages including VBA, R and MATLAB, and provide hands-on experience with data platforms such as Thomson EIKON or FactSet.
Course outline
You can elect to prepare for the February CFA Level I exam or if you already have CFA Level I, you will study alternative modules to benefit a career in Investment Management or Financial Analysis. You then prepare for the August CFA Level II exam. An alternative non-CFA pathway is available for those who do not want to acquire the CFA qualification, or those who already have the qualification but still wish to benefit from this practitioner-oriented programme.
You will study the following modules, outlined in the course structure:
Term 1 core modules:
- Fund Management
- Financial Modelling and Analysis
- Programming and Databases for Financial Applications
Students without CFA Stage 1 will also study Topics in Professional Analysis
Students who have already attained CFA stage 1, or those on a non-CFA pathway will also study Quantitative Methods for Finance
Term 2 core modules:
- Advanced Financial Markets and Investment Management
- Advanced Financial Reporting and Analysis
- Advanced Investment Research Methods
- Careers Skills in Finance with Applications to ESG
Students without CFA 1 will take the February examination.
Term 3
Students taking the CFA Level II examination will complete the following modules followed by the examination in August:
- Advanced Topics in Fund Management and Investment Analysis
- CFA level 2 training
- Capstone project
Students not taking the CFA Level II examination will instead complete a dissertation.
Information for international students
We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.
We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.
If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.
Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
