The MFin is ten years old and I’m stepping down as director. A few thoughts on the last decade. * Nearly 11 years ago, I was asked to create a new post-experience master of finance degree for Cambridge University’s Judge Business School. It was an interesting challenge, with little guidance other than complying with the… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Students
How useful are teaching evaluation scores?
In recent weeks I have taken part in meetings to discuss: student feedback on MFin teachers; teaching procedures across all programmes at Cambridge Judge Business School; the selection of winners of annual teaching prizes; and the results of a Cambridge University teaching and learning review of CJBS. In all four the main information used to assess teaching quality… Continue Reading
The difficulties in doing social science
In natural (real) science you can do experiments where you can measure the influence of A on B while holding other things constant. No matter how good a theory is, it’s only taken seriously if there is an experiment that provides data consistent with it. You can’t prove a theory is true, proof is only… Continue Reading
Are today’s students revolting?
Here is a letter from a US professor who is retiring after 40 years of teaching. He complains of the sense of entitlement among today’s students and says he “grew increasingly weary of all the whining, crying, excuse-making, and general lack of attention to responsibility that appear to characterize most of today’s college and university students.”… Continue Reading
Dragon ladies
The myth of the scheming woman is one that pops up in many cultures. In the UK, for example, we talk of Lady Macbeth when we want to describe a devious woman who is held responsible for a hapless mere man’s crimes and downfall. This entertaining article in Foreign Affairs gives the Chinese example of the… Continue Reading
MFin graduation 2012
Despite far too much rain, the graduation of last year’s MFin class was a great and memorable event. It was crowned by a reunion gig after dinner in the beautiful Queens College Old Hall, by the MFin band put together with great leadership by Luka Cvitan. I’m very pleased that they asked me to join… Continue Reading
How’s the new MFin class coming along?
Next year’s class is still work in progress as admissions don’t close till the end of May. Last year we closed at the end of June (*) so we don’t have a like for like comparison, and there was quite a large late surge, which may not be repeated this year. All that said, we’re ahead… Continue Reading
The public sector “stream” within the MFin
When we launched the MFin in 2008 I think most of us had in mind as typical students people who were looking for jobs in the private sector. It was partly the fact that it is a “premium fee” (i.e. expensive) course and partly a lack of imagination on my part. I thought that public… Continue Reading
A very successful Equity Research Project
A core part of the MFin curriculum is that students produce an equity research report on a company that we choose for them and present their buy or sell recommendation (no holds allowed) to a panel that includes external investment professionals. Yesterday evening we had the nine presentations from this year’s class. Three of the… Continue Reading
Criteria for scholarships
I wish the MFin fees were lower but they are set in line with the market. And student fees are the main source of revenue for Judge Business School. The School gives some scholarships and of course there are various external options. But they’re fiercely competitive. I’ve noticed a number of applicants over the years… Continue Reading
OWS RIP
As it turned out, my trip to Zuccotti Park on Sunday while on a trip to New York was just in time, as the protesters were moved on less than 48 hours later. It struck me as a pretty benign and peaceful place, where every related cause was represented. I liked the fake supermarket check… Continue Reading
Rules versus discretion
A long standing theme in macroeconomic policy is the question, when is it best for policy makers to be tied to a rule and when should they have freedom to decide what to do (“discretion”). It’s easiest to see why this matters in the matter of setting interest rates to steer the economy. A rule… Continue Reading
Non-finance activities
MFins have many hidden talents. Some of them formed a band this year and were kind/foolish enough to invite me to play along with them on a couple of songs after a dinner at Churchill College. On this rather hazy photo you can see, from the left: Luka (MFin – electric guitar); me (acoustic guitar);… Continue Reading
The impossibility of keeping everyone happy
I wrote a while back about the potential benefits of restricting student choice. I’m feeling even more inclined in that direction after the annual group consulting project (GCP) round. We try to offer students a choice over which project to do but it is hard to make everyone happy. In fact, I can state more… Continue Reading
Ever less choice
Since the MFin began two and a half years ago, we have been steadily reducing student choice. Not in the sense of cutting out electives – on the contrary, there are more options than ever. But in the sense of reducing the decisions required of students about how to organise their work and timetable. And… Continue Reading