Colleges report surge of applicants for MSc courses

Some of the biggest increases have been at London-based institutions. Keith Cuthbertson, director of the MSc course in finance at Imperial College, said applications have risen more than 100% from a year ago. &quotWe have never seen numbers up this much in the past,&quot he said.

Janet Dobson, director of finance programmes at the London Business School (LBS) said applications to the Masters in Finance course there are up between 50% and 100%. Applications for City University's Masters in Finance have risen by 50%. Reading University's Isma Centre also reports a substantial increase.

Several factors could lie behind the rise. Cuthbertson said many graduate applicants wanted to wait a year before testing the job market. The course had also benefited from students' growing feeling that an MSc in finance was a specialist vocational course to rival an MBA. Half of applicants to Imperial come direct from a first university degree.

At LBS, where most Masters in Finance applicants have previous financial services experience, Janet Dobson said low bonuses were stimulating applications. &quotIf you're working in an industry that pays bonuses, it's better to take a year out when bonuses are small,&quot she said.

As applications boom, the ratio of applicants to places is growing. Imperial College usually has over 600 applicants for 70 places this year that figure looks likely to rise to over 1,200 applicants for the same 70 spaces. Similarly, LBS' standard ratio of 7 applicants to 1 space may rise to 14:1.

Schools are unwilling to expand the number of places in case the application boom proves temporary. As a result, courses have become more inaccessible.

Cuthbertson said Imperial looked for applicants whom it believed would benefit most from the MSc. It was also more likely to accept candidates from familiar schools.

Anyone contemplating a Masters in Finance at LBS is advised to do so while still gainfully employed, because redundancy might reduce the chances of a successful application. &quotThere is no way that this is an alternative to unemployment,&quot said Dobson.