Why is Judge Business School advertising its Master of Finance Qualification in tube stations?

26 April 2010

2 minute read

Why is Judge Business School advertising its Master of Finance Qualification in tube stations?

This may seem slightly obtuse, but what is the reason that Cambridge University is advertising its Master of Finance Qualification at London Bridge tube station?

London Bridge tube isn't necessarily a venue in which you'd expect a venerable institution to be touting its wares. Rival, London Business School avoids advertising its own Master in Finance on the tube altogether.

A spokeswoman for Judge Business School at Cambridge explains that it's because there's no identifiable forum through which to pitch the MoF: you can't, for example, sell it to people at MBA fairs, and because it's aimed at students with 2-4 years' experience, you can't pitch it to people at graduate careers fairs either.

Some suggest, however, that the proliferation of Master in Finance courses is forcing providers to adopt aggressive marketing tactics. There simply aren't that many people prepared to pay 30k+ for a financial services course these days.

"I don't believe there's a single university in the West which doesn't now offer a Masters in Finance course of some kind," says Dominic Connor at P&D Quant Recruitment. "This year, there will be more people graduating from these courses than at the top of the market."

In London, everywhere from Cass to Imperial, to LSE, to Birkbeck, to Queen Mary, now offer Masters courses pitched at financial services professionals.

London Business School (LBS) competes with Judge for experienced financiers interested in such courses: the LBS MiF course is also only open to people with several years' experience.

Julian Birkinshaw, deputy dean at LBS, says the inexperienced end of the Masters in Finance market is certainly, "very saturated."

"It would be awfully difficult to offer a masters in finance course for 21-22 year olds now. There are dozens of those specialist masters degrees and frankly it's all very confusing," he tells us.

Catering for more experienced professionals, the Judge course should be less subject to the rigours of competition. However, it's up against LBS and other better established rivals.

"I don't think I've heard of it," says the head of one $30bn hedge fund in London. "The courses I know and like are at the LSE."

AUTHORSarah Butcher

Global Editor

SB
SBJ
12 February 2011
As a desk head of derivatives & quant trading, have hired quite a few MIF's/MFE's - mainly from LBS, Berkeley, Imperial & Princeton & found the level of graduates to be very good but also quite practically oriented to what's done in practice. As for MBA's - yes I would agree a broader course than MiF & the opportunity to do an internship in between years 1 & 2 offers more opportunities to secure full time jobs. Have hired MBA's from Chicago, LBS, Wharton, Columbia & Berkeley & they have all been pretty good - but we pre-screened them & they all had concentrations in Finance. I think the faculties of all these institutions above have very good links with hedge funds & banks (many courses taught by current & recent former practitioners) & that is why the courses are practical, rigorous & the graduates are immediately familiar with what is done in practice. My suggestion is if you are doing a MIF/MFE I wouldn't consider Cambridge doesn't have the same Alumni network or the name for THIS specific course - look at Berkeley, LBS, Imperial, Princeton. If doing a MBA for a career in Finance (specifically trading, risk management) then Chicago,Wharton, Columbia, LBS, Berkeley.
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Je
Jehnavi
6 December 2010
The guys who still think that MFin should limit their advertising in Forbes magazine and Bloomberg wants Mag so I guess that MFin to restrict access to pure investment banks, which are the main readers of these publications. Well, maybe these programs need is a little diversity, young and intelligent, not the format of a large U.S. bank.
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Cu
Current LBS MiF student
30 October 2010
As a current LBS MiF student, I can say that finance firm's don't distinguish between MiFs and MBAs. If they do, it's with a slight bias towards MiFs, especially in more quantitative roles. As for MiFs wishing that they had applied for MBAs at LBS, I have yet to encounter anyone in my year who has expressed that sentiment. The only thing we do envy about the MBAs, is how much more free time they have. The workload in the MiF is very demanding. If you've got LBS MBA friends, they'll definitely corroborate that. So if you're trying to get into finance with a non-finance background, I'd recommend you do the LBS MBA to ease yourself into the finance field. If you visit the LBS webpage, the MiF Faq says something to the same effect.
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Re
Recruiter
19 July 2010
...At LBS, the MiF and MBAs share all the same employment opportunities in finance. There aren't finance jobs targeted toward LBS MBAs at the exclusion of MiFs. The MBAs have more job opportunities only if you count non-finance related fields (marketing, HR, etc . . . ). With the same finance elective portfolio open to both MBAs and MiF, we are going to simply take the top students in those courses, regardless of designation.
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lb
lbs mif alum
28 May 2010
When LBS MiFs said there are more opportunities for MBA, I think that's true. However, it's due to the financial crisis and finance career focus. In 2008, big three MC were still hiring but not those IBs. In terms of assocaite program, I guarantee you that MiFs have same status as MBAs or even better. In my class, we have people join GS, MS, ML, CS...etc.
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