Has finance lost its allure for Scottish graduates?
The fact that Napier University has cancelled its masters degree in banking after just one year due to lack of interest shouldn't in itself signal that a career in finance has lost its allure for Scottish students.
But after over two years of scandals, sweeping redundancies and banker-bashing, are fewer graduates interested in entering the industry?
Napier's MSc in professional banking was launched in 2009, and needed just 30 students to make the course economically viable for the university. But a lack of interest has meant it's pulled the plug on the degree.
But across the UK, Napier's case seems like an exception. Business schools such as LSE, Cass and Imperial College have all seen a swell in applications for their finance-related MSc courses this year, despite the widely accepted view that the banking industry's reputation has been tarnished.
In Scotland, The University of Edinburgh has been "oversubscribed" for its MSc in finance course this year, says Aidan Hetherington, careers and corporate relationship officer at the college, and is even starting a new MSc in carbon finance to meet demand from students.
"The feedback we're getting from students is not that there's less of an appetite to work in the financial sector, but that there are fewer opportunities available to them and the job market is still very tough," he says.
The reputation of Scotland's financial sector has largely been hit by the downfall of its two biggest banks, RBS and HBOS, in 2008. Since then, with the likes of Fred Goodwin being painted the greedy face of banking, and thousands of redundancies as the two banks restructure, it's understandable that the shine has come off the industry.
But Scotland's financial industry is also strong in two other key areas - fund management and investment operations. As we've alluded to previously, Scotland's fund managers have been inundated with applications for their 2011 graduate schemes.
Investment operations firms in north of the border are hiring again, and it's been buoyed by huge recruitment drives from the likes of Barclays Capital over the last year. But more work needs to be done to encourage graduates to pursue a career in the sector, suggests Alan Thornburrow, chief executive of Scottish Investment Operations.
"Inevitably there's been a decline in interest from graduates in a career in investment operations and, having relaunched our Diploma in Investment Accounting, the application numbers weren't as strong as we expected," he says.
He does, however, counter this by saying that attendance at careers events organised by SIO at the University of St. Andrews, Sterling University and Napier University were well-attended and prompted a number of applications from students who may not have considered the industry previously.
Moreover, higher up the career ladder, banks in Scotland have been making an effort to strengthen their reputations, by sending increasing numbers of staff on professional learning courses at the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, suggests its chief executive Simon Thompson.
"Scotland's banking industry needs talented graduates to help restore confidence and trust," he says. "We've seen a shift in the types of course banks are sending their employees on towards core banking skills, such as credit and lending. Five years ago, it was very much about developing customer service and leadership."
