International Partnership Program
Master of Science in Business
Greetings from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business! As a major business higher education institution (ranked in the top 5 percent of all such schools in the world), we take great pride in providing the highest quality advanced business education, using the latest technologies in our state-of-the-art facilities. We also take great pride in our local, regional, national and international partnerships. We care about our students, what they learn while studying with us and what they do in their careers after they graduate.
We at the VCU School of Business, in partnership with our colleagues in London, invite you to take advantage of the opportunities unfolding all around us. VCU offers an international learning experience that will prepare you to operate successfully in the global business environment of the 21st century. The program will help you build the skills needed to prosper in today’s dynamic and evolving marketplace. I encourage you to set yourself apart and position yourself for greater success by earning a degree from VCU.
Ed Grier Dean
School of Business
Virginia Commonwealth University
Greetings! It is with great pride that I introduce the VCU-Global Banking School part-nership program. Our program is one that ensures a unique and valuable academic experience by providing students an opportunity to study at two universities in two countries to earn a master’s degree. Students in this program build immeasurable experience by working and living in a culturally and economically diverse community aimed at transforming lives to help shape a vibrant global community. I welcome you to explore the pages of this brochure to learn more about this exciting program and I hope to see you soon in Richmond, Va.!
Nanda Rangan, Ph.D.
Associate dean for international and strategic initiatives School of Business
Virginia Commonwealth University
Letter from the dean
VCU IS A MAJOR URBAN, PUBLIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITY with national and international rankings in sponsored research. Located in downtown Richmond, Va., VCU enrolls more than 31,000 students in 223 degree and certificate programs in the arts, sciences and humanities. Sixty-eight of our programs are unique in Virginia, many of them crossing the disciplines of VCU’s 13 schools and one college. The university also includes the VCU Medical Center, one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers.
Founded in 1937 to meet the demand for managers, buyers and other profession-als in the then-growing retail sector of Richmond, Va., the VCU School of Business has worked to keep up with the changing needs of industry in order to best prepare our students to become business leaders. For more than 30 years, the school has maintained accreditation by AACSB International, placing it in the top 5 percent of business schools worldwide. Our programs have been recognized in national rankings by Bloomberg Businessweek, U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review and offer a winning combination of business theory, practical application and a valu-able network of career contacts.
The VCU Brandcenter, housed in the School of Business, was created in 1996. Since then, it has become recognized as the No. 1 graduate advertising program in the world and is led by Helayne Spivak, an experienced and award-winning ad agency star and former chief creative officer of several global agencies.
VCU and the VCU School of Business
ABOUT RICHMOND
VCU’s prime location means there are plenty of activities in which to take part. Richmond offers the amenities of a major metropolis with the charm and convenience of a small historic city. Consistently ranked as one of the best places for business and careers by several national publications, it provides an engaging backdrop for work, play and study. Plus, it enjoys close proximity to Washington, D.C., New York, the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, all just a road trip away.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Students in the Master of Science in Business with a concentration in finance program will begin their studies at the Global Banking School in London and will complete their degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. Students have the option of completing the degree on a full-time or part-time basis. This program provides students with a
Curriculum description
Before entering VCU, students must complete the foundation courses in accounting, management and economics to prepare them for the core courses in the program.
The core courses, taken at VCU, will provide students with a well-rounded business perspective by teaching nuances of finance and the latest applica-tions in the business environment. Students then tailor their curriculum to suit their professional interests by selecting four elective courses within the finance concentration and one elective course from a wide array of business courses.
Foundation courses
ACCT 507 Fundamentals of Accounting
ECON 500 Concepts in Economics
FIRE 520 Financial Concepts of Management
MGMT 524 Statistical Elements of Quantitative Management
Required core courses
FIRE 622 Financial Management of Financial Institutions
FIRE 623 Financial Management
FIRE 635 Investments and Security Analysis
FIRE 639 International Finance
FIRE 650 Derivatives
Additional courses
Finance, insurance and real estate electives (choose four)*
FIRE 621 Cases in Financial Management
FIRE 625 Group Insurance and Pension Planning
FIRE 626 Risk Management
FIRE 629 Real Estate Investment Analysis
FIRE 654 Short-term Financial Management
FIRE 657 Current Issues in Investments and Markets
FIRE 658 Real Estate Finance and Investments
FIRE 664 Current Issues in Corporate Finance
FIRE 691 Topics in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
FIRE 693 Field Project in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
FIRE 697 Guided Study in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
* FIRE 693 Field Project in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate is recommended for full-time students. The department will work closely with full-time students and prospective employers in order to achieve this goal. Also, a student may substitute a free elective for one of the FIRE electives with the approval of the finance concentra-tion program coordinator.
Free electives (choose one):
Students may choose any free elective approved by the finance concentration program coordinator. Students are encouraged to select accounting, econom-ics, math or statistics courses.
For the most up-to-date course information, visit: vcu.edu/bulletins
Master of Science in Business
with a concentration in finance
Message from the program coordinator
The Master of Science in Business with a concentration in finance is primarily designed for students who possess an undergraduate or graduate degree in business or engineering. By specializing in finance, you will gain extensive training and skills in financial decision-making in the areas of corporate financial manage-ment, investments and security analysis, international finance, funds management in financial institutions, and derivatives.
We are very pleased to welcome students from our partner institution in London to our program, an M.S. in Business with a concentration in finance.
Manu Gupta, Ph.D. Program coordinator
Featured finance faculty
Thomas B. Burton, CFA
, is an adjunct professorin the VCU Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate at the School of Business. Prior to join-ing VCU, he worked as a senior portfolio manager and product specialist with Tattersall Advisory Group Inc. Burton is a Chartered Financial Analyst with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management from Virginia Tech and an M.B.A. from VCU.
Kenneth N. Daniels, Ph.D.
, specializes inthe areas of financial services and community devel-opment. He received a Sydney Futures Exchange Prize for the outstanding paper on derivatives and outstanding paper on investments from the Eastern Finance Association. Daniels has published more than 20 refereed articles in publications such as Journal of Money, Credit and Banking; Journal of Corporate Finance; Financial Review; Journal of
Financial Services Research; and The Journal of Fixed Income. He currently serves as vice chairman of the Richmond Retirement System, board member of Virginia Community Development Corp. and director at Virginia Community Capital Inc.
Chintal Desai, Ph.D.
, joined the VCU Schoolof Business as an assistant professor in the Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate. He attended The George Washington University for his doctorate degree in finance. Before joining VCU, he was an assistant professor of finance at The University of Texas-Pan American.
Manu Gupta, Ph.D.
, is an assistant professor offinance in the VCU Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate. He also serves as adviser for the Master of Science in Business with a concentra-tion in finance program at VCU. His research interests include corporate governance, executive compensation, earnings manipulation and regula-tory institutions. Gupta has been published in The Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Banking
& Finance, and Journal of Business Finance & Accounting. He has been cited in Financial Times, London and The Washington Post. He has received several awards for his contributions to research and teaching.
Puneet Prakash, Ph.D.
, is an assistantprofes-sor of finance in the VCU Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate. His research interest lies broadly in the area of risk management, and he teaches risk, insurance and corporate finance courses. Prakash has won competitive research grants from the dean of the VCU School of Business and presented research papers at both national and international conferences. He recently spent one semester teaching at the Indian Institute of Technology.
Daniel P. Salandro, Ph.D.
, is an associateprofessor and chair of the Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate. He received a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Saint Vincent College (Latrobe, PA) and a mater’s degree in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh where he also received his Ph.D. in Finance. Dr. Salandro primarily teaches financial management. He is the author of many articles on financial topics found in the Journal
of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, International Review of Financial Analysis, Journal of Economics and Finance, Journal of Consumer Affairs, The Financial Services Review, Journal of Financial Education and Advances in Financial Education. Dr. Salandro has taught in India, Italy and Morocco.
Miroslava Straska, Ph.D.
, joined theDepartment of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate in August 2011. Prior to VCU, she served as a faculty member at Ohio University where she taught undergraduate courses in corporate finance, invest-ments and financial modeling. In July 2010, Straska received the Finance Teacher of the Year award from the graduating class of finance majors.
Greg Waller, Ph.D.
, focuses his research oncor-porate governance, corcor-porate investment policy and corporate restructuring. He has taught classes in all areas of corporate finance at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Prior to joining the faculty at VCU, Waller served on the faculty at Ohio University where he was honored with the 2010-11 Finance Teacher of the Year award by graduating finance majors. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from Purdue University and a B.A. and M.B.A. from Ohio University.
Housing ▲
During the VCU portion of the program, students have the option of living on or off campus. For more information about on-campus housing, please visit:
housing.vcu.edu
For information about off-campus housing, please visit:
usca.vcu.edu/about/off-campus-student-services/ off-campus-housing-assistance/
Dining
VCU Dining Services offers block plans that allow a specific number of meals to be used over an entire semester. These unlimited-serving meals are served in the Shafer Court Dining Center and the Jonah L. Larrick Student Center. Dining dollars allow students the opportunity to purchase tax-free meals at any VCU retail restaurant, including Einstein Bros. Bagels, IHOP, Chili’s and Starbucks Coffee.
Because of VCU’s convenient location, the university is surrounded by a wide array of places to eat. Students don’t have to go far to find exquisite fine din-ing, quaint cafes or casual eateries.
Library
VCU Libraries features two main facilities: the James Branch Cabell Library on the Monroe Park Campus and the Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences on the MCV Campus. Together, the libraries hold 2.3 million print volumes (including more than 450,000 e-books), 61,000 print and electronic journals, 65,000 audiovisual items, 5,681 linear feet of manuscripts and 2,800 gigabytes of locally scanned collections, most of which are accessible elec-tronically. The libraries host more than 2 million visitors annually.
Recreational sports▲
VCU offers two on-campus recreation facilities. The Cary Street Gym was named one of 2012’s National Intramural and Recreational Sports
Association’s outstanding sports facilities. It includes an 18,000-square-foot fitness center, two indoor pools, a 38-foot rock-climbing wall and much more. The MCV Campus Recreation and Aquatic Center provides space for basketball, volleyball, racquetball and other sports. A 25-meter, six-lane pool is available for lap swimming, water basketball and volleyball.
Athletics
VCU fields teams in 16 NCAA sports as proud members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. (Women’s lacrosse will be added in 2015.) In 2013, the men’s bas-ketball team, led by head coach Shaka Smart, made its third-straight NCAA tournament appearance, advancing to the third round.
Safety, health and wellness
VCU provides students with numerous resources to keep them healthy and safe.
RamSmart offers a one-stop resource with information, links and phone numbers for all campus safety and wellness resources, tips for emergency preparedness, and general safety guidelines.
University Student Health Services provides high-quality outpatient medical, allergy and gynecological clinics; pharmacy, laboratory and vaccination services; after-hours emergency care; and affordable group health insurance.
The Wellness Resource Center, or “The Well,” helps students achieve or maintain a healthy lifestyle by providing education on nutrition, stress, domestic violence, alcohol and substance abuse education and prevention, and other topics.
University Counseling Services provides confidential counseling to students on both campuses who seek personal, educa-tional and vocaeduca-tional assistance. Services include group, individual and couples counseling, as well as crisis services and outreach workshops.
For more information about the VCU-Global Banking School
partnership program, contact the Global Banking School’s
office at +44 207 539 3548 or info@globalbankingschool.com
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business
Office of International and Strategic Initiatives Snead Hall
301 West Main Street P.O. Box 844000 Richmond, Virginia 23284-4000
