Curricula

Objectives

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides you, as a university students, with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. You will be tested on your analytical, valuation, report writing, and presentation skills. You gain real-world experience as you will be doing the job of an equity research analyst.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides you as an university student with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. You will be working in teams to research and analyze a publicly traded company. You, as a team member, will contribute to write a research report on the assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation. The winning team are asked to present and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals first at the Finland level and subsequently at the international level.

The first ever CFA Institute Research Challenge competition was hosted by the New York Society of Security Analysts in 2002 and involved just five teams from the New York area. Since then, the competition has grown to involve tens of thousands of students from over 1000 universities in 90 countries.

The competition consists of a local final in Finland, EMEA regional finals and the global final.

The CFA Research Challenge is based on the following Jamk IB level COMPETENCES:

1. Learning to learn-
You develop critical and analytical mindset that helps you to study and review existing knowledge in the light of relevant learning resources and learning methods; incentivizes you to acquire new knowledge; and develops your intellectual capabilities to seek conclusions and draw inferences in various contexts.
To achieve this competence, you will:
– learn to formulate relevant questions and seek information,
-review relevant theoretical, and empirical literature to comprehend diverse perspectives and evaluate, and interpret arguments and counter-arguments,
-understand new developments in your field of study and make informed decisions based thereon.
- acquire the researcher’s mindset to problematize, explore and understand real-life phenomena especially in the academic track system.

2. Proactive development-
You develop solutions in the light of current as well as anticipated situations and challenges in business by applying knowledge, critical reasoning and analytical skills. You ensure that these solutions are feasible, relevant, creative, user-friendly, and sustainable as well as underline active cooperation amongst different actors.
To achieve this competence, you will:
- apply existing knowledge and utilize relevant research methods including digital technology in development projects,
-interpret new evidence in the light of existing body of knowledge, make comparisons and draw inferences,
- express your intellectual contribution through scientific or professional writings,
-understand utility, creativity, viability, scalability, and sustainability of new solutions.

3. Internationality and multiculturalism-
You work in multicultural and international environments and networks in order to develop knowledge and communication skills as well as develop empathy and appreciation for other cultures. You communicate responsibly and effectively in English through written, verbal, non-verbal and digital formats individually as well as a team member in diverse settings.
To achieve this competence, you will:
-be familiar with the impact of your cultural background on your actions and be able to effectively and productively function in your work community that explicitly recognizes the relevance of multiculturalism,
-demonstrate meaningful intercultural teamwork, including the roles of leadership and conflict resolution, in order to develop creative solutions carrying multicultural underpinnings,
-be able to experience group learning and share best practices in international settings,
- learn to communicate ideas and solutions effectively in the context of various subjects, multiple purposes, and a wide range of audience both individually as well as in a group,
- initiate and engage constructive dialogues among relevant stakeholders to accomplish desired goals for multiple purposes and communicate ideas and solutions to a wide range of audience including both individuals and groups,
-learn to be ‘active listener’ to understand diverse perspectives, and points of view in accurate, unbiased, and critical manner,
-learn various aspects of digital media.

4. Ethics-
You benchmark and demonstrate ethical and responsible conduct according to the well-established principles, norms and best practices laid down by relevant national and international bodies and organisations.
To achieve this competence, you will:
-understand and apply the well-established principles of responsible conduct in research, and problem solving,

-adhere to the principles of equity, equality, and non-discrimination,

-take responsibility for your own actions and their consequences and reflect on them in accordance with the relevant ethical principles, norms, and practices,

- develop realization of diversity and accessibility in your actions.

5. Operating in a workplace-
You promote and reflect upon personal and professional learning in order to enhance your career development.
To achieve this competence, you will:
-interact constructively in the work community and contribute towards its well-being,

-enhance your professional network to remain well-informed about key developments in your chosen field,

-enhance your entrepreneurial skills by taking initiative and leading projects to make a positive impact on your work community.

-utilize the opportunities offered by technology and digitalization in your work community.

6. Sustainable development-
You develop an understanding, vision, and appreciation for sustainability that affect personal, and professions lives, local communities, and global society at large. You study and explore linkages between multiple aspects of sustainability and business.

To achieve this competence, you will:

-understand the concept and principles of sustainable development in the context of business,

-recognize sustainability challenges and their consequences for businesses, local communities, and global society,

-use your accumulated knowledge and skills to create and implement sustainable solutions to solve business problems.

IB competence:
7. Responsible international business management-
You develop your intellectual capabilities to seek conclusions and draw inferences in an international environment to become responsible manager. You develop creative and insightful solutions to solve complex business problems both in the present and the future with explicit emphasis on local and international standards of ethics, responsibility, and sustainability and implications on various stakeholders.
To achieve this competence, you will:
-study developments in your discipline in the international learning milieu and understand various aspects of responsible business management including global business trends and competitive landscape.
-derive and interpret new evidence and compare them with the existing body of knowledge in the global context to draw useful inferences,
- critically assess the implications of actions and decision of the international organisations.
-understand the impact of the of the actions and decisions on the community, in general, and specific stakeholders, in particular.
-understand core aspects of people management in the international business environment.

Content

Several topics related to:
Quantitative Methods
Economics
Financial Reporting and Analysis
Corporate Finance
Equity Investments
Fixed Income
Derivatives
Alternative Investments
Portfolio Management
Wealth Planning

Time and location

Autumn semester of each academic year

Learning materials and recommended literature

Various types of learning material including lecture slides, spreadsheets and videos are provided by both Project Lecturer (Jamk) and CFA Institute

Teaching methods

In-classroom and occasionally online. This is an in-classroom course. Attendance is mandatory. Unauthorized absences exceeding two can lead to removal from the course.

Exam dates and retake possibilities

Assignments and presentations

International connections

Projects in collaboration with international partner universities. Possibility of corporate projects.

Alternative completion methods

None

Student workload

You will be required to required to invest 135 hours approximately and the break up of the total time is as below:
Lectures: 30 hours
Workshop: 35 Hours
Assignment Preparations: 60 Hours
Miscellaneous: 10 Hours

Evaluation scale

0-5

Evaluation criteria, satisfactory (1-2)

You will get a grade of Two when you reflect at-least two competences at the ‘excellent’ level and five at the ‘intermediate’ level reflect through all the seven competences through the various project activities including weekly tasks, communication with Jamk and international students, data analysis of the case companies, interpretation and inferences drawn, mid-term project report, final report and presentations at the ‘excellent’ level.
The list of competences is given below:
1. Learning to learn
2. Proactive development
3. Internationality and multiculturalism
4. Ethics
5. Operating in a workplace
6. Sustainable development
7. Responsible international business management

You will get a grade of One when you reflect at-least one competence at the ‘excellent’ level and six at the ‘intermediate’ level reflect through all the seven competences through the various project activities including weekly tasks, communication with Jamk and international students, data analysis of the case companies, interpretation and inferences drawn, mid-term project report, final report and presentations at the ‘excellent’ level.
The list of competences is given below:
1. Learning to learn
2. Proactive development
3. Internationality and multiculturalism
4. Ethics
5. Operating in a workplace
6. Sustainable development
7. Responsible international business management

Any achievement of competences below the above prescribed requirements will lead to a grade of Zero.

Evaluation criteria, good (3-4)

You will get a grade of Four when you reflect at-least four competences at the ‘excellent’ level and three at the ‘intermediate’ level reflect through all the seven competences through the various project activities including weekly tasks, communication with Jamk and international students, data analysis of the case companies, interpretation and inferences drawn, mid-term project report, final report and presentations at the ‘excellent’ level.
The list of competences is given below:
1. Learning to learn
2. Proactive development
3. Internationality and multiculturalism
4. Ethics
5. Operating in a workplace
6. Sustainable development
7. Responsible international business management

You will get a grade of Three when you reflect at-least three competences at the ‘excellent’ level and four at the ‘intermediate’ level reflect through all the seven competences through the various project activities including weekly tasks, communication with Jamk and international students, data analysis of the case companies, interpretation and inferences drawn, mid-term project report, final report and presentations at the ‘excellent’ level.
The list of competences is given below:
1. Learning to learn
2. Proactive development
3. Internationality and multiculturalism
4. Ethics
5. Operating in a workplace
6. Sustainable development
7. Responsible international business management

Evaluation criteria, excellent (5)

You will get a grade of Five when you reflect at-least five competences at the ‘excellent’ level and two at the ‘intermediate’ level reflect through all the seven competences through the various project activities including weekly tasks, communication with Jamk and international students, data analysis of the case companies, interpretation and inferences drawn, mid-term project report, final report and presentations at the ‘excellent’ level.
The list of competences is given below:
1. Learning to learn
2. Proactive development
3. Internationality and multiculturalism
4. Ethics
5. Operating in a workplace
6. Sustainable development
7. Responsible international business management

Prerequisites

You have studied courses in the field of Accounting, Finance and Economics at the basic level in Jamk or other at the accreditation level.

Further information

The project is implemented in different phases:

1. Local level competitions are organized and judged by CFA Institute society members and volunteers who function as local hosts.

2. The winning university team from each local competition advances to the sub-regional competition.

3. The sub-regional, regional, and global competitions are hosted by CFA Institute in the Americas; the Asia Pacific; and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions. The winning teams from each sub-regional competition advance to the regional competition. Regional winners advance to the Global Final, where one team emerges as the global champion.