MASTERS
Invest in yourself
DURATION
12 months (full time), 24 months (part-time)
Application Deadline
Rolling admissions| Upcoming Deadline: May 31, 2024
START DATE
September 2024
FEES
€12,500
This program presents a premier academic qualification for those interested in an international career in finance in Greece and abroad.
While the modern corporate world experiences cataclysmic changes and disruptions in the way that capital markets operate, our MSc in Finance program prepares aspiring and seasoned finance professionals for a successful career in the areas of banking, corporate finance, investment management, risk management and treasury management.
We offer four specialization streams, namely: 1.Investments 2. Corporate Finance 3. Risk Management 4. Fintech
The innovative design of the program and its market led curriculum equips students with relevant, up to date, skills and knowledge while offers a flexible program of study that enables students to choose from a variety of courses and adjust the duration of their studies according their own needs. The program is both affiliated by CFA and PRMIA, accredited by EPAS and NECHE and regularly reviewed by both academic and practitioner committees to strike an optimum balance between theory and practice. These committees review the curriculum and the delivery methods while ensure that the program offers sufficient practical applications of the knowledge that make sense in today’s world of business. As a result of the above efforts we manage to maintain exceptionally high placement rates, reaching up to 90% in a 6-month period after graduation.
You may find here more information about the Program's Intended Learning Outcomes
AGE
29
average in years
WORK EXPERIENCE
5.1
average in years
PART TIME
29%
FEMALE
37%
International Recognition: Accredited by The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) and EFMD accredited.
Combination of academic rigor, relevant industry knowledge and technical skill development to address participants’ professional needs and aspirations through four specialization streams courses in (1) Investments, (3) or Corporate Treasury Management and (4) Fintech
Broad and deep understanding of finance in global context and a firm grasp of the latest financial theories and techniques.
Emphasis on the practical applications of finance theories in solving actual problems.
Regular review and continuous quality assessment of the program conducted by academic and practitioners steering committees.
Develops analytical skills required for a successful career in Finance: The program culminates with the Security Analysis course, which puts into practice the ideas, concepts and techniques taught throughout the program, for the purpose of analyzing and valuating a company.
Use of ACG's Simulated Trading Room that provides a real sense of technological sophistication, bringing financial markets to the students’ fingertips through cutting-edge software along with the appropriate hardware.
Exceptionally high rates of employment
Alba has been welcomed in the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program. Our MSc in Finance has been acknowledged as incorporating at least 70 percent of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK) and placing emphasis on the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice within the program. This program positions students well to obtain the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, which has become the most respected and recognized investment credential in the world.
Entry into the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program signals to potential students, employers, and the marketplace that ALBA’s curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and is well-suited to preparing students to sit for the CFA examinations. Through participation in this program, ALBA is eligible to receive a limited number of student scholarships for the CFA Program each year.
The Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA is a global, non-profit association of risk professionals with 90,000 members worldwide and presence in 65 major cities. Through university partnerships, PRMIA seeks to set the international standards for graduate level education in risk management. Recognition of ALBA Graduate Business School as a PRMIA University Partner provides a signal to students and recruiters that the MSc in Risk program's curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and is well suited to preparing students to sit for the PRM exams.
Benefits to our MSc in Finance students: Our MSc in Finance students will be offered access to the local risk community and networking opportunities through local PRMIA chapters. Students can also benefit from a 25% discount on PRMIA membership and have extra 20% discount on PRM and associate PRM products. PRM exam study material is available to our library for all students.
We are the only educational institution in Greece that has a pathway collaboration with MIT on the MITx MicroMasters program in Finance. Based on this collaboration, the holders of this particular MITx MicroMasters credential could apply for admission at the Alba MSc in Finance and, upon acceptance, will be awarded up to 25% of the academic units in the MSc coursework.
MSc in Finance Program Total Year Schedule 2024-2025
US Credits: 30
1st and 2nd period: Common core courses
3rd, 4th and 5th period: Stream-dedicated courses plus selection of one elective from another stream. Moreover, the students will choose either a thesis or an internship.
You may find the Graduate Academic Calendar 2024–25 here.
*The school reserves the right to reexamine the structure of all academic programs and proceed to any necessary changes in the total year schedule.
**Students who have passed all three levels of CFA program exams are eligible for receiving exemptions in the following core courses of the Alba MSc in Finance program: (1) Corporate Finance & Valuation (2) Portfolio Management and Investments.
This course teaches how mathematical techniques and econometrics are used in financial research and decision making, and prepares students for many of the core and elective courses that will be available in the program. The emphasis of the course will be on application rather than theory. EXCEL and the econometric package EVIEWS will be used extensively in the applied work. Topics covered include probability, matrix algebra, hypothesis testing, simple linear regression and multivariate regression.
With the aim of evaluating corporate financial performance and making financially rational decisions, this course introduces students to financial accounting, reporting and analysis. This module aims to develop awareness in students of the way in which accounting is embedded in a particular socio-economic, political and cultural context and challenges the perception that accounting is a purely technical, uninterested and neutral practice. Within this framework, the module seeks to provide students with a broad introduction to the need for external accounting systems, the principles explicit and implicit within such systems, and the strengths and weaknesses in such systems.
This course offers an introduction to using Python (a fast-growing, open-source programming language) in financial data analysis. More specifically, this course covers the basics of coding with Python, as well as the use of various Python libraries for the purposes of numerical computing, data analysis, data wrangling and data visualization.
The purpose of the workshop is to address the question ‘what is the skill of writing?’. According to the American writer Edwin Schlossberg, “the skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think”. The workshop explores this statement. This exploration and subsequent understanding is of paramount importance for any business activity, since much of the communication in the business world takes place in writing, usually within tight deadlines, ranging from short, simple e-mails to long, rich documents. The salient gain of the participants from the workshop is the understanding of different modes and purposes of writing, as well as of different types and purposes of documents. The main topics covered during the workshop include: the requirements of different types of documents, such as reports, case studies, research papers and proposals, proper referencing, and the research process.
‘What is a successful presentation and how is it achieved?’ ‘What does our audience see and hear during a presentation?’ This workshop aims to provide participants with knowledge on the techniques and tools needed for a successful presentation. Presentations are means of communication in the business world. This communication may have several aims: to describe, to explain, to clarify, to persuade. During the workshop, participants learn how to capture the audience’s attention and how to communicate efficiently and confidently without ‘stage fear’. Some of the topics covered during the workshop are: structuring an effective presentation, using verbal and non-verbal communication during the presentation, using audio-visual aids, dealing with questions. A special feature of the workshop is that participants have the opportunity to see themselves presenting both at the beginning of the workshop and at the end, as the first and last presentations they make are video-taped.
This course covers the application of the net present value rule and other criteria for project appraisal, the use of discounted cash flow and other valuation models in making investment decisions, risk, return and capital budgeting under uncertainty, the cost of capital and capital structure, dividend policy and how firms issue securities.
This course addresses topics in capital asset allocation, the history of risk and return, asset pricing theories (CAPM, APT, Consumption based asset pricing), market efficiency, the predictability of asset returns, the term structure of interest rates and bond portfolio management, futures and options, international portfolio management and performance measurement and evaluation.
The course aims to provide students with a solid understanding of the interactions between the macroeconomic environment and capital markets. In particular, it will cover the role of macroeconomic mechanisms and the international political economy in shaping risks and opportunities across financial assets. The course also includes case studies and class discussions on how global economic events are covered by the financial press.
The aim of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of fixed income instruments and bond portfolio management. It covers the theories of the term structure, estimation of the term structure of interest rates (spot and forward), passive bond portfolio strategies (immunization, cash flow matching, contingent immunization, bond index funds), active portfolio strategies (interest rate forecasting, bullet, barbell and ladder strategies), bond portfolio risk management (single duration, convexity, and multi-factor models of the term structure of interest rates).
This course applies the modern theory of Finance to the management of the corporation's short-term assets and liabilities. It discusses working capital management, short-term borrowing and investment strategies, as well as corporate risk management. Topics covered under these headings include: optimal inventory management, trade credit and the management of credit risk, optimal cash management, the choice between private and public funding, different forms of bank borrowing sources and their use, the measurement and management of accounting, transactions and economic exposure, multinational working capital management, financing of foreign operations, interest rate and currency swaps, interest rate and currency options, capital budgeting and the cost of capital for multinationals and the measurement and management of political risk.
Financial risk management (FRM) has gone through enormous changes since its inception in the late 1970s. From its origins as a cash flow matching technique, FRM has now instituted the use of advanced analytical techniques, quantitative finance tools as well as sophisticated pricing formulas and hedging strategies. The module focuses on the management of financial intermediaries, and aims to analyze financial risks such as interest rate risk, FOREX and market risk, choose appropriate hedging strategies and monitor their implementation. The prime objective is to provide a) a thorough grounding in the way banks and insurance firms operate, b) the necessary theoretical knowledge and statistical tools to measure different kinds of risks, and c) a comprehensive examination of the techniques and instruments for managing those risks in the banking and insurance industry.
The course will provide an overview of the key concepts of business ethics such as sustainability, corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship and corporate accountability placing emphasis also on their international perspective. Course material includes individual moral theory, the development of ethical organizational culture, the development of ethical management systems designed to respond to ethical challenges, and wide-ranging discussion regarding major trends, challenges, and opportunities in the field of ethical business including the measurement and reporting of Corporate Social Performance. Strong emphasis will be placed on practical problems and real-life examples that will be linked to the conceptual material covered through the lectures.
This course aims to develop and sharpen students financial modelling skills. It brings together statistical and decision analytical frameworks such as regression analysis and optimisation with finance theory and information technology. It helps participants to deepen their understanding of finance concepts through the development of a wide range of financial models in areas such as cash flow modelling, risk analysis, portfolio optimisation, and option pricing. It is a practical course based on instructed computer workshops. These workshops focus on financial modelling with excel, including scenario and sensitivity analysis, risk analysis using @Risk, optimisation with Solver, and the development of VBA functions.
This course builds on the Corporate Finance and Valuation course to examine the way companies raise debt and equity capital both in private and global capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructuring. The relationships between the interests of corporate managers, shareholders and lenders, as well as issues of corporate governance, are an important part of the course content.
The main objective of this course is to provide an insight to the recent trends and developments in the financial services industry addressing the main challenges and solutions related to the FinTech landscape. The students who attend this course will be equipped to deal with the existing finance ecosystems by developing valuable skills in new FinTech applications such as lending and personal finance, crowd-funding and business financing, payments and retail transactions, various types of cryptocurrencies, and banking infrastructure and tools.
The Program culminates with theEquity Valuation course. The purpose of this course is to provide practical valuation tools for valuing and analyzing companies and give students a real world view of the role and activities of an equity security analyst. The course integrates the theoretical knowledge acquired during the course and the practical input from leading financial analysts to understand the process of analyzing companies and the valuation process. Students will be introduced to the practice of modern financial analysis from leading financial analysts and will be given the opportunity to apply their skills by valuing a company of their choice. Upon completion of the course students are expected to be able to use modern valuation techniques, appreciate the linkage between strategic business analysis, financial accounting, corporate finance and the macroeconomic environment, understand and utilize the information in financial statements and prepare a valuation report in different contexts (security analysis, initial public offerings, credit analysis and mergers and acquisitions).
The purpose of this course is to present the principles of alternative investments, aiming to equip students with the ability to effectively utilize outside capital. It covers the execution and evaluation of classic and new hedge fund strategies, alongside comprehensive risk management techniques, including an in-depth focus on climate risk and sustainable ESG investments. Students will learn through both theoretical and practical perspectives, including detailed analysis of various alternative investment classes such as venture capital, real estate, and artwork, emphasizing their significance in diversified portfolios. Additionally, the curriculum integrates the principles of sustainable investment, exploring how environmental, social, and governance factors influence investment decisions and market trends. The course systematizes knowledge on investment categories and analyzes the global market's current state and future development prospects of alternative investments, including the growing importance of sustainability in financial strategies. This prepares students for adept investment management in a dynamically evolving financial landscape
The MSc Thesis is a research project of a student’s special interest in a faculty member’s area of expertise. The students will have the opportunity to construct a detailed plan of a research project; to review specific literature on the selected topic; to identify relevant research questions from the literature; to be able to turn general research questions into empirical ones; to select and justify an appropriate research design; to select and employ suitable methods or techniques to investigate the empirical questions; to analyze financial or social data and to write a report covering a review of the relevant literature, the research questions, an explanation and justification of the design, a description of the conduct and analysis of the research, and a discussion of the findings in relation to the literature and methodological issues.
An Internship brings together the academic with the business world, providing benefits both to students and to companies. It has the status of a course, hence it is an obligatory requirement for the fulfilment of the M.Sc. Degree, it carries credits and it is graded. The expected duration is three (3) months, from beginning March to end May. The benefits for students include the opportunity for the blending of academic and on-the-job learning; the use of the explicit knowledge gained during the program, the attainment of tacit knowledge, the development and diversification of skills, the acquisition of work experience, the identification and/or refinement of career goals, the creation and/or development of a professional network. The benefits for companies include the opportunity to meet some company needs with highly qualified and motivated students, the identification of talent for potential future employment, the enrichment of current perspectives and practices with the intern’s novel ideas, the enhancement of social responsibility activities.
The Program culminates with theEquity Valuation course. The purpose of this course is to provide practical valuation tools for valuing and analyzing companies and give students a real world view of the role and activities of an equity security analyst. The course integrates the theoretical knowledge acquired during the course and the practical input from leading financial analysts to understand the process of analyzing companies and the valuation process. Students will be introduced to the practice of modern financial analysis from leading financial analysts and will be given the opportunity to apply their skills by valuing a company of their choice. Upon completion of the course students are expected to be able to use modern valuation techniques, appreciate the linkage between strategic business analysis, financial accounting, corporate finance and the macroeconomic environment, understand and utilize the information in financial statements and prepare a valuation report in different contexts (security analysis, initial public offerings, credit analysis and mergers and acquisitions).
The purpose of this course is to present the principles of alternative investments, aiming to equip students with the ability to effectively utilize outside capital. It covers the execution and evaluation of classic and new hedge fund strategies, alongside comprehensive risk management techniques, including an in-depth focus on climate risk and sustainable ESG investments. Students will learn through both theoretical and practical perspectives, including detailed analysis of various alternative investment classes such as venture capital, real estate, and artwork, emphasizing their significance in diversified portfolios. Additionally, the curriculum integrates the principles of sustainable investment, exploring how environmental, social, and governance factors influence investment decisions and market trends. The course systematizes knowledge on investment categories and analyzes the global market's current state and future development prospects of alternative investments, including the growing importance of sustainability in financial strategies. This prepares students for adept investment management in a dynamically evolving financial landscape
The course will cover a number of time-series techniques that can be applied to the study of financial economics. Specifically, the topics covered in this course will include: linear stochastic time series models and their applicability to financial data; the existence of unit-root processes in financial and macro-economic data; the application of co-integration techniques to financial data; the application of ARCH and GARCH techniques in modelling volatility in financial markets; and the application of stochastic volatility techniques in financial markets.
The MSc Thesis is a research project of a student’s special interest in a faculty member’s area of expertise. The students will have the opportunity to construct a detailed plan of a research project; to review specific literature on the selected topic; to identify relevant research questions from the literature; to be able to turn general research questions into empirical ones; to select and justify an appropriate research design; to select and employ suitable methods or techniques to investigate the empirical questions; to analyze financial or social data and to write a report covering a review of the relevant literature, the research questions, an explanation and justification of the design, a description of the conduct and analysis of the research, and a discussion of the findings in relation to the literature and methodological issues.
An Internship brings together the academic with the business world, providing benefits both to students and to companies. It has the status of a course, hence it is an obligatory requirement for the fulfilment of the M.Sc. Degree, it carries credits and it is graded. The expected duration is three (3) months, from beginning March to end May. The benefits for students include the opportunity for the blending of academic and on-the-job learning; the use of the explicit knowledge gained during the program, the attainment of tacit knowledge, the development and diversification of skills, the acquisition of work experience, the identification and/or refinement of career goals, the creation and/or development of a professional network. The benefits for companies include the opportunity to meet some company needs with highly qualified and motivated students, the identification of talent for potential future employment, the enrichment of current perspectives and practices with the intern’s novel ideas, the enhancement of social responsibility activities.
The main objective of this course is to provide an insight to credit risk and strengthen the analytical skills required in credit risk modelling. The course is structured to cover topics in credit risk, both at the individual level and the portfolio level. Financial industry’s popular credit models will also be discussed. Furthermore, the course will introduce credit analytics (e.g. credit scorecards) using a statistical software.
The course will cover a number of time-series techniques that can be applied to the study of financial economics. Specifically, the topics covered in this course will include: linear stochastic time series models and their applicability to financial data; the existence of unit-root processes in financial and macro-economic data; the application of co-integration techniques to financial data; the application of ARCH and GARCH techniques in modelling volatility in financial markets; and the application of stochastic volatility techniques in financial markets.
The MSc Thesis is a research project of a student’s special interest in a faculty member’s area of expertise. The students will have the opportunity to construct a detailed plan of a research project; to review specific literature on the selected topic; to identify relevant research questions from the literature; to be able to turn general research questions into empirical ones; to select and justify an appropriate research design; to select and employ suitable methods or techniques to investigate the empirical questions; to analyze financial or social data and to write a report covering a review of the relevant literature, the research questions, an explanation and justification of the design, a description of the conduct and analysis of the research, and a discussion of the findings in relation to the literature and methodological issues.
An Internship brings together the academic with the business world, providing benefits both to students and to companies. It has the status of a course, hence it is an obligatory requirement for the fulfilment of the M.Sc. Degree, it carries credits and it is graded. The expected duration is three (3) months, from beginning March to end May. The benefits for students include the opportunity for the blending of academic and on-the-job learning; the use of the explicit knowledge gained during the program, the attainment of tacit knowledge, the development and diversification of skills, the acquisition of work experience, the identification and/or refinement of career goals, the creation and/or development of a professional network. The benefits for companies include the opportunity to meet some company needs with highly qualified and motivated students, the identification of talent for potential future employment, the enrichment of current perspectives and practices with the intern’s novel ideas, the enhancement of social responsibility activities.
After completing the Program participants should be able to:
To be considered for admission, candidates must:
Candidates must submit:
Click here to download the details for admission.
For details on academic policy, course credit policy, fee policy, and rules for student conduct, please refer to the Student Handbook .
Additionally, the School's Students Code of Conduct can be found here.
We urge applicants to request further information or to come for a meeting at our downtown campus, in order to better understand their profile and motivations.
Just fill out and submit the form below and we will respond to you as quickly as possible.
APPLICATIONS DEADLINE
May 31st, 2024
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Lectus sit in et, enim. Sed molestie nisi diam aliquet tristique. Ultricies lacus purus nibh cras in duis. Eu mi a, cras mus rutrum. Ultricies lacus purus nibh cras in duis. Eu mi a, cras mus rutrum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Lectus sit in et, enim. Sed molestie nisi diam aliquet tristique. Ultricies lacus purus nibh cras in duis. Eu mi a, cras mus rutrum. Ultricies lacus purus nibh cras in duis. Eu mi a, cras mus rutrum.