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MSc Investments

Start date
September
Duration
1 year full-time
Course Type
Postgraduate, Taught
Fees
For 2024-2025:
£18,990 (UK)
£34,133 (International)
Attractive scholarships are available
Study MSc Investments at Birmingham Business School *

Launch your career as an investment management specialist.

Investment management is in a period of rapid change, driven by shifting investor preferences, margin compression, regulatory developments and advancing technologies. The MSc Investments has been designed to help you lead on and work with those changes as part of a successful career in investments.

The course will give you a strong theoretical grounding that draws inspiration from contemporary research and industry practices from across the globe. You will develop the critical, analytical and technical skills required to work as an investment specialist in global financial markets, along with soft skills such as teamwork, adaptability, leadership, time management, communication, work ethics, and cross-cultural awareness.

Why study MSc Investments at Birmingham?

  • Birmingham is the second-largest city in the UK, and an important business and financial services hub, hosting global firms such as IBM, HSBC, Lloyds, KPMG and PwC. 
  • You can take part in the award-winning Future Leaders Certificate. This extra-curricular programme helps you prepare for the future by giving you the chance to work on an exciting virtual live project set by a multi-national company. The certificate enables you to better understand the impact technology is having on the business world and the implications for your own career.
  • Our strong links with industry mean that rigourous academic study is combined with a real practical focus, leading to excellent job opportunities. For example, the Market Microstructure and Trading Techniques module is partly delivered by a world-leading firm of traders from London. Their innovative approach to capital markets training is now used by many of the world’s largest financial firms to find and develop their next market leaders. 
  • This course has been accepted into the CFA Institute University Recognition Programme. This status is granted to institutions whose degree programme incorporates at least 70 per cent of the CFA Programme Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK), which provides a solid grounding in the CBOK and prepares you well for CFA exams
  • You will be part of a small cohort on this specialist programme, allowing you to develop a closer relationship with experts, staff and fellow students
  • You will have the opportunity to focus on real-world investment challenges with an emphasis on ethical and sustainable business practices. Find out how we are working for a responsible future at Birmingham

Who is this course for?

This course has been especially designed for graduates with a bachelor’s degree in a quantitative discipline (such as Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Economics, Finance, Accounting or Science), who want to develop the highly sought after critical, analytical and technical skills required to manage complex financial assets.

Discover our unique scholarship offers

Students walking on University campusAt Birmingham Business School we offer a wide variety of scholarships for our new MSc students in 2024.

These awards are available to both UK and international applicants and range in value from partial to full tuition fee support.

Find out more about our scholarship offers

* An audio-described version of the video is available.

The Investments MSc at Birmingham expanded my horizons and helped me to build a solid foundation for my current job as an equity research analyst. Birmingham is a city with a rich cultural heritage and a diverse international community, and a great place to prepare for a career in asset management.

Oon Ching Wei, MSc Investments alumni

Modules

We offer a comprehensive and rigorous education in the theory of investment and finance alongside advanced level management and business training. Modules focus on specialised areas of investment such as investment banking, fund management, security analysis and valuation, trading techniques, financial modelling, financial risk management and venture financing.

Unless indicated otherwise the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2024.

Core modules

You must take the following modules, each worth 20 credits with the exception of your Dissertation, which is worth 60 credits:

Optional modules

Choose one of the following modules, worth 20 credits each:


Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.

Fees

Fees for 2024 - 2025

  • £18,990 (UK)
  • £34,133 (International)

Please note that you will be required to pay a £50 non-refundable application fee for all of the above courses.

  • For further information on programme fees and information please visit our Fees and Financing page.

Scholarships

  • For information on scholarships you may be eligible to apply for, please use our PG Funding Database.
  • Business School Scholarships may be available, find out more about our scholarships.

Additional Course Costs

  • In addition to the Tuition Fees you will need to consider accommodation, living expenses and daily costs. You can find financial advice and support on our Finance pages.
  • For information on our accommodation and services, including the support we offer to students wanting to rent privately, please visit the Accommodation pages.

Questions about funding? Use our Student Help knowledge base to find the answer.

How To Apply

7 May 2024 is the application deadline for international students applying through the student route who wish to study in the United Kingdom. We are not able to consider applications for 2024 made after this date. The deadline for Home students is 30 August 2024.

How to apply

To apply for a postgraduate taught programme, you will need to submit your application and supporting documents online. We have put together some helpful information on the taught programme application process and supporting documents on our how to apply page. Please read this information carefully before completing your application.

Apply now

Our Standard Requirements

In order to be considered, applicants will have or should be expecting to achieve an Honours degree (2:1 or higher) or postgraduate diploma from a UK university (or overseas equivalent) in a highly quantitative subject (such as Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Economics, Finance, Accounting or Science). 

Applicants who demonstrate being able to exceed the minimum entry requirements will be given preference.

Find out more about entry requirements

International Requirements



International Students

Standard English language requirements apply.

  • IELTS 7.0 with no less that 6.5 in any band
  • TOEFL: 95 overall with no less than 22 in any band
  • Pearson Test of English (PTE) including online: PTE Academic 76 with no less than 67 in all four skills
  • Cambridge English (exams taken from 2015): Advanced or Proficiency – minimum overall score of 185, with no less than 176 in any component

If you are currently studying at a Chinese university, please view our specific entry requirements including our list of acceptable universities for further study at Birmingham.

English Presessional Programmes 

If you’re looking to improve your knowledge of spoken and written English in preparation for studying at Birmingham, our pre-sessional English courses are for you. If you have a conditional offer, you can take one of these courses as an alternative to retaking IELTS or other similar qualifications. Find out more 

You will have access to our state-of-the-art Bloomberg training suite where a range of trading techniques can be practised. You can further sharpen your financial modelling and analytical skills by using various software and financial databases available in the Birmingham Business School, such as Bloomberg, WRDS, Compustat, CRSP, Capital IQ, BoardEx, Morningstar, BankFocus, CSMAR, Datastream, Thomson One, and FAME

A high-class learning environment

Students outside the Alan Walters BuildingAs a postgraduate student, you will have access to our award-winning £10 million postgraduate teaching space, the Alan Walters Building. This will provide you with access to facilities of the highest quality, including a state-of-the-art lecture theatre, dedicated computer clusters and seminar rooms as well as communal areas for studying and group work, which look out over the University's ambitious Green Heart development, which was completed in 2019.

Assessment Methods

Assessments focus on real-world challenges and help you to develop self-confidence to deal with the global investment and finance communities. Assessment methods include a combination of case studies, participative exercises, interactive lectures, presentations, written exams and group projects.

 

Birmingham is the second-largest city in the UK for finance companies, and our proximity to London, the global financial capital, and ever-growing relationship with key employers in the financial sector, will provide you with the opportunity to meet and network with leading global organisations. 

Graduates will leave Birmingham perfectly placed to take up key investments roles in a wide range of careers including banks and large corporations, investment institutions, pension funds and charitable organisations as well as roles with wealthy individual clients. We also provide ongoing careers support for international students who wish to work in the UK after graduation.

Our students have gone on to work in a wide range of industries, in organisations such as Tradeweb, Deutsche Bank, Müller, Trafalgar Luxury Group, Fisher Investments UK, Santander, Global Reach Group, Colmore, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Mazars, BNY Mellon and a whole host of smaller companies and public sector organisations.

This course is also beneficial to entrepreneurs that want to have a solid knowledge of finance and its applications, and interested students can also progress to further postgraduate research study leading to scholarly careers.  

Top jobs in investments include: 

  • Derivatives Trader
  • Fund Analyst
  • Finance Analyst
  • Audit Associate
  • Credit Analyst
  • Investments Insights Analyst
  • Graduate Project Office Analyst
  • Investments Analyst
  • Trading Analyst
  • Associate Equity Swaps Trader
  • Market Research Analyst

We pride ourselves on our graduates’ high levels of employability. We will help you to plan, manage and achieve your career goals, giving you the competitive edge when it is time to start job hunting.

Many employers visit the Business School to run seminars for our students. In fact, companies such as IBM, HSBC, and Deloitte are just a few of the organisations who see these sessions as an opportunity to look for suitable candidates for internship programmes and graduate training schemes.

BBS Careers and Careers Network

As a Birmingham Business School student, you will benefit from two award-winning Careers teams.  

Careers Network is the University of Birmingham careers and employability team offering: career fairs, employer events with top firms across the UK, start-up and entrepreneurial activities, and support. Internships and bursaries are also available exclusively to University of Birmingham students.   

BBS Careers is a dedicated service for Birmingham Business School students. The team provides guidance, support, and work experience opportunities, tailored to business school students, to help you succeed during and after university. We offer workshops, alumni and employer events, and 1-to-1 consultations. These will help you to develop your skills and learn how to submit high-quality internship and graduate applications.  

BBS Careers is one of a few, if not the only business school career service to offer life-long support.  

We are here to support you! Whether you are applying for postgraduate end-of-study internship, a graduate job, or applying for a management role five years after graduation.  

Visit the BBS website for more details

Future Leaders Certificate

The postgraduate Future Leaders Certificate, run by the Birmingham Business School Careers team, is an extra-curricular programme which is designed to prepare our MSc students for the potential impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This is intended to equip students with the skills they need to stand out and succeed within this increasingly competitive market. As part of this, students will be encouraged to increase their awareness of responsible business and ethical considerations.

Students selected for the Future Leaders Certificate will receive expert coaching, mentoring and industry insight, and work on a group project set by multi-national companies which place high importance on their social and corporate responsibility. 

 

Professional Accreditation

This course has been accepted into the CFA Institute University Recognition Programme. This status is granted to institutions whose degree programme incorporates at least 70 per cent of the CFA Programme Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK), which provides a solid grounding in the CBOK and prepares you well for CFA exams.

CFA Institute University Affiliation Program logo