University of Richmond's Robins School of Business One of Only 11 Program Partners in Training Chartered Financial Analysts
August 16, 2006
University of Richmond business majors will be among students at only 11 universities worldwide studying a new program this fall to prepare them for certification and careers as chartered financial analysts.
The C.F.A. Institute, a nonprofit organization that sets ethical, educational and professional standards for chartered financial analysts, selected Richmond’s Robins School of Business as one of its first 11 Program Partners to offer the special C.F.A. track.
Students in the program will take the institute’s Candidate Body of Knowledge—a trademarked course of study covering concepts and principles identified by investment industry leaders worldwide as essential to global practice by C.F.A.’s.
“By mastering these fundamentals of the C.F.A. program, students will be well on their way to earning the highly valued C.F.A. charter,” said Bob Johnson, a C.F.A. Institute managing director.
The Robins School was the first college program to integrate parts of the Candidate Body of Knowledge into its degree curriculum. By offering a C.F.A. track, a student-managed investment fund, C.F.A. seminar series, Junior Analyst Society chapter and mentoring program, Robins School students have achieved what the institute called outstanding passage rates on the Level I C.F.A. exam. The school recently ranked among BusinessWeek magazine’s top 25 undergraduate schools of business in the United States.
The other C.F.A. Program Partners, all selected since April 4, are: University of Oxford Said Business School; Bocconi University, Milan, Italy; Boston University; Concordia University, Montreal; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Marquette University; American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; University of Exeter, England; Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; and Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Recognition as a C.F.A. Program Partner signals potential students, employers and the marketplace that a university’s curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and is well-suited to prepare students for the three levels of C.F.A examinations.
“C.F.A. Institute’s choice of Richmond as a program partner is reaffirmation of the Robins School’s strong reputation among the nation’s top business schools,” said Jorge Haddock, the school’s dean.
The C.F.A. program sets a standard for developing the skills, standards, competence and integrity of financial analysts, portfolio managers, investment advisers and other investment professionals worldwide. Fewer than one in five candidates successfully complete the program and go on to earn the C.F.A. charter.
"The combination of the C.F.A. track with our Student Managerial Investment Fund (SMIF) has dramatically improved our ability to place graduates with investment banks, especially on Wall Street," said John Earl, chair of the Robins School’s finance department, director of its C.F.A. seminars and himself a chartered financial analyst. “Our selection as a Program Partner further validates Richmond’s position as a university of choice for business students.”