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Programmes

Selecting courses

Below are the compulsory courses for the basic programme.

  • Semester 1 - Autumn
    • Investments
    • Fixed Income
    • Financial Accounting
    • Quantitative Methods for Finance

    According to the regulations of the Faculty of Economics and Business, students must have a minimum grade of 4 in three of their compulsory courses to be admitted in the second term of the programme.

  • Semester 2 - Spring
    • Corporate Finance
    • Derivatives
    • ESG Disclosure
    • Financial Analysis and Valuation
    • Finance Ethics
    • Sustainable Finance
  • Semester 3 - Autumn
    • Equity Research Contest
    • Alternative Investments
    • Risk Management

Students in the Master in Finance (90 ECTS) need to earn 90 ECTS at least, 63 ECTS in mandatory (M) and 27 ECTS in elective (E) courses.

For all details, please refer to the study plan and directive.

  • Courses in other master programmes
    • Courses can be taken in other master programmes at the Faculty of Economics and Business and/or MScF programmes in other Swiss universities.
    • Approval of the Director of the MScF is mandatory. The student should send a request to Prof. Weigert indicating the course and including the course description (pdf).
    • If he approves, Prof. Weigert informs by email the Secretariat of the Faculty of Economics and Business and the student.
    • It is the students' responsability to contact the university regarding all the administration issues.
    • BeNeFri/Azur: students attending courses at the universities of Bern, Fribourg, Lausanne and Geneva are entitled to train fare reimburement. For complete information on how to proceed, please refer to the Mobility page on the website of the Faculty of Economics and Business. 
  • CFA level I exam (6 ECTS) & scholarship information
    • 6 elective ECTS can be earned by passing the CFA Level I exam. 
    • Students should register in IS-Academia to the course "CFA level I (5AF2031).
    • To validate the credits, students should send to [email protected] the email received from the CFA Institute with the exams results.

    Level I, II & III exams - scholarship information

    • Per annum, we award nine CFA Program Awareness Scholarships for UniNE MScF students willing to enroll in the CFA Program and who meet the programme entrance requirements.
    • CFA Program enrolment fee is waived and exam registration is reduced to USD 400. 
    • CFA Program exam levels compared.
    • If a student has already registered for an exam she/he can not apply for a scholarship.
    • Students applying for a Student Scholarship should simultaneously apply online and submit the CFA / GARP scholarship application form to [email protected].
    • Priority is given to 1st-year students.
    • Applications are reviewed once a year and should be submitted until 31 January 2025.
    • Students are informed of the outcome in February 2025.
  • GARP/FRM Part I exam (6 ECTS) & scholarship information
    • 6 elective ECTS can be earned by passing the GARP/FRM part I exam.
    • Students should register in IS-Academia to the course "GARP/FRM part I exam (5AF2042)".
    • To validate the credits, students should send to [email protected] the email received from the CFA Institute with the exams results.

    GARP/FRM Part I exam - scholarship information

    • Per annum, we award 6 FRM Part I scholarships for UniNE MScF students who meet the programme entrance requirements.
    • The scholarship covers the exam registration fee and enrollment fee.
    • FRM Program and Exams.
    • Students applying for a GARP/FRM exam scholarship should complete the CFA / GARP scholarship application form and submit it to [email protected].
    • Priority is given to 1st-year students.
    • Applications are reviewed once a year and should be submitted until 31 January 2025.
    • Students are informed of the outcome in February 2025.
    • Scholarship recipients have up to 30 September 2025 to register and sit for the exam.
  • CFA Institute Research Challenge (3 ECTS)
    • 3 electives can be earned by participating in the CFA Institute Research Challenge Final, Switzerland.
    • Finalists should register in IS-Academia  for the course "CFA Institute Research Challenge Final (5AF2043)" to validate the credits.
  • Internship with report (3 ECTS)
    • 3 ECTS can by earned by conducting an internship of at least 6 weeks including the writing of a report supervised by a professor of the Faculty of Economics and Business.
    • Approval of the Director of the MScF in mandatory.
    • No internship can be carried out during the first semester of the MScF programme nor should the internship negatively affect other course work.

    Documents to download

     

Enhanced programme

Any student can register at the latest, by the end of semester 3, in one of the three enhanced programmes:

  • MSc in Finance (120 ECTS) or
  • MSc in Finance with Data Science Major (120 ECTS) or
  • MSc in Finance with Sustainability Major (120 ECTS).

All students who start their 4th semester without having registered in an enhanced programme can no longer register in any enhanced programme.

Registration form to be submitted until 16 December 2024 to [email protected]

MSc in Finance (120 ECTS) Research Option

  • MSc in Finance (120 ECTS) Research Option
    • During the 4th semester, you have the option to write a Master thesis (30 ECTS) independently or during a training period at a financial institution or at the finance department of a corporation.
    • To write a master thesis you must have acquired at least 30 ECTS in line with the MScF in Finance (90 ECTS).
    • Prior registration to the Enhanced programme is required, at the latest by the end of semester 3.
  • Supervisors and topics

    Fiechter Peter

    Potential topics for the master thesis may include but are not limited to:

    • Economic consequences of changes in or adoption of accounting standards, accounting regulation, or accounting rules (e.g., market reactions, cost of capital, or liquidity)
    • Determinants of accounting choices
    • Effects of heterogeneous accounting standards or accounting choices on information asymmetry or information precision
    • Earnings management, discretionary accounting, and disclosure quality (e.g., earnings smoothing, small positive gains, value relevance, large negative net income, timely loss recognition, or target accounting)
    • (Economic) consequences of fair value accounting
    • Effects of banking regulation and “Too-big-to-fail” issues
    • Economic consequences of (U.S.) cross-listings

    Guidance for writing the Master thesis in Financial Accounting

    Hasler Michael

    • Theoretical asset pricing
    • Portfolio selection
    • Bayesian learning models

    Salva Carolina

    • Corporate and international finance
    • Valuation
    • Financial markets

    Sonney Frédéric

    Topics for the Master thesis will be related to Asset Management and/or Capital Markets. Below are a few themes or ideas that I would be happy to discuss further:

    • The Global Minimum Variance portfolio and Risk Budgeting techniques
    • The determinants of "intra-market" correlations
    • The value of financial analysts' forecasts for portfolio managers
    • Financial analyst forecasts: skill, luck, or...?
    • Stock market: do "crowded names" behave differently from the rest of the market?
    • Hedge fund indices: are they representative of the industry?
    • Hedge fund replication: could an "indexed" product do a good job?
    • Hedge funds before and after the financial crisis. What has changed?

    Starica Catalin

    Statistical and econometric aspects of:

    • The use of financial statements for firm valuation (multiple valuation, earnings forecasts)
    • Enterprise valuation - accounting based modeling (cash accounting, accrual accounting, discounted cash flow valuation, residual earings model, abnormal earnings growth model)

    Weigert Florian

    • Hedge funds
    • Mutual funds (investment funds)
    • Empirical asset pricing
    • Behavioral finance
    • Risk management
  • Step by step - documents, dates and deadlines

    Information sheet 2024-2025

    Research thesis forms

    Internship thesis forms

    Guidelines

MSc in Finance (120 ECTS) Data Science Option

MSc in Finance (120 ECTS) Sustainability Option