Innovations in Banking and Finance Education

A leading UK Business School with an international reputation for research in Banking and Finance, Bangor Business School provides a reliable source of well-educated and trained professionals for the banking and business sectors in the Gulf States and elsewhere around the globe.

The School has a record of developing innovative new courses, and was one of the first in the UK to develop and offer degrees in Islamic Banking. The academics are the best UK researchers, achieving the highest rating in the UK for the quality of their research in Accounting, Banking and Finance. It’s clear why so many choose to study there.

Commenting on the demand for banking and financial undergraduate and postgraduate education in advance of a keynote speech at the Gulf Conference in London on 19 June 2013, Professor Phil Molyneux, Dean of the College of Business, Law, Education and Social Sciences said:

“There is a great international demand for high quality professional education in banking and finance and universities have to create the mechanisms to enable students to access the best education available. At Bangor, for example, we’ve developed a range of partnerships to enable students from different countries to attain a Bangor University degree. Our long-standing relationship with the Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance (BIBF), where students study for two or three years before studying for their final year in Bangor, has brought hundreds of young Bahraini students to study at the University to gain a UK degree. These are soon to be joined by students from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, studying at the Emirates Institute of Banking & Financial Studies.

 “As well as innovation in delivery, innovation in location is also key.  Another bold step, which has proved a success, was to open a teaching centre right in the heart of the financial ‘square mile’ in London. We were the first Welsh University to open a London teaching centre, and the first university to offer postgraduate degrees in Islamic Banking and Finance in London”  

Prof Molyneux also emphasised the need for blended delivery in teaching, with a focus on the needs of the professional.  For example, the Business School has developed an innovative Chartered Banker MBA with a flexible structure to enable the students to study around work commitments and at a pace that suits their needs. This has attracted bank executives and senior managers from across the globe as well as career-changers and others who aspire to these roles.  Banks and financial services firms who wish to develop their staff are also subscribing as a means of developing their staff.

Former Government Minister and Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank, Lord Davies is on record as commenting that “this is a new and innovatory MBA for the global banking industry. It combines the high level skills and professional competencies that will be increasingly necessary for the post-crisis banking environment.”

The other secret to success is in providing graduates with immediately attractive and saleable ‘skill sets’ to future employees – and that is exactly what degrees such as the MA/MSc in Business and Consumer Psychology or the MSc in International Banking & Development Finance deliver.

Publication date: 20 June 2013