Review of Contemporary Business Research

Combining Theory and Application: Rethinking Finance Education
Reinhold Lamb, Oliver Schnusenberg, Shannon Italia

Abstract
Business schools are being held increasingly accountable to measure the learning of their students, while articles criticize the poor preparation of business schools of their graduates. The creation of courses that satisfy both theoretical and experiential learning is increasingly important. We discuss a Financial Modeling course and a Student-Managed Investment Fund that are designed to increase 1) critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, 2) communication skills, 3) teamwork, and 4) premium quantitative skills. Frequent communication with employers results in revisions to the courses as the market place demands. The market appears willing to pay a premium of $20,000 per year for student-managed investment fund (SMIF) graduates relative to general finance or financial services graduates. Keywords: Experiential Learning, Student-Managed Investment

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/rcbr.v4n1a1