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A day with students from the MSc in Investment Banking & Capital markets: meet some of the Class of 2019/2020!

Day in the life 2

Students in the program recently took part in a Design Thinking Workshop.

Are you thinking about applying to, or do you want to find out more about, our Master of Science in Investment Banking & Capital Markets? We spoke to five students from the program (in October)  to ask them about coming to IÉSEG, their experiences and a typical day on the program.

A typical day?

Irene (who has joint Italian/Bulgarian nationality) studied in London before coming to Lille. Together with her classmates (Emre, Rahul, Ivan, Sunita) she highlights that a typical day starts between 8 and 9:30 am and generally lasts 8 to nine hours, making it an intensive study program. They also highlight that there is often work to do in the evenings as well, either individual or group assignments.

Sunita, who did a bachelor in commerce in India prior to IÉSEG,  explains that students also spend a lot of time in the Bloomberg/Reuters trading rooms on the Lille Campus. These virtual trading rooms are used for different courses on the programme (valuation, managing portfolios, risk management or computer programming (VBA) and in the framework of the Bloomberg/Reuters certifications that students can take.

Professional certifications

Rahul (who comes to the School from Canada ) explains that the multiple professional certifications offered during the program was one of the key factors that attracted him to the program. He was working in capital markets before joining IÉSEG but on the technology side. With his engineering background, he was looking for a fairly short program that would help him on the business and finance side. During the MSc, students are able to take certifications from Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Excel,  VBA and from The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) .

French classes

Emre (from Turkey) adds that they follow French classes each week (students are divided into groups according to their level), which he notes is a plus in terms of learning the language and learning more about culture in France.

Class diversity and bonding

The class has been together for around six weeks. Irene stresses that “we are super lucky, we bonded from the first moment!” Rahul underlines the diversity of participants on the program; “everyone comes from different backgrounds …”and brings different strengths”, which helps in the group work as “everyone pitches in from different angles”.

How do teaching methods compare to prior studies?

Some of the class pointed out the teaching methods used at the School may be slightly different compared to their previous studies, for example having continuous assessment rather than exams at the end of the year/semester.

A word on Lille?

“I think we are really lucky to be in Lille,” says Irene, who notes that it’s very easy to meet people from other cultures, as it’s a relatively small city. Ivan (from Argentina) highlights that the city is really in the center of Europe, which will give students the opportunity to travel to other cities (in Europe).

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