Student finance team reach UK finals of ‘investment Olympics’

A team of Stirling Management School students has reached the UK final of a prestigious global competition testing the skills of the brightest finance students.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge – known as the ‘investment Olympics’ – provides hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis for those pursuing a career in finance and investment management.

Five MSc Investment Analysis students – Rupert Elder, Helena Sarkodie, Vladislav Petrov, Stephen Sammut and Fang Liu – will travel to London after beating off competition from 12 other university teams to make it through to the final stage. 

The 2019 Stirling team are, from left to right, Rupert Elder, Helena Sarkodie, Vladislav Petrov, Stephen Sammut and Fang Liu

The students, who will compete against Cranfield University, Queen Mary University of London and the University of Exeter, are the tenth University of Stirling team in 12 years to win a place in the competition’s UK final.

The initial stage of the competition required participants to assume the role of investment analysts and produce a report on a publicly traded company with a buy, hold or sell recommendation.

Dr Kevin Campbell, Director of the MSc Investment Analysis Programme, said: “The achievements of Stirling’s teams over the past decade reflect the excellent quality of teaching and the high calibre of students that are attracted to study here.

“The University of Stirling is unique in having a team reach the local final more times than any other UK university. The current team deserve immense credit for researching and writing an equity research report that was judged to demonstrate an excellent understanding of fundamental company analysis. 

“The global investment profession will be well-served in the future by Stirling’s graduates.”

At the UK final, students will deliver a public presentation followed by a question and answer session. If successful, the team will go forward to represent the UK at the EMEA final in Zurich.

Regional legs of the Research Challenge are hosted by CFA Institutes in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The winning teams from each regional competition advance to the Global Final, held in New York, where one team emerges as the overall champion.