Sebastian Sienkiewicz

Sebastian's Story

Sebastian Sienkiewicz secured a six-month internship at the multinational investment bank, Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), in Zurich after enjoying a successful spell of study at Stirling.

The 25-year-old, from Poland, had two degrees – one in physical education, and the other in informatics and econometrics – before moving to Stirling a year ago.

“I was in the second year of my econometrics degree at the University of Gdansk when I decided to pursue for a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certificate,” Sebastian explained. “One of my lecturers recommended the University of Stirling and this course.”

Sebastian was impressed that the Stirling degree covered CFA levels one, two and three and by the University’s record in the CFA Research Challenge, an annual, global competition that provides students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis.

Reflecting on his studies, Sebastian said he values the flexibility of the teaching at Stirling Management School. He said: “Investments, and more generally finance, usually do not have rigid answers and I really valued the substantive discussions between academic staff and students. This way of teaching definitely encourages people to think on their own, instead of memorising definitions and formulae.”

Sebastian enjoyed participating in the CFA Research Challenge and the CME Group Challenge - a four-week electronic trading competition where teams of students trade real-time on a simulated environment – and also attended a number of guest lectures. In addition, he joined two societies at Stirling: the Student Management Investment Fund and the University football team.

Passionate about helping people manage their money, Sebastian hopes his experience at UBS will open doors to help him further his career. He added: “I want to use my knowledge and experience to set up my own firm in a few years to help people who do not have enough time or courage to invest their money on the financial markets.”