Straight to the head of the class: our graduates have what it takes to thrive and succeed in the banking and finance sector both here in Australia and overseas, according to a leading education company

Australian Banking & Finance, April 30, 2008 by Andre Khoury

One of the biggest changes to postgraduate financial services education in Australia was completed in February when global education and career services provider Kaplan Professional held its official launch in Sydney.

Last year Kaplan acquired the education arm of the Financial Services Institute of Australia (FINSIA), the largest provider of postgraduate courses in financial services across Australia and New Zealand.

Kaplan is now charged with the responsibility of providing education to more than 6000 finance students enrolled in its Master of Applied Finance degree. And from that pool of talent Australia's next batch of chief executives, chief operating officers and chairmen/ women is likely to appear.

Kaplan chief executive Warren Jacobson told Australian Banking & Finance Magazine Australian graduates have what it takes to compete against other financial services graduates from across the globe.

"The success of graduates is borne out in the right of passage of Australian finance and accounting executives that they have in working in financial capitals of the world like London and New York," he said.

"It has increasingly been the case in recent years where the big firms have come out here and have sought to recruit our talent. That's not only a testament to the education providers but it's also a testament to our financial professionals, those practitioners that contribute to our programs."

Jacobson said FINSIA's courses had a strong reputation in Australia, "but one of the challenges is to ensure that our finance courses are well recognised in the region. Being part of the Kaplan network--an organisation with strong links into Hong Kong, Singapore, China--there's a great capacity to do that.

"But I think our capacity to do that is also in the hands of the close relationships that we've got with corporate Australia. Because it is a key strategic imperative of many of our financial institutions to grow into the region--Macquarie Bank's in Hong Kong now, Babcock & Brown is increasingly becoming globalised, the ex-head of HSBC Michael Smith is the head of ANZ and has said in no uncertain terms that Asia's a key part of his growth strategy--so our capacity to provide Australian companies with quality consistent education as they expand offshore is a great opportunity and responsibility."

Education in financial services

The debate over whether higher education institutions provide work-ready graduates for the banking and finance sector has been an ongoing issue. "It's important that students have a good understanding around the bigger picture of the business, political and social climate, to prepare them for their work environment," ANZ group general manager of People Capital, Shane Freeman, told Australian Banking & Finance Magazine last year.

"The majority of universities have a very good idea of what is needed in an employee, but the challenge is in being able to provide that type of training to students. Internships and similar placements are a good way to gain exposure to working life, before actually jumping in the deep end."

General manager of human resources at St George, Robert Marriott, said graduates must have the relevant technical qualification and ability to navigate in the business world.

"To think analytically, and communicate effectively orally and in writing. To understand business imperatives and connections. They're important skills we look for, but in a graduate you wouldn't expect them to be particularly developed," he said last year.

"They are able to be developed quickly through experience on the job as well as supported and supplemented by specific training."

From the academic side, Professor Philip Gray, finance cluster leader at University of Queensland, said, "There's a lot of discussion about 'job-ready graduates'. The interpretation of job-ready is about students who graduate and enter a job force with a full skill set. No university course can fully prepare the student with the required skills for a particular job."

Schools do have success

In January this year the AGSM MBA Program, run out of the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales, was ranked in the top 40 MBA programs worldwide by respected UK paper The Financial Times.

"The AGSM MBA was ranked 39 in the world, an improvement of ten places since last year. The main driver of the overall ranking score is the career success of alumni, especially salary progression," acting dean of the Australian School of Business, Professor Wai Fong Chua, said.

"The Financial Times surveyed MBA alumni who graduated three years ago ... these alumni have an average salary of $US 122,349 and a 96% average salary increase three years after graduation.

"Other areas of strength include the proportion of graduates who gained employment within three months of graduation, the proportion of alumni who would recommend the AGSM MBA program, and the extent to which the AGSM MBA Program provides value for money.

"We are also very pleased that our organisational behaviour academics who teach on the AGSM MBA Program were ranked sixth best in the world based on alumni recommendations.