World experiences

> TAR UC students exposed to real-time share investment training

A Sone of Malaysia’s premier institutions of higher learning, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) has made a name for itself as a leading provider of professional business education in Malaysia.

Established in 1971 as the School of Business Studies (SBS), the Faculty of Accountancy, Finance and Business (FAFB) has gained favour as the preferred choice especially across its professional accounting programmes. FAFB is also acknowledged as a leading centre in the field of finance.

In its aim to provide hands-on learning experiences to its finance students, TAR UC has set up the advanced Investment Share Trading Room within FAFB. Simulating a financial trading floor, the Investment Share Trading Room enhances the effectiveness of classroom teaching, providing an interactive share trading experience for students to learn from as well as prepare for inter-varsity investment trading competitions.

This facility enables students from the Bachelor of Finance and Investment (Hons) and Bachelor of Banking and Finance (Hons) to utilise “the room” during their tutorial classes.

Through this experience, students have the opportunity to face “real-world scenarios” on how shares are actually traded using live feeds of share prices from Bursa Malaysia. Students also learn the practical side of share trading such as buy-sell spread, order type, price adjustments, liquidity and commission.

The Investment Share Trading Room caters to investment-related courses such as Principles of Investment, Investment and Financial Analysis, Equity Analysis and Portfolio Management. With 32 terminals equipped with real-time share market simulator software, students can hone their skills and get industry-relevant exposure in the area of finance and investment.

“The Investment Share Trading Room makes teaching more exciting as students show great enthusiasm in realtime trading experience. It has also improved their learning experience,” said TAR UC’s associate dean of the Department of Finance Chai Ming Perng. “The simulator is a great teaching tool since it is able to demonstrate many market related terminologies using real life examples.”

Law Ken Kiet was fortunate to be part of the pioneer batch of students to use the software simulator during lessons.

“This facility helps to equip students with hands-on experience in stock market trading, rather than just relying on books. After using this software, I now have some knowledge on basic stock indicators such as moving average, Relative Strength Index (RSI) and I now know how to study a technical chart,” Law said.

“For me personally, coursework or practical lessons are far more important than final exams. By incorporating this software into our syllabus, students are able to learn and understand the process and not just memorise and regurgitate information without actually learning anything,” he added.

The third year Bachelor of Banking and Finance (Hons) student also shared that the knowledge he gains from the programme will provide him with a solid foundation as he steps out into the working world.

“Through the programme I am exposed to many aspects that allow me to gain knowledge on different types of investment, financial management, how to set up an enterprise, taxation of income from business and investment, and so on,” he said.

FAFB currently offers accounting, business and finance programmes at diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Its academic collaboration with Coventry University, UK and Sheffield Hallam University, UK offers Dual Award programmes which enable students to obtain two qualifications – one from TAR UC and another from its partner institution, which will greatly enhance students’ career prospects in Malaysia and abroad.

To find out more about programmes offered by FAFB and the Dual Award programmes, visit its Open Day from March 12 to April 1 from 9am to 5pm at the Sports Complex, Kuala Lumpur Main Campus and branch campuses nationwide.

Or visit TAR UC’s booth at major education fairs.

More information at www.tarc.edu.my