Stocks, bonds add up to hands-on learning
Given his own early career in foreign exchange trading, it was fitting that Sir John Key was invited to cut the ribbon to open the University of Canterbury’s financial trading room.
Finance students will get to see market concepts in action and to develop financial trading skills in stocks, futures, options, currencies and bonds.
The money to set up the trading room came from the University of Canterbury Foundation, a registered charitable trust that relies on donations.
Professor Sonia Mazey, who is the pro-vice-chancellor of the university’s College of Business and Law, said: ‘‘The trading room takes an innovative approach to learning, offering real-world experiences that cannot be provided within a traditional classroom.’’
The 12-seat room includes a live sharemarket stock-ticker display, access to business news, and electronic business databases including Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters DataStream, Global Financial Data and SIRCA.
It will be used mainly for teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses for the bachelor of commerce, master’s in applied finance and economics, and master’s in financial management degrees.
‘‘This new teaching facility will enhance what is already a strong education programme,’’ Mazey said.
According to Associate Professor Jedrzej Bialkowski, students will learn about how technology creates value.
‘‘They will become familiar with the digital tools used in the industry. They will also learn about risk-return profiles and gain an understanding of ethical issues and socially responsible investments.’’
Bialkowski said he hoped the trading room would become a centre for increasing financial literacy in the community too.
The business school will also use the trading room to host highschool programmes, and will make it available to all university students and staff for research, as well as to Centre for Entrepreneurship students and the UC Investment Society.
‘‘Financial education is more important than ever. With investment schemes like KiwiSaver, people are becoming more responsible for planning their own financial futures,’’ Bialkowski said.