20 Feb 2013
Staff Writer
Ben Peyton / Senior Staff Writer
The College of Business’ finance department was notified on Jan. 14 that it was accepted into a program created by the Charter Financial Association Institute [CFA] that aims to provide ethics based and professional education for future investment professionals.
Since UNT is now a part of the program, the school will also be able to receive scholarships from the CFA program each year.
The CFA is comprised of industry professionals, who have experience in the investment industry and have passed a number of exams that allow them to promote education that ensures students will be capable of performing in the industry.
“It [the CFA recognition] makes sure that students entering the profession have the knowledge that practitioners who are seasoned in the industry want their incoming employees to have,” Associate Dean of the College of Business and program chair Marilyn Wiley said.
The department of finance received the recognition for instituting at least 70 percent of the CFA program into its curriculum, which is made up of 10 areas of investment education.
The outside recognition improves the credibility of degrees from the College of Business and is an opportunity for students to network with other professionals, Wiley said.
The CFA Institute has more than 110,000 members in 139 countries and territories, with more than 1,000 of them located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Wiley said the process of becoming a charter member is challenging, as only about 14 percent of students go through the process without failing an exam.
Graduate student Kenny Tee, who is also pursuing a Ph.D. in finance, has passed the first level exam of the three-level process and said the College of Business has given him an experiential learning environment through things such as the Trade Center in the Business Leadership Building.
“Whatever you learn in the classroom you just learn from the book, and this way you link students directly to the real world,” Tee said.
Doctoral finance student Jing-Hui Huang also said “this resource is very helpful to students who can simulate an environment they might work in after graduation.”
Tee is pursuing the charter membership, but does not yet know when he will take the remaining exams and his four years of professional experience.
“One of the obstacles that the investment industry faces is a lack of trust,” Wiley said.
“I think one of the things that the CFA institute stresses and we try to do is to stress a strong ethics program and ethical relationships with clients so we can overcome that,” she said.
