Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Specialist Diploma In Fund Management And Administration

First and foremost, this is not an advertorial nor am I representing the institute that offered this specialist diploma. I am writing this since I had graduated from this course and would like to share my experiences with you. I felt this course is suitable in understanding how the financial markets, the fund industry and their related functions work.

Overview Of The Course

This one-year program is offered on a part time basis by Nanyang Polytechnic. There are a total of six modules, three each in one semester. The first semester covers the fund management aspect and the second one covers the fund administration part. Being an academic course, there are tests and examinations, and each successful semester would give you a post-diploma certificate, and the completion of the entire course would grant you the specialist diploma.

Most of the lecturers who taught us had a day job in the industry, meaning their teaching stint was on a part-time basis, which was good as they could relate their real life experiences from the topics in the modules.

I shall not describe each module in detail (you could read up more about it in the link below under Reference).

My Eye Openers From The Course

There were a few “A-Ha!” moments for me during the course. One of which was the calculation of a fund’s net asset value (or NAV) and the accompanying fund management fees. Being an “outsider” of the industry, this gave me an eye opener. Another was the securities settlement process, which gave me a “behind the scenes” peek on what transpired between the filling of an order to the actual delivery of the securities from one party to another.

Bedokian’s Take

If you are well-versed in some of the modules described above, I would say this is a walk in the park for you. Although it is basic, you could develop further on the topics taught and discussed, and this in turn could lead to another set of knowledge and opportunities in your investment and trading journey (I am a proponent of continuous learning). However, before you go into it, I would recommend you to start familiarising and understanding some financial terms and jargons from online resources (e.g. Investopedia).

Besides the academic part, you could take this chance to network with your lecturers and classmates as well. For my cohort, about 70% of us are in the accounting/banking/financial/fund industries, with the remaining 30% (like myself) coming in just to learn more.

Disclaimer

The course details may have changed since my last attendance, so there could be some differences in my post above. You are encouraged to contact the institute directly and/or attend their preview talks, which are typically held near the end of the year, to find out more.

Special thanks to my ex-classmate ‘M’ who provided additional material.


Reference



6 comments:

  1. Hi Bedokian,

    Thanks for sharing. Now I'm tempted to sign up for the course. :D

    Is 'M' a fellow financial blogger?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Unintelligent Nerd,

      Welcome. Understand that you are also a proponent of continuous learning? ;)

      Nope, 'M' is not a financial blogger.

      Cheers!

      Delete
  2. what jobs are related to this course?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi anon,

      This course is suitable for those who are in the fund management and administration sector. As a specialist diploma, it is designed to develop specialisations and deepen their existing knowledge (source: https://www.nyp.edu.sg/admissions/lifelong-learners/useful-info/revised-post-dip-framework.html). A majority of students in my cohort are from the financial/fund industry, and they took it up to enhance their knowledge of their sector.

      Hope this answers your question.

      Cheers!

      Delete
  3. Hi bedokian,

    Would like to find out how the course is being delivered and assessed.

    Will there be individual or group assignments and will there be any presentations?

    How many students are there per class?

    Are there any past year papers to study for the exams or tests?

    And lastly, the difficulty of the course.

    Sorry for the trouble but the course consultant seems to give me very generic answers.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi ^oo^,

      Apologies for the late reply.

      My cohort was made up of about 25 people, with 70% of them from the financial sector. The others were made up of people who wanted to gain some additional knowledge on investing or for lifelong learning. After 1 semester, there were some drop-outs, but our size remained close to 20 or so.

      Coursework wise, for my batch, each module was consisted of 1 test and 1 exam (weightage of 30-70 if I remember correctly). For one module (the risk compliance one), instead of an exam, it was a written report assignment. There were no presentations or group work.

      Difficulty wise, it depends on the module. One of the toughest was the module involving quantitative finance, which had some failures for my batch and students from the previous batch repeating it in our class.

      Since graduating from the course, I noticed that there are some differences in the course structure now; previously it was 6 modules over 2 semesters (3 each), but now it is 8 modules (4 per semester).

      As I had done the course a few years ago, there might be some changes to what I had described above, so do take note.

      All the best!
      Bedokian

      Delete