Education: Islamic finance MBA vs. MSc: To Have and Have Not
Europe’s top business schools are sending a message: “MBA holders may no longer be able to push the envelope of financial innovation.” The rapidly changing spectrum of investment and wholesale banking requires its match of Master of Science (MSc) specialized finance degrees.
The good old days when a human resources (HR) manager is forced to choose a graduate specialized in economics to be placed in the corporate finance division (which is not the graduate’s exact discipline) should have gone by now. But apparently, they are not (at least in some jurisdictions).
What the old generation of HR managers, who might not have a proper banking academic background, should come to realize is that the financial industry is in the process of being reshaped from top to bottom by graduates who hold the so-called specialized finance degrees (SFDs).
As MBA holders were the hot trend for the past decade, MSc holders with a specialized finance background should be the winning bet in the age of financial innovation as their technical expertise is poised to take us to the next level. Specialized MSc degrees in capital markets, corporate finance, financial engineering, Islamic investment banking, financial risk management and even international shipping should change fundamentally the way the recruiting process is being implemented by these universal banks. An MSc degree provides a professional boost when it is arguably most needed, helping students to get ahead right at the start of their careers. In contrast, MBAs often stipulate several years of work experience as a pre-entry requirement.
With the evolution of progressive specialized MSc degrees, the stakeholders of the investment banks should adapt their recruiting process to the fact that financial education will ultimately raise standards as the pool of talent deepens. It is usually the case that these HR staff do not have an academic qualification in banking or finance which makes the process of grasping what Islamic finance is all about more difficult.
With that being said, there are signs that HR in Wall Street are changing their methods, albeit slowly. Of US-based professionals in possession of an MSc degree in finance on eFinancialCareer.com’s resume database, just 4.8% are working in mergers and acquisitions, while 7% work in a markets-related role.
Twitter: @MKhnifer
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http://sa.linkedin.com/pub/mohammed-khnifer-msc-mba-csaa-cifp/12/910/669
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