Goodman Institute first to be CFA partner

barbara black

When philanthropist Ned Goodman dreamed up the world’s first combined MBA-CFA program for Concordia, he gave the university’s business school an edge over all the others in Canada.

The Goodman Institute of Investment Management is one of a handful of schools named a “Program Partner” by the U.S.-based Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts. The others noted in a first round of announcements are Saïd Business School (Oxford University, U.K.), Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), Boston and Marquette Universities (U.S.) and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

For five years the John Molson School of Business has offered a Master’s in Business Administration degree that also prepares students to qualify for the designation CFA, or chartered financial analyst.

To be awarded an official CFA partnership, a university must offer at least 70 per cent of the courses required for all three levels of the CFA program. Concordia’s MBA in Investment Management is the only program to offer 100 per cent of these courses.

It is common for Goodman students to double or triple the pass rate for these examinations.

Becoming a CFA involves three rigorous annual examinations, and four years of relevant business experience. The program run in the Goodman Institute of Investment Management is so exacting that only a few students in each class graduate.

The program is based in Montreal and Toronto.

Peggy Eisen, a spokesman for the CFA Institute, said from its headquarters in Virginia that the creation of partnerships was prompted by a steady stream of requests from the financial community for university-trained financial analysts.

“We have over 116,000 candidates worldwide, and our brand has been established for a long time,” Eisen said. “There is tremendous growth out there, especially in other countries. We need global applicability of the CFA body of knowledge we have developed from our practitioners around the globe.”

Another group of program partners will be announced sometime in the future. Once again, most of them will be in universities outside the U.S., but Eisen said that as the de facto language of finance is English, all the exams must be written in English.

According to founding director Alan Hochstein, his small team of staff is thrilled for the students at the honour they’ve been given, and that the June 12 graduation of this year’s crop of 15 Goodman graduates will be especially joyful.

As for Hochstein, he will go on sabbatical with a light heart. He will be replaced as director by Ian Rakita.