The master's programme in the Faculty of Business Studies receives significant international ...
The University of Vaasa's Master’s Degree Programme in Finance has passed the international EPAS quality accreditation. The highest level five-year EPAS accreditation the master's programme has received is a testimony that the education is at an international top level.
The Master’s Degree Programme in Finance prepares students for jobs in corporate financing and the financial markets. The programme is intended for Finnish and international master's level students.
– Standing out in the academic education market is important. Getting recognition for excellence from an external party gives the degree programme a valuable advantage in the competition for Finnish and international students. The received recognition bears significance also because the quality of education programmes will get even more emphasis once international master's programmes become subject to a tuition fee for students coming outside the EU, says Jukka Vesalainen, the Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies.
The high level of the education programme does not only guarantee good teaching, but also gives future employers certainty in the fact that the expert to be recruited has all the knowledge one would expect from the degree.
– For a university it is of the utmost importance that its offerings are of high quality and appealing. The University of Vaasa has at the moment two EPAS-accredited programmes, Master’s Degree Programme in Finance and Master’s Degree Programme in International Business. Additionally, the quality assessment processes have given us in the Faculty of Business Studies a chance to develop and assess all our other programmes as well, of which most are close to a high international level. In the future, we will expand the operations quality assessment to even more programmes in the Faculty of Business Studies, says Vesalainen.
Business programme accreditation
EPAS is a European accreditation for business programmes. To receive it, the school must first write a description and, if found eligible, create an extensive self-evaluation report. Finally, an international review is carried out. In Vaasa, it was carried out in March by an international review team of four experts.
During their visit, the review team interviewed several stakeholders in the education programme, such as teachers, students, programme graduates, representatives of business life, and staff in academic administration in order to get a general view of the quality of education in the programmes.
The review emphasised the quality of education, internationality, and business connections. The review focussed on the content, teaching methods, staff competence, and student support services of the degree programme. Additionally, the programme management model and the functioning of the quality system in the faculty were reviewed.
– According to the review team, the strengths of the master’s degree programme in finance are highly qualified and committed staff, the reputation of the programme, the high quality of the learning environment, and research-based teaching that is learning-oriented and student-focused. The review team sees that the programme's resource allocation could still be further developed, as the competition in international education is getting more intense, says Janne Äijö, professor, manager for master’s degree programme in finance.
The accreditation is granted by the non-profit organisation European Foundation for Management Development EFMD.
Further information: Jukka Vesalainen, Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies, tel. +358 29 449 8463
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