Groupe HEC

search

EXCELLENCE IN TRAINING

Investment banks, hedge funds and other financial intermediaries are in search of specialists with an increasingly high technical level, not only in finance itself, but also in key related subjects. It is impossible nowadays to go into corporate finance without a sound background in accounting or into market finance without good grounding in financial mathematics.

Our program aims to fulfill two objectives in a very short period of time: to lay the necessary foundations for any career in corporate or market finance, and to provide in-depth knowledge in each student’s field of specialization.

M. Jean Gore teaching the MS Finance class 2007

COURSE ORGANIZATION

The MS Finance HEC lasts one year.
It is made up of two parts:

  • six to eight months of intensive classes (400 hours approx.) over the period October to May;
  • four to six months in a financial institution plus writing a professional thesis.

The thesis is defended in public in front of a panel of professors and professionals. The Specialized Master is awarded once the class work, placement and professional thesis have been validated.

LANGUAGE

Although course titles have all been translated into French, it should be noted that about 50% of classes are currently taught in English and 50% in French. The proportion of classes taught in english is set to increase in coming years to make our graduates even more operationally effective in an international environment.

Below is a list of the courses for the class commencing in September 2007:

Core Courses :
Taught at the beginning of the course, they provide students with an overview of finance and provide the foundations for the rest of the program

Accounting and Financial Analysis (***)
Arbitrage Theory (***)
Corporate Finance (**)
Introduction to Finance (***)
Mathematics for Finance (**)

Applied courses (compulsory) :
Taught throughout the program and covering aspects of finance that must be addressed by anyone wishing to make a career in finance.

Advanced Corporate Finance (**)
Company Valuation (**)
Derivatives Assets and financial Engineering (***)
Energy derivatives (*)
Financial Engineering (**)
Financial Srategy (*)
Fixed Income and Derivatives (***)
Indicators for managers (**)
International Corporate Finance : Case studies (**)
International Fiscal Management (*)
Law and Finance (*)
Structured Finance (**)
Yeld curve modelling (**)

Electives:
Allow students to customize their curriculum. All students can take the equivalent of 50 hours of electives during their course.
Bank Management (**)
Hedge Funds (*)
Insurance (**)
IPOs (*)
Macroeconomic Analysis (**)
Market Microstructure and liquidity (**)
Socially Responsible Investment (*)
Real Estate Finance (*)
Due Diligence (*)
Fixed Income II (*)
Technic negociations (*)

There are three course formats:
Long (*** : around 30 hours),
Standard (** : around 20 hours)
Short (* : around 10 hours)

LEHMAN BROTHERS PRIZE

In December 2006, the Lehman Brothers investment bank took its partnership with the School one step further by becoming a member of the HEC Foundation. As part of this partnership, Lehman Brothers awards three grants to the best students each year: for the Grande Ecole course, the MBA and the MS Finance HEC. The prize for students of the MS Finance HEC comes with a grant of €10,000 at he end of the year, awarded to the best student(s) in the class by decision of the examinations panel chaired by the Specialized Masters Director. For the 2006-2007 school year, the Lehman Brothers Prize was awarded to Naoual Benyezzar, Laurence Boclé and Benjamin Filou.