Financial Markets

Modern Portfolio Theory and Derivatives

Project Leader

Prof. Dr. Heinz Zimmermann
Heinz.Zimmermann@unibas.ch
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Zentrum, Abteilung Finanzmarkttheorie
Universität Basel
Holbeinstr. 12
4051 Basel

Project Coordinator

Dr. Jacqueline Henn
Jacqueline.Henn@unibas.ch
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Zentrum, Abteilung Finanzmarkttheorie
Universität Basel

Project Partners

Summary

The objective of the project Virtual Campus Module Financial Markets is to develop a self-contained Internet-based distance learning course introducing the fundamental concepts of Financial Markets: The primary focus is on Modern Portfolio Theory, Asset Allocation, Fixed Income Management and Derivatives.

The course is aimed to be an introductory course for students specializing in Finance. At the same time the course can also be used to give a general overview of Financial Markets for students with other specialization. The complete course will be the equivalent of a traditional course covering two semesters with two hours of lectures per week. The course will be structured into topical units to permit individual sequencing of topics, as well as to permit the combination of individual units for a shorter introductory course focussing on selected topics only. The course can be used to replace traditionally taught courses or to augment such courses, allowing class-time to be used for discussions. The course is designed to be taught purely with the help of a tutor who will only be accessible by electronic means.

The market for potential students taking this course or significant parts thereof is at present estimated at over 300 each year in Switzerland alone. Additionally, the course can also be used by the approximately 400 students learning towards Swiss national degrees in portfolio management or financial planning, or towards certain MBA courses. Although the latter is not the primary focus of the Financial Markets course, it could be a source for funding future enhancements and maintenance.

At present there is a shortage of highly qualified teachers to cover the high demand in training in the area of Financial Markets in Switzerland and worldwide. The Virtual Campus Module "Financial Markets" will help significantly to alleviate this problem.

Course language will be English in order to make the course available for a maximum number of students within and outside of Switzerland. The course will run on a standard Distance Learning platform. Care will be given to make the course platform independent to allow widespread implementation and to protect development investments.

The project is managed under the auspice of experienced academics. The project leader is Professor Dr. Heinz Zimmermann, an expert in financial sciences. Additionally Professor Dr. Rajna Gibson and Professor Dr. Jean-Pierre Danthine are responsible on the content side and will assist in the implementation of the course at the universities of Zurich and Lausanne respectively. Futhermore the cooperation of Professor Martin Gruber, one of the world`s leading experts in Financial Markets, and Prof. Norman White, Professor for Information Technology, both from New York University, has been secured to expand the pool of experience brought to the project.

The course will be developed over a period of 2 years and will be tested in an existing class. It is intended that within 6 months two pilot units Capital Markets and Modern Portfolio Theory will be developed and will subsequently undergo a pilot test.