VISAKHAPATNAM: Indian Institute of Management-Visakhapatnam has become the latest business school to join the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program. The PGP (MBA) programme of IIM-V has been acknowledged as incorporating at least 70 percent of the CFA Program candidate body of knowledge (CBOK) and emphasising the CFA Institute’s code of ethics and standards of professional conduct within the programme.

IIM-Vizag is now among the selected 19 institutions of the country (including the eight other IIMs), whose MBA programmes are dovetailed with the University Affiliation Program of the CFA Institute.

According to IIM-V officials, entry into the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program signals to potential students, employers, and the marketplace that IIM-V curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and is well-suited to preparing students to sit for the CFA examinations. Through participation in this programme, IIMV is eligible to receive a limited number of CFA Program student scholarships each year.

Director, IIM-Visakhapatnam, Prof M Chandrasekhar expressed his confidence that the students of IIM Visakhapatnam will acquire new competencies and skills from this affiliation, both in policy and practice. “I believe the Affiliation Program prepares them as well-rounded professionals endowed with ethics and integrity in financial analysis, portfolio management, investment advisory, investment management and the like,” said Prof Chandrasekhar.

Expressing happiness at partnering with IIM Visakhapatnam, Country Head, CFA Institute India, Vidhu Shekar, said that CFA being a practitioner-driven course makes management students industry-ready in the much sought-after field of investment analysis and management. “The CFA charter-holders graduate from learning the concepts and tools for analysis and further to synthesis, giving them the edge in financial management that plain management graduates are unlikely to have”, he added.

With a focus on fintech and application of modern technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to traditional finance, it was agreed that both the two institutions could leverage their strengths for joint endeavours such as workshops, webinars, roundtables, research challenges, conferences, executive education etc.

Manager (Institutional Relations), CFA Institute, Nikit Tyagi; Prof. M S Jawed, Prof. Shalini Agnihotri, and Prof. Prince Doliya, who facilitated the tie-up, also spoke. Sourav Jain, from the Finance & Economics Club of IIM Visakhapatnam, was also present.