Towards a bright future Masters in Finance & Control

Masters in Finance & Control (MFC) has a great prospects ahead Shahnawaz shah writes

            This is the time when the new entrants in the University of Kashmir will be feeling delighted as they have got an opportunity to learn in this highest seat of learning. Some might have been admitted to the  courses of their choice and with others the case may be different.The university of Kashmir offers an extensive range of courses, be it in the faculty of Science, Social Science, Arts ,Commerce, Management & so on. The choices available are Bio resources, Food technology, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mass Communication, MSW, MA Linguistics, Business Administration & so on. Still University of Kashmir needs to go a long way, because it has to keep itself abreast with other universities of the country who offer specialized courses like Microbiology, Physiotherapy, Genetic engineering, Peace & Conflict Studies, MBA with various new specializations( like Retail Marketing, International Business, Telecommunications).The list seems to have no end. This is an era of specializations. As is obvious, Industries do require specialized human resources. They search for people with unique skills. Thus, there is a great demand for the people who possess specialised degrees and at the same time a unique set of skills. Gone are the days when people with degrees in pure fields were offered lucrative jobs by the organizations. Now the concept of job specialization has covered the whole industry. There is a ruthless competition among companies in these times. They want to outperform their counterparts. Thus every employer is looking for specialized & better manpower.

       The University of Kashmir from the past few years in this regard has taken certain initiatives. It has started some industry-oriented courses."The Department of Business & Financial Studies (DBFS)"; erstwhile department of commerce has been the pioneer in this field. It has started a post graduate programme in finance in the year 2005.This course has been started under the name of "MFC (Masters in Finance and Control)".It is a super-specialized programme in the field of finance. The question here arises why have they started this course? The answer is evident, the financial sector around the globe has tremendously changed and improved, one can see finances making its presence felt in every part of the world. From the past 2-3 decades. India has responded to this change. In the year 1991 it liberalized its economy. The other contributing factors were globalization and privatization. These changes have led to the requirement of the people who are well versed with the knowledge and expertise of Finance. The same is the case with the banking sector like every booming industry or institution require personel, banking and financial institutions is no exception.To meet manpower requirement not only for the state but all around. DBFS introduced this course. This 4-semester programme launched by the DBFS was designed to create new generation "Financial Advisors" or "Financial Engineers”. There is a great demand for the MFCians in financial institutions especially in Banks, Insurance companies, stock exchanges, capital markets and so on. Some of the modules which makes MFC a distinct degree from other management courses are "Funds management in commercial banks”, “Corporate Tax Planning" ,"Risk Management and Derivatives", "Corporate Accounting" "Asset-Liability management”. Besides it also covers modules which are taught in other management programmes like Financial Management, Strategic Management, Organizational Behavior, Financial Accounting, Project Planning and so on. I won't spare any word in stating that this is one of the best courses available for a student with a financial bent of mind not only in the University of Kashmir, but in the universities outside the state also.

            Graduates in any discipline  with 50 %marks in general category and 45 % marks in reserved categories can apply.The selection in the DBFS takes place through a written examination followed by GD(group discussion) and PI (Personal Interview).

        Although this course is not well known professional courses like CA / ICWA/ MBA. The reason for this is that it is of recent origin and is being offered by only a few Universities across the country.To name a few among them are : Aligarh Muslim University Banaras Hindu University, Himachal Pradesh University,Kurukshetra University,University of Lucknow,Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University & University of Delhi The esteemed Department of Business & Financial institution is one such institution that has got this privilege. Though this course (MFC) is in its initial stage (particularly in the state of J&K) but it will surely have a great future ahead provided the University in general and The Department of Business & Financial studies in particular takes some more sincere efforts to develop this program. There is a need to have some guest lecture sessions, Industrial visits, student interaction programmes with other university students which would definitely help to take this course as well as the department to its zenith. Further it is of utmost importance to introduce this course at bachelors level i.e. Bachelors in Finance & Control (BFC) as advised by the think tank earlier as well.

        I wish all the new comers a bright future.