The Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA) at Fordham University has received its second grant from the NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation which will be used to expand its educational offerings focusing on global financial markets and investor relations.
The Foundation’s continuing generosity will help to extend GBA’s Master of Science in Global Finance (MSGF) program, which debuted in the spring of 2010, to include new strategic global regions. The expansion of the MSGF builds on the Fordham program’s success in Beijing, which is part of the University’s strategy of developing partnerships with key institutions, world-wide. In GBA, the emphasis is on six regions, or “nodes.” These nodes include greater China, (specifically Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing), Europe (anchored in London), Africa (anchored in Pretoria), Turkey, India and South America.
The grant will also help to expand the delivery of a Master of Science in Investor Relations (MIR) degree, which debuted this past fall, to students in Beijing.
The MIR was designed with the understanding that a decade after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act became law, the field of investor relations has become a more central and strategic function of corporations. Recent de-listings of Chinese firms on major organized exchanges illustrate how this has become a major issue for China. As such, Fordham has teamed with the National School of Development of Peking University in Beijing to deliver this critical training to Chinese students and other students globally, combining coursework taught in Beijing with courses and experiential learning activities in New York City.
David Gautschi, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration at Fordham, said, “The role of business in the global political economy is expanding daily.
“It is incumbent upon a school of business—especially a school of business in an international financial center—to make a global curriculum a strategic priority. We give credit to NASDAQ OMX for recognizing that need, and for helping Fordham fill it.”
Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., Provost of the University and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Fordham, said, “This generous grant, and the programs it supports, underscores Fordham’s growing international reach, especially in China.”
Freedman added, “We are very grateful to NASDAX OMX for its financial support and commitment to international business education. The funds will help ensure more Fordham GBA graduates are prepared to compete at the top levels of management in finance and business.”
Joan Conley, Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary at NASDAQ OMX, said, “The NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation knows how important it is to groom future business leaders who will navigate the global economy.
“As a truly global exchange group with strategies that cross all borders and continents, we are thrilled to partner with Fordham which also realizes how newly minted business graduates will need to be fluent in the language and customs of international business to compete in this global marketplace.”
