Please describe yourself in a few sentences
My name is Dr Harry Thapar, Course Leader of the MSc Investment and Risk Finance (MSc IRF) programme at Westminster. My qualifications include a PhD, an MBA in Finance and I am a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI). I have over 25 years’ worth of experience in finance, as a practitioner and as an academic. After having worked in a number of City of London banks and proprietary capital markets trading and research desks, I moved into academia at Westminster in 2002. In the banking field I held managerial level positions in both the middle and front offices. In my career I have covered a broad range of functions represented in a typical investment banking environment and held the following positions: Treasury Manager, Fixed-Income and Derivatives trading and research manager and as a Chief European Capital Markets Analyst. I also acquired wider exposure to foreign currency exchange and equity trading operations.
At Westminster I have course management responsibilities and over the years have developed the MSc IRF programme from its Quantitative Finance roots. In my capacity as an academic, I have authored a number of workbooks for the CISI, namely: Investment, Risk and Taxation and Portfolio Construction Theory. Moreover I have acted as a senior reviewer for a range of workbooks, including one on Derivatives.
As a Course Leader of the MSc in Investment and Risk Finance another responsibility of mine at Westminster is managing the Financial Markets Suite (FMS): a purpose-built virtual trading room that exclusively utilises the Bloomberg platform as a teaching and learning resource for Master’s students.
Which area of academia are you most passionate about and why?
My teaching at the Master’s level includes all the key areas of finance, namely: corporate finance, investment and risk finance. I am naturally drawn towards empirical finance and I am most passionate about teaching and learning related to: modern portfolio management, fund management, and financial derivatives. These subject areas are all covered in my lectures delivered to Master’s level students on the finance programmes at the university. My research and scholastic interests are in trading, market analysis and fund management, especially in relation to the construction of investment portfolios using both traditional and alternative investment methodologies, together with the use of derivatives in both investment and risk settings. Furthermore, as the alternative investments markets have matured, I have become especially intrigued by recent developments in hedge fund finance. I seek to understand how the asset-based configurations of a variety of portfolios impact on performances over time.
What features and attributes distinguish your course from comparable postgraduate programmes taught at other institutions?
The MSc Investment and Risk Finance programme offers students a challenging opportunity to learn new skills and to get a first-class educational experience in a caring learning and teaching environment here at Westminster. There are three major features of the Westminster MSc IRF programme that make it appealing to our students:
- An internationally-recognised Masters level qualification in Finance.
- Westminster Business School has been accredited as a “CISI Centre of Excellence in Financial Markets”. In addition to a coveted UK Masters qualification, students on the MSc IRF programme can gain professional membership of the CISI that denotes a high level of achievement and competence. MSc IRF students will be eligible to apply for this membership and to use the MSCI designatory letters as a visible statement to potential employers to enhance their credentials.
- Westminster took the bold step in 2006 to create a virtual trading room- the Financial Markets Suite – that utilises the Bloomberg platform to technologically advance its unique learning style. Thus all Master-level students on finance programmes are given instruction in the use of the Bloomberg database and become highly proficient in using this for their studies.
What piece of advice would you give to students about to embark on their Postgraduate studies?
Our students get a chance to learn in a vibrant environment where we provide all the support necessary to ensure that every student gets the best chance to maximise their potential here at Westminster. However, we select our students carefully and expect them to engage in the learning process from the first day and to actively participate in group learning activities, both as team leaders and as contributors. As a result we expect students to hone their time management and social interaction skills and to become diligent and active learners in the process. It is our experience that students who continue to develop good reading, writing, numeracy and group interaction skills tend to get the most out of this programme. At the end of the process we expect our students to be recognised as experts in their field and to have the critical and reasoning skills to be able to make sound financial and business decisions.
Hi Sir
good afternoon.
I am a Saudi student. I like to further my knowledge and skills in the world of investment and pursue a Msc in IRF at Westminister. I have just finished my graduation from Glion, Switzerland with BA (with Honour) in Hospitality Administration and Real Estate Finance and Revenue Management. English is the language of instructions at Glion. Curently, I am about to start a six months internship wit Ernest & Young (advisory servises-corporate finance) in Dubia Office (as a requirment by Glion). I shall finish this interniship by December 2014. I like to start my Master Degree in January/February 2015. I would like to know what is required to apply for admission to the Msc in IRF at Westminister. I would apperciate your feedback.
Best regards,
Khalid
+966550833816
+966504116272
In order to apply for January 2015 session, please submit an application with all the supporting documents via UKPASS. YOu can find the link to UKPASS application from here: http://www.westminster.ac.uk/courses/subjects/accounting-finance-and-economics/postgraduate-courses/full-time/p01fpirf-msc-investment-and-risk-finance
We normally ask for a lower second class honours degree for MSc Investment Risk Finance. Here is the information on entry requirements: http://www.westminster.ac.uk/courses/subjects/accounting-finance-and-economics/postgraduate-courses/full-time/p01fpirf-msc-investment-and-risk-finance
Look forward in receiving your application soon.
Hi there,
I am a former student of the MSc Investment and Risk Finance (2012-2013), which by the way I was able to study thanks to a full-fee scholarship granted by the University of Westminster, which I will always be grateful.
I had accumulated work experience as Treasury analyst and trader before studying the Masters and my background was in Economics, therefore I developed a lot of expectations on the content of the course.
Right now, after 2 years of having completed the course and back in my home country, I am senior trader at the largest bank in my country, Ecuador, where I am also responsible for the management of the bank´s portfolios in Panama and Miami, representing US$ 400 and US$ 100 MILLION dollars of assets respectively. My trading book includes operations in foreign exchange, fixed income, derivatives, ETF´s and commodities.
I would like to use this space to especially thank Harry Thapar and all the lecturers of the Masters for having shared their knowledge. In particular, I would like to thank Harry for his passion, which helped devolping mine. I am currently enrolled in the CFA program which is also thanks to him.
DO NOT DOUBT if considering this program! It is full of passion, which is ultimately the most difficult ingredient to obtain in the very competitive world of postgraduate programs.
Best Regards
David Acosta
patacon02@gmail.com
Hi Sir,
I wanna ask whether the course of Investment and Risk Finance Msc in Westminster could provide the same types of modules as other Financial engineering course.
Many thanks Prof.
Phuong
Dear Dr. Harry Thapar,
My name is Tanvir Mostafa and my student reference number is 15699527. My personal ID is 1122439448. I am really grateful for the conditional offer, which is made by the University of Westminster to me for the course of Investment and Risk Finance MSc in September-2015 session. It is a great opportunity for me to do my masters studies in this well known university in addition I am also feeling very proud about this opportunity. At this moment unfortunately due to some extremely unavoidable circumstances I am not able to start this course from September-2015 session. I already informed this to Joseph Coote-Cowling (PG applicant officer). However, I am very keen on starting this course in January-2016.
I also want to say that Joseph Coote-Cowling confirms me that this course of action is open for me in January- 2016. He also did mention that soon I will able to receive a renewed conditional offer letter about this course from this university. Moreover, I have to tell you that, still I do not receive the renewed conditional offer letter from the University for the Course “Investment and Risk Finance MSc”. I am hoping that soon I will able to receive that letter. So my concern is, do I suppose to receive an offer letter for the course. I am waiting for your replay.
Best regarded
Tanvir Mostafa