Students majoring in Finance at the American University in Dubai (AUD) won, for the second year in a row, the 2012 national CFA Institute Research Challenge hosted by CFA Emirates.
The AUD Finance Students who won for this year are Sahar Faghihi, Marina Boghdady, Raham Yavary. After beating other students from three other UAE universities, the winners will fly to London, UK on March 14-15th to represent the UAE in the EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) Regional challenge.
On this occasion, Dr. Jihad Nader, Provost/Chief Academic Officer of AUD commented: “The fact that finance students from AUD’s School of Business Administration (SBA) have won the local CFA Challenge two years in a row speaks of the real-life relevance and the high quality of our finance curriculum, and of excellence in teaching and learning in our SBA. As AUD’s Provost and, especially, as Professor of Finance, I am very proud of this remarkable achievement. Congratulations are in order to our winning student team and to their mentor, Dr. Karim Mimouni. This is another feather in AUD’s cap. I hope our team will win the regional competition in London where they will soon represent the UAE in the regional CFA Challenge for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”
The challenge involves following a company and pricing its stock using some valuation methods covered in class. It also involves regular meetings with a mentor from the industry and an advisor from the university over around three months. The students are then required to produce a report under the guidance of a Faculty member and a mentor from the industry. The report is then presented it in front of leading industry experts.
Dr. Karim Mimouni, Assistant Professor of Finance at AUD and mentor of the students comments proudly: “Our team showed dedication and perseverance during the three months it took to submit the final report. Their achievement comes with no surprise to me as I witnessed their hard work and commitment to quality. Winning the CFA local challenge for the second year in a row and winning many other competitions in various fields reflects the quality of our programs and the maturity of our students. I am very proud of them.”
The CFA Institute Global Investment Research Challenge offers students the unique opportunity to learn from leading industry experts and compete with peers from the world’s top finance programs. This annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.
The challenge gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally, and globally for a real world competition.
Participation in the challenge promotes best practices in equity research and company analysis, as students’ research, analyze, and report on a company as if they are practicing analysts.
Additionally, all participants are introduced to and held to the standard of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.
How the Challenge Works
Local CFA societies host and launch an Investment Research Challenge in conjunction with the participating universities. The universities assemble teams of 3-5 business and finance students who work directly with a company in researching and preparing a company analysis.
The team’s final presentations are locally evaluated by high-profile panels of heads of research, portfolio managers, and chief investment officers from the world’s top firms.
The local champions advance to regional competitions in the Americas, Asia, and Europe and then to the global finalei.