Masters of the IR universe

The availability of university education in investor relations, whether at the post-graduate or undergraduate level, has grown in parallel with the professionalization of the discipline. But how do the different options compare around the globe?

By and large an IRO – or perhaps an aspiring IRO currently in investment banking, maybe, or public relations – who wants to raise his or her IR game by means of a university course will opt for somewhere geographically convenient. That used to be easier said than done, given the paucity of offerings. But recent years have seen an increase in the options. In the past, most qualifications were of the entry-level variety and led to attainment of a certificate in investor relations, rather than a degree. Today, there are recognized academic qualifications and other courses on offer at universities from Lisbon to Lugano, from Beijing to Brazil. At some, one can even become a master of IR.

Take Lugano’s university, aka Università della Svizzera italiana (literally, the University of Italian Switzerland). Surrounded by mountains and lakes and sometimes called the Monte Carlo of Switzerland on account of the plethora of celebrity inhabitants, Lugano is home to this university whose city campus houses three faculties: economics, communication sciences and informatics. An obvious place for teaching investor relations, then.

Indeed, the MSc in financial communication is a joint offering from the economics and communication sciences faculties. It’s a full-time program spread over four semesters – usually taking two years – taught entirely in English.

The stated aim of this degree, in the words of the course prospectus, is ‘to form specialists operating in the banking sector and in capital markets being able to bridge the information and knowledge gaps between financial experts and lay investors and entrepreneurs.’ The university expects its graduates to go into any one of three vocational areas, the first of which is more banking than investor relations (anywhere other than Switzerland this might be surprising).

The university program describes these three as follows: the private banking and wealth management sector, where the integration of solid financial knowledge with communicative and legal skills will constitute a competitive advantage; the financial communication area of business enterprises, where in-depth expertise is needed to organize and manage numerous strategic communications (investor relations, roadshow marketing, financial reporting, media relations support); and consultancy firms in investors relations and other financial communications, where a wide array of services is offered especially to listed companies, like consultancy and coaching, market transaction communications, shareholder engagement solutions (proxy solicitation, capital raising support, institutional investor canvassing, and so on).

Careering toward IR

Tamara Andenmatten, who graduated with her master’s in financial communication back in 2009, has followed two of these routes since completing the course. After her first degree in corporate communications she wanted to get an understanding of financial markets and related topics. ‘But I didn’t want to lose the communications side,’ she explains. ‘So investor relations was perfect for me.’

Indeed, Andenmatten opted for investor relations as her dissertation subject and IR was certainly her preferred career path. Switzerland wasn’t awash with available IR posts in 2009, however, so she took a job as a financial analyst in an asset management firm, where she stayed for four years. ‘It wasn’t what I wanted to do but now I really appreciate the experience,’ she says. ‘It’s so important to have a good knowledge of how analysts work and also to understand what they want. It means you can understand their perspective, whatever it may be.’

Andenmatten knows this through hands-on experience. In November last year she took on a position at Alpiq, a smallish Swiss energy company where she is in charge of investor relations and also provides management support to the CFO. She deals with equity and credit analysts, shareholders and bondholders – and she values what she learnt on the course at Lugano very much.

‘The most useful areas of study for me were capital markets and corporate finance, because I’d already covered PR in my bachelor’s degree,’ she says. She also liked the style of teaching, explaining that the investor relations course was taught by a professional IR consultant who took a very practical approach that has proved useful in Andenmatten’s own professional life.

All in all, she has only praise and good memories from her spell at Lugano. The students were relatively few but from a wide range of countries – China, Iceland, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands – and they’ve stayed in touch, helped by the university organizing events, such as talks with interesting speakers and a bigger annual event.

Anyway, according to Andenmatten, Lugano itself ‘is a small paradise in Switzerland. It has a lovely climate and it’s well placed – and well served in transport terms – for getting to Milan or Zurich in a couple of hours.’

Past masters

So at least one satisfied student, then – and across the Atlantic, we meet two more, both graduates of Fordham, where they completed their master’s in investor relations in December last year, graduating in May this year. Both Ami Doshi and Michael Ayres were in the first cohort taking this course; and both, unlike Andenmatten, who went straight on to her master’s following her BA, started building careers after their first degrees.

In Ayres’ case, that was 20 years ago, when he completed his BBA in banking and finance at Hofstra University in Long Island in 1993. He then worked in the financial sector, initially with specialist firms (Bear Wagner, LaBranche) and later with market makers Cohen Capital and J Streicher.

Ayres witnessed lots of change in the markets during this time. ‘And I decided it was time to take my career in a new direction,’ he says. ‘I was wondering where I could next take my experience and apply it when I came across the Fordham program. I thought investor relations would be a great segue into a new profession.’

Ayres was impressed with the course, praising it for its flexibility – its willingness to make adjustments to the inaugural program in light of experience, for instance. And he remains in touch with many of the 22 other students who saw the course through to its conclusion (five dropped out along the way).

Doshi took her first degree in her hometown of Toronto, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management and IT in 2006. She then spent four years working as a business analyst in the enterprise resource-planning field at Infor Global Solutions, before going back to school in October 2010 to learn about IR at Fordham. And why did she decide to do this?

‘It was for personal interest, really,’ Doshi responds. ‘The PR and financial accounting does help with my current role as a management consultant – I’m using my knowledge of communications and PR to promote projects I’m working on.’ But she has no plans to switch to an investor relations role. One reason is that if she were to make such a change at this point it would mean starting at a lower level and so taking a pay cut, which she’s not willing to do.

Doshi does still see benefits of the MIR for her future, however. For now she’s a senior business analyst at New York University, ‘but I might decide to do something on my own one day and the financial and PR courses should be valuable then,’ she explains.

Ayres has yet to embark on a true IR job; for now he’s an operations & business analyst with a transfer agent, in AST’s investor services division. That’s still a step away from investor relations but Ayres remains optimistic, as he keeps in touch with Fordham’s career services department.

Directory of English-language IR university courses:

Católica-Lisbon School of Business & Economics, Lisbon and ESADE Business School, Madrid

Course: Two three-day programs, the first held at the Lisbon campus, the second at ESADE in Madrid 
Cost: €4,000 ($5,300)
For: IR professionals who want to understand new theoretical developments and professional trends that can contribute to effective IR strategies
Visit the Católica-Lisbon School of Business & Economics website for more information.

Fordham Graduate School of Business, New York

Master’s degree in investor relations (MIR)

Course: 16-month program, one weekend per month (Friday-Sunday) requiring 39 credits. Next start date: August/September 2013
Cost: $1,259 per credit ($49,101 in total)
For: Experienced executives in enterprises that are either already publicly traded or preparing for an IPO; people with PR or business experience wanting to switch to IR; recent graduates in relevant disciplines (finance, communications, law, and so on)
Visit the Fordham University website for more information.

Note: Last year Fordham launched a joint program for a master of science in IR (MSIR) with the National School of Development at Peking University in Beijing. Most of the teaching is in Beijing, although one semester is spent in New York.

HKU School of Professional & Continuing Education in collaboration with the Hong Kong Investor Relations Association (HKIRA)

Course: Three modules, held at weekends
Cost: HK$2,250 ($290) per module
For: Experienced communications, corporate, financial and investment professionals, including IROs, CFOs, CEOs, chairs of listed companies, private company owners considering going public, and other interested individuals. Students who complete all modules will receive an executive certificate in investor relations and one year’s free associate membership of HKIRA
Visit the HKU School of Professional & Continuing Education website for more information.

Ivey, University of Western Ontario, Canada

CIRI/Ivey investor relations certification program

Course: Starts in late September with three days in class in Toronto; continues with 12 online sessions, each made up of a two-hour video to watch at leisure, and a one-hour live online session; and concludes with two days in class at the CIRI Annual Conference in June (10-month duration)
Cost: C$8,950 ($8,770) for members of CIRI; C$9,450 for all others
For: IR professionals seeking certification
Visit the Ivey business school website for more information.

Michigan Ross School of Business

Theory and practice of investor relations

Course: Six days in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in partnership with NIRI. Next course: August 11-16, 2013
Cost: $8,300 ($7,350 for NIRI members). Includes tuition, accommodation, breakfast, lunch & dinner, program materials and resources
For: Experienced IR professionals. Includes simulations and exercises on Michigan Ross’ model trading floor, enabling participants to see the same information outsiders see when assessing your firm
Visit the Michigan Ross School of Business website for more information.

NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, New York

Certificate in investor relations – graduate program, developed in collaboration with the NIRI New York Chapter

Course: Six distinct courses – two required, two core, one communications elective, and one finance elective
Cost: $325-$825 per course
For: People who currently work in IR or those in a related discipline planning to switch to IR
Visit the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies website for more information.

University of Lugano, Switzerland

MSc in financial communication

Course: Two-year program (four semesters)
Cost: SFr4,000 ($4,280) per semester or, for applicants whose official residence was Switzerland (including Liechtenstein and Campione d’Italia) at the time of their final high school exam, SFr2,000 per semester
For: Graduates with a bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) from a recognized academic institution in economics, communication sciences or related disciplines
Visit the University of Lugano website for more information.