Testimonials

This program in Finance provides the knowledge and the abilities that offer valuable job opportunities. The program in the present form  started in September 2022 and there are not yet graduated students in Finance. However, since this Master is  the natural evolution of the former Finance curriculum of the Master in Economics, Finance, and International Integration (MEFI) we have decided to collect  the experiences of some of the best students of the MEFI Finance program. 

“You are free to do whatever you want”. Attending the Finance curriculum, I had the opportunity of achieving business objectives through the use of problem solving, qualitative/quantitative analysis and innovation abilities. I graduated in 2020 presenting an alternative asset pricing approach related to stock returns and cash flows, under the guidance of the Prof. Dennis Montagna. During the last Master’ year, I did an internship at the Unicredit headquarters in the Strategy and Corporate Foresight team. In this occasion, I applied all my knowledge about the fundamental analysis, econometrics, financial modelling, acquired during the university period and from the course “Methods and models for financial engineering” held by Prof. Montagna. One of the strengths of the Finance course, is certainly the freedom to do whatever you want. Apart from specific skills, what you learn is the ability to get involved and to know how to deal with any type of topic, even complex. Actually, in fact, I am working as Business controller for Finance and Administration at Bolton group and I am delving into another side of finance more related to the accounting and management part. Hence, what are you waiting for starting your carrier? The University of Pavia is waiting for you.

Stating that the Finance curriculum has been the starting point of my career in finance would be wrong. It was much more. Apart from providing an outstanding knowledge of economics, with a focus on financial markets in my case, the program granted me the possibility to create a wide network of professors and fellow students; they now represent a structure of support, stimuli, and career opportunities which is mostly unrivaled in Italy.  After the unnerving but necessary internships, I now work in Banca IMI, as a Portfolio Manager in the credit markets.  In my job I have to leverage my knowledge of capital market expectations, fundamental analysis, econometrics, behavioral finance – and more, it never ends tragically – all concepts first presented and studied during my courses. The Finance program and the enthusiasm of the professors were also able to motivate me to enroll in the CFA program, which has been a masochistic but very rewarding experience.

I have been a MEFI Finance student since October 2013: I got my degree 2 years ago, but I still consider myself a MEFI FInance student as a credit for my financial career. During the master, I developed my passion for finance, particularly thanks to professors who, for their professional experience, gave me inputs and tips to enter this world. A few days after my graduation, I started a 6 months internship in Banca IMI, the investment branch of Intesa Sanpaolo, and it has proven to be a difficult but really educational experience from the beginning. After 4 months they decided to hire me and now I’m a broker in Market Hub. My job’s main task is the execution of listed derivatives products on all types of underlying (Equity, Fixed Income, Forex, and Commodity); I’m specialized in European and US markets, but I have also a basic knowledge of the Asian market. I don’t know yet where my career will bring me, but I know the starting point was good and this will help me in the future.

In a Finance course, you learn models that allow you to discover new insights about real-world dynamics. I’ve learned that financial markets are evolving continuously and that every day there is something new to discover. The Master degree provided me with all the quantitative tools and knowledge to understand, deal and extract valuable information from a complex environment. Currently, I’m a business analyst at a fintech solution provider. Working in the wealth, investments, and asset management segment every day I learn how technology is transforming finance:  this is a good example of how this world is evolving!”

A path to follow and instruments to reach your goals. This is what I found during my experience at the University of Pavia. During the Master, I had the opportunity to meet both outstanding professors and professionals. As a student at the Department of Economics you will live in the small campus of “San Felice”, and you will not feel like a number among a lot of students. This concept obviously affects also education quality, implying attention to the single students and to details. My Erasmus experience, participation in the “CFA research challenge” and my Master thesis changed my career. Currently, I’m working in Luxembourg for the biggest Italian asset management company as a portfolio manager, mainly on the smart-beta funds.

For me, the MEFI Finance course has been a sort of discovery of the financial world which allowed me to understand the financial markets from a quantitative point of view, as well as from the qualitative sight. Pillars have been strongly planted and the CFA Research Challenge seemed to be the perfect ending of a growth path. The thesis is not a proforma, and with a bit of courage and the right professor, it can lead to potential original studies and the publication of a paper. Thanks to the thesis I approached the risk management side of portfolio management and I’m currently a risk consultant in a risk and performance software house. I do suggest the course because of the large number of topics it touches, giving the possibility to open your mind and reach the financial lands.

My experience at the MEFI Finance course was great. It gave me the possibility to deeply understand the world of finance. I was able to acquire more and more knowledge about quantitative modelling, forecasting, economic issues, how to interpret and manage them. Last but not least, MEFI Finance studies allowed me to work in an investment bank. Currently, my job is to provide sales & trading with analysis and ideas about financial market issues. I am focused on fixed income and macroeconomics topics, but every day I have the opportunity to explore new worlds. Never stop studying.”

I graduated in 2016 in the Finance course. My final dissertation was about a new application of the Beta parameter in a portfolio strategy framework. Nowadays I am collaborating with my final dissertation mentor, Prof Dennis Marco Montagna, to publish a paper focused on the Beta topic. During my Master’s years, I have developed quantitative and qualitative skills either in portfolio management or in Equity evaluation. I really enjoyed the courses, given the practical shape of the tasks and the professors’ high-level skills. Thanks to my Master Degree I am now working as a Junior Portfolio Manager in a primary Italian Investment Bank. Now I am preparing the CFA exam and I can remark that the Finance course covers over 70% of the notions required by the CFA curriculum.

I enrolled in the Master MEFI Finance in 2015, graduating in Finance in December 2017 with a thesis entitled “The Low-Risk Effect: from Betting Against Beta to Betting Against Correlation”. During my journey in the MEFI Finance path, I developed both analytical and quantitative skills and I had the chance to be a member of the Department Board and of the Academic Senate as a student representative. MEFI Finance gave me the opportunity, and the tools, to join the “CFA Research Challenge 2017”, a team competition of financial analysis, sponsored by CFA Italy. At the end of my studies, I did an internship in Equity Research at Banca Akros. Currently, I am a CFA Level 1 candidate.

I am a proud graduate of the MEFI Programme with a major in Finance. MEFI Finance strongly contributed to build myself up thanks to the integration between experienced professors and professionals in teaching activities. Thanks to MEFI Finance, I also caught the opportunity to spend one year abroad within the Double Degree Program and earned a Master in European Economics at the University of Tübingen (one of the Universities of Excellence in Germany). Moreover, MEFI Finance gave me the chance to be part of the CFA Research Challenge winning team in 2018. I am currently pursuing an Industrial Ph.D. in the Financial Data Modelling field and my scholarship is funded by a Bank.

MEFI Finance is a challenging degree up to the standards of the most prestigious masters all over the world. It means the opportunity to attend high-quality courses surrounded by ambitious students with brilliant minds in a dynamic international environment. The Finance curriculum trained and prepared me to be hired as a risk analyst at the European Central Bank while keeping the door open for job positions in the academic world. I am currently a Ph.D. student at the Department of Economics of Aarhus University (Denmark), where I joined the Econometrics section and C.R.E.A.T.E.S.

I decided to enroll in a Finance course to understand the dynamics of the financial markets. I participated in the CFA Research Challenge, an international competition among Universities, and I made an internship at Schroders, an English asset management company. My master’s thesis, supervised by Prof. Dennis Marco Montagna, was focused on the use of some multiples first as regressors of the stock market and subsequently as metrics for the construction of some portfolio strategies.
I was not sure at all I had made the right choice for me, and I am still not sure that finance will be the sector in which I will work for life. In these two years, however, I learned a lot, and the career prospects are so varied and stimulating that I’m excited to start working in the financial world. 

When I arrived in Pavia, I immediately realized the opportunities that its University offered me. Being part of MEFI Finance has met all my expectations. The international environment in which you are involved and the possibility of putting into practice what you study, through continuous projects, is a powerful stimulus to personal growth, which for me was constant and intense. Even before graduating, I found a job in a major consulting firm, PwC, and I noticed that employers are very interested in the economic/statistical footprint of the studies.

Being part of the MEFI FInance has been one of the best challenges I could take so far, and the experience that strengthened important friendships I still bring with me today. Studying Finance let me know how much important it was to be brave in order to achieve my own goals, and so I did. For example, I had the opportunity to live and study for five months in Aarhus (Denmark), an experience that deeply changed my life. Once back, I decided to take part in the CFA Research Challenge, during which I got passionate about equity research. I can state that all the efforts made during these years, and during the competition, have been largely repaid: my team and I won against all the other Italian teams, and two days after my graduation I started to work as an Equity Research Analyst in Milan.

The MEFI Finance program provided me with a solid platform to start my career as well as rigorous and interdisciplinary teachings. Its well-balanced offer of both practical and theoretical courses inspired me in seeking higher-levels of education within University and through profitable industrial partnerships all over the world (FCA in London, CMCRC in Sydney)“