Between increasingly globalized financial markets and technological and digital transformations, the Catholic University of Uruguay (UCU) launches the Bachelor’s Degree in Finance. The new career seeks to train professionals suitable for the financial sector with a strong technological component.
The objective is focused on students learning to manage finances at a corporate level and investment of family and personal assets, as well as standing out in areas such as risk management, consulting and financial entities, with the incorporation of technological knowledge and criteria of sustainability.
For Carla Pivel, an academic benchmark for the Bachelor of Finance, the financial world has become more complex. “We see it, for example, in decision-making processes, where other variables have been added to traditional financial criteria, such as sustainable development criteria; We also see it in the rapid technological and digital transformation that the sector is undergoing”. This, according to Pivel, leads to the need to “train professionals with technical and analytical skills that allow them to anticipate the needs of their environment.”
“In the case of finance, the entire transformation of the sector based on technological changes is decisive. We cannot think of a professional without training in the management of computer tools or data analysis, they must understand the technological changes and the new challenges that the sector presents ”, he insisted.
Carla Pivel, academic reference of the Bachelor of Finance.
Pivel —Wealth Advisor at the Shellman Wealth company, electrical engineer, Master’s in Finance and MBA—, asserted that these variants occur “very quickly”, with tools that are useful today and will be “obsolete” tomorrow. “What we must provide is the ability for future professionals to understand that all technological and digital changes lead to improved processes, greater efficiency, more scalable business models, and reaching more people,” deepened
In addition, and in accordance with the global harmony, he added the following: “We must not only take into account the traditional financial criteria, but that these allow decisions to be made based on sustainability. On the one hand, we have the investor who begins to incorporate these criteria when investing, which causes companies to also begin to consider them in their growth strategies and in their valuations. This creates challenges for sustainable finance: we have to collect data, generate information that we did not generate before for decision-making, we must begin to quantify and measure variables that we did not measure before, understand that it is a topic that has a cross-cutting approach various disciplines (environmental, social, institutional, cultural issues)”.
The dean of the Faculty of Business Sciences, Isabelle Chaquiriand, said that careers such as Finance are expected to take a “path of dialogue with the community, which are an instrument to build a more inclusive and just society.” In this entrepreneurial spirit, she aims for these professionals to be transformers of realities, with a collaborative spirit. In the words of Chaquiriand: “That they know how to handle diversity and realities with a global vision. It is a university that does not hesitate to change and innovate in different aspects of professional training. It is in the DNA of the UCU. It is the challenge that all of us who work here have, ”she emphasized.
career structure
The Bachelor’s Degree in Finance lasts four years, is taken in person at the UCU Montevideo Campus and, upon completing the first two years, the intermediate title of financial analyst is obtained. The Finance student, like all the students of the Faculty of Business Sciences, has the possibility of adding another year of study and obtaining a second degree. In this way, a graduate in Finance may also be a graduate in Business Management or a public accountant.
Isabelle Chaquiriand, dean of the Faculty of Business Sciences.
Chaquiriand delved into this option: “Within Business Sciences, any combination of a double degree can be done in four years plus one. It has had a huge response and we are very happy that they want to graduate with two academic degrees. Coming out with two titles is like being bilingual.”
Like other options within the UCU, this career has 25% elective courses. “They can be complemented during the four years, but we leave a lightened semester so that the student can choose those courses that allow him to complement and differentiate the study plan. You can take courses from any of the more than 40 careers at UCU”, explained Pivel.
To that are added the minors. The UCU offers more than 30 routes made up of elective training activities, oriented around a central theme, so that the student acquires skills in a field other than that of their degree training by taking subjects from other study plans. A Finance major, for example, could take a Data Science minor to further her career, or perhaps take advantage of the Contemporary History minor if it’s a subject she’s passionate about. The academic reference of the career affirmed that the other option to complete the elective courses is to participate in an exchange program in the more than 300 international universities with which the UCU maintains institutional agreements.
Meanwhile, as also happens in other careers, the student’s level of English is considered important. “We use the Harvard case methodology, with most of the material being in English. Added to this is a matter of opportunities; the language opens many doors for you, for courses, for exchange, etc.”, assured Pivel. “We are looking for them to complete the Cambridge University First Certificate level in all areas at the end of the degree program,” she concluded. The UCU has a Language Center that offers free courses for students who do not have that level of English.
More information here
Only Faculty accredited by AACSB
In 2021, the UCU Business School was certified by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the prestigious association that brings together the most important business schools and colleges in the world, thus becoming the only Uruguayan university to achieve this accreditation.
