Alumni profile
Sergio Amiti, Masters in Finance, Accounting and Management
"I enjoyed the international mix of the students and the lecturers, all with different cultural background and work experiences to learn from"
Completing a masters degree at Bradford School of Management enabled Sergio Amiti, aged 32, who hails from Italy, to achieve his ambition of working within investment banking.
Sergio, who now works at Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Barclays, gained his masters qualification in 2002 and found that, even a short way into the course, the prestige of studying the programme was opening doors in the professional world.
"I think the masters on the CV gave me a better chance to be selected for the first round of the recruitment process, even though I had to start interviews in October, just one month into the course. My dissertation topic, on company valuations and the conflicts of interest in equity research analysts in the case of Enron, turned out to be quite topical and a frequent question in the interviews. The presentation skills from the group assessments also came in handy during these days," Sergio commented.
"I wanted to do a masters to have the qualification and knowledge needed to have a career in investment banking. I'd already had an internship in an investment bank in Milan during my undergraduate course in Italy, but I realised a masters would better equip me for the job. I chose Bradford because it featured in the top UK business schools in the FT rankings. The entry fees, together with the relatively low cost of living, made me choose Bradford over other places, like London for example
"I chose the MA in Finance, Accounting and Management because it didn't just offer a comprehensive range of subjects in finance and accounting, from the foundations to some advanced electives in the second semester, but also some modules on other interesting subjects like international business and e-commerce.
"I enjoyed the international mix of the students and the lecturers, all with different cultural background and work experiences to learn from. The fact that some of the modules were shared with MBA programmes also allowed us to work and learn from the more experienced MBA students, especially during group work.
"I enjoyed the module on European Banking and financial markets that a group of us attended in Toulouse, south of France. Besides being held in a great location, it was a very interesting and challenging module that we were all happy to have attended and I would subsequently find very useful in my job.
"Even though when you start on the job you are given a few weeks of classroom training, having studied these subjects during the masters made a difference, especially in areas like accounting or derivatives that we covered in Toulouse. For most things, you only really learn them when you have to do them yourself, but at least in theory I knew what some of the products were before I had to figure out how to close a trade in them!
"More generally, I found that the international exposure from Bradford was a good preparation to the international mix of colleagues in my office now.
"I would advise prospective students to make the most of what the school offers - its facilities, lecturers, and tutors. Take part in the many extra curricular activities - we put together a School of Management football team for University league and besides getting to second place it was another great way to get to know your classmates. Having said that, I wouldn't tell prospective students to expect to go to Bradford and find a wife, as I did! Sergio added.