More business schools are recognizing the need to give students real-world experience and opportunities to apply what they’ve learned in class about asset management.
As a result, schools are creating student investment funds, where student analysts take a value investment approach to the portfolio, seeking a positive return while minimizing risk.
Ivey has a $1-million fund that is invested based on student recommendations while Queen’s University Investment Council manages a $700,000 portfolio and York University, $60,000.
The Ben Graham Centre for Value Investing at Ivey hosts the International Stock Picking Competition, a competition that offers $17,500 in prizes. The event is on par with contests run by the University of Michigan, Cornell, Duke and UCLA, says Ivey Professor George Athanassakos.
"One motivation for [industry experts] to participate in this competition is to see students in action and to see perhaps who might be a good fit for their own organization,” Athanassakos says.