Top Jordanian students compete in local finance challenge

AMMAN — “I want to see the results of my effort of years of studying at university,” said Amira Hanandeh, a finance and banking student at Yarmouk University, commenting on the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society Jordan’s Institute Research Challenge.

The CFA society recently launched its 6th edition of the CFA Institute Research Challenge, an annual global education competition, which saw the attendance of students and representatives from six Jordanian universities, as well as industry specialist, mentors, and CFA Society Jordan board members.

The six universities selected to participate in the challenge are the Yarmouk University, the Applied Science University, the Hashemite University, Petra University, the University of Jordan and the Princess Sumaya University for Technology, which is represented for the first time in this year’s competition, according to Jameel Anz, president of the CFA Society Jordan.

“The CFA is a global institution, which has about 150 societies around the world, and is responsible for the CFA Certificate, the highest rated certificate in the financial analysis field,” Anz said.

“This research challenge is a competition for finance, banking and accounting university students who are required to conduct a comprehensive research report about a public company in Jordan. Each team consists of three to five students, an advisor from their university, and an industry mentor,” he explained.

He said that in the first stage, students are required to produce a report, which will account for 50 per cent of the final mark.

In March of the next year, the teams will make a 10-minute presentation of their work in front of a panel of judges, followed by a Q&A session.

“The winning team will represent Jordan in the regional competition in Dublin in April, 2018. Afterwards, the regional winner will proceed to the global competition,” Anz told The Jordan Times over the phone.

He noted that the global challenge involves more than 5,250 students representing over 1,000 universities from 80 countries.

Hanandeh said that their university professors chose the top students, and interviewed them to form the teams.

“CFA is very popular, that is why I have accepted to be part of the university’s team,” she stressed.

Sulieman Al Masri, a Masters student in finance and banking, echoed the same sentiments, noting that he is “very excited” to take part in the initiative, voicing hopes of reaching the global competition in Tokyo, Japan.