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As one of the world’s premier fintech hubs, it’s no surprise that Hong Kong’s universities offer the best specialised postgraduate degrees in the subject.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has a prestigious Master of Finance in Financial Technology (MFFinTech) programme jointly offered by the Business School’s Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Law. The programme’s newly appointed director Dr Alan Kwan plans to “keep things innovative”.
“I’ve been thinking really hard about how to leverage the fact that we’re HKU, we’re right in the heart of the city, and we also have our neighbours in Shenzhen,” Kwan says. “We have these really deep industry connections to deliver something unique to students.
Following his career in the finance industry – including roles at a major global macro hedge fund and a quantitative trading firm specialising in energy markets, Kwan transitioned to academia, where he believes this real-world experience allows him to make the curriculum more engaging to students, who are often industry professionals themselves.
“Part of my job now as programme director is to think about larger scale objectives like the overall student experience and the overall programme design,” Kwan says. “I think because I have worked in the industry before and I still do a little bit now, I can point out when traditional textbook learnings are a little antiquated or unrealistic. Of course, the textbook perspective is also useful, but it’s good to have more nuances and layers as you’re going through it and I think having fun anecdotes helps with that.”
