Study Finance Abroad
Finance courses abroad are one of the most dynamic programmes leading to high-paying jobs and multiple exciting prospects for international students.
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What you'll learn in this article
Do numbers fascinate you? How about shares, investments, economics, and banking? If you answered yes, then a degree in Finance is just the thing for you.
Finance is available as a specialisation and a core area of study at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels at many popular universities across the globe. Even linked programmes, such as accounting and finance courses, are available at all three levels abroad.
The curriculum of a course in finance abroad may vary depending on the university, but here are some of the areas that it usually covers:
| International Finance Curriculum | |
|---|---|
| Microeconomics | Macroeconomics |
| Financial management | Risk management |
| Portfolio analysis | Corporate finance |
| International finance | Ethics |
| Auditing | Banking |
| Quantitative methods | Statistics |
| Taxation | Data management |
Every finance course has optional modules as well as standard modules based on student interests and preferences. Some finance programmes focus on specific topics to a greater extent than others, so this is something you should keep in mind when researching programmes. With this in mind, let us discuss why you may want to enrol in a finance programme overseas.
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Why Study Finance Abroad?
Studying Finance abroad gives you global market exposure, practical skills, and international career opportunities, while learning from world-class universities, diverse cultures, and modern financial systems across the globe today worldwide.
Plenty of Course Options and Shorter Duration: An overseas finance degree usually takes between one and four years to complete, depending on where you choose to study and at what level. For instance, bachelors of Finance in the UK takes three years to complete, and there are one-year master’s degrees in finance abroad. There is a standard length of time for finance degrees, which will allow you to graduate and be job-ready more quickly.
Besides, studying finance abroad will allow you to pick from a more diverse set of specialisation options. You can specialise further in different finance branches, such as corporate finance, financial planning, quantitative finance, and finance and investment, to name a few.
High Demand and Competitive Pay: Every company in the world, from a startup to a large corporation, depends on financial experts and is ready to pay large amounts of money for them. For instance, as per Bureau of Labor Statistics data, there will be 5% more demand for analysts and 15% more demand for managers working in the field of finance over the next ten years in the USA.
Finance professionals in the USA also have impressive median salaries. In the USA, the salaries of finance professionals range from US $81,000 to US $129,000 per annum, depending on their job types and experience levels.
International Exposure: An international finance course exposes you to global business environments, which is arguably its most valuable feature. Professionals can often travel around the world for business purposes as well as connect with clients and other customers from abroad. This exposure from an international finance course will add value to your career as well as allow you to familiarise yourself with and examine the business environment of another country.
As a professional with global business exposure, you will have many career options to pick from and an amazing opportunity to accelerate your professional growth.
Best Countries to Study Finance Abroad
You should think about many things when determining where to pursue a finance degree, including the banking and financial industry, the cost of living, and employment opportunities in your prospective study destination. The best nations for a finance degree are those with more economic freedom and business-friendly policies, as well as less economic interference from the government.
Considering these factors, the following are among your best possible options for a finance degree abroad:
| Country | Popular Finance Course |
|---|---|
| Australia | Master of Finance |
| Canada | PG Diploma in Finance |
| Ireland | Master in Finance |
| United Kingdom | Master in Finance |
| United States | MS in Finance |
Apply to finance-related courses abroad with professional help. Talk to an AECC expert and start your study abroad journey today.
Requirements to Study Finance Abroad
Financial course requirements vary depending on the country and university where you choose to study and at what level. Several universities require at least an Upper Second-Class Honours at the bachelor’s level for admission into their master’s programmes. Here are some of the country-specific, course-specific, and general financial course requirements at universities abroad.
- A bachelor's degree in finance usually requires completion of Year 12 with good Math grades.
- In the United States of America, you may have to clear a standardised test such as the SAT or ACT for undergraduate admission. Speaking of standardised tests, you may learn more about the SAT exam from our latest blog about it.
- Depending on where you apply, you may have to meet a certain Grade Point Average (GPA) score requirement for admission into US universities.
- It is also common for universities to require specific scores on internationally recognised proficiency tests, such as the TOEFL or IELTS Academic.
- If you are planning to apply to a postgraduate finance course in the USA, you may need to clear the GMAT or GRE, besides meeting other entry criteria like grades and English proficiency. A counsellor can help you in streamlining these entry requirements, depending on your school of choice.
For entry into a Masters in Finance course, you must have a bachelors degree. Universities prefer your bachelor’s degree to be in a related field like economics, finance, engineering, or mathematics.
Career Prospects & Scope After Studying Finance Abroad
There are plenty of employment opportunities in the finance sector, including fintech and banking jobs. A degree in finance will allow you to earn a lot in an exceptional position at a corporation with a good reputation. When you want to start a finance career, it will be useful to think about the different positions available in this field. Here are some of the best job profiles that you can consider after earning a finance degree abroad:
- Chief Financial Officer: The job of a CFO includes making decisions about cost and the company’s technological infrastructure, dealing with a budget, and overseeing a group of financial analysts. An entry-level CFO earns about US $120,000 a year in the USA.
- Financial Application Developer: An ideal job for a fintech lover, a financial application developer’s tasks involve making new software for financial organisations and users. An entry-level financial software developer earns around US $100,000 per annum in the USA.
- Chief Compliance Officer: A chief compliance officer’s primary duties involve policy management, overseeing the units that work in the area of compliance standards, and monitoring policy compliance. An entry-level chief compliance officer earns around US $120,000 per year in the USA.
- Private Equity Associate: This role requires one to not only network with their company’s investors for private equity acquisitions but also diversify the investor profiles of their employer. The base salary range of a private equity associate is between US $125,000 and US $145,000 a year in the USA.
If you want to learn more about a degree in Finance abroad or any other field of study, feel free to contact our counsellors to help accelerate your path to admission.
Study Finance Abroad FAQs
The duration depends on the type of course. If you are planning to study financial course subjects at the undergraduate level, it would take three or four years. If you want to pursue a postgraduate degree in finance, however, it will only take one or two years to complete.
An MBA in Finance covers broader business areas such as management and marketing, alongside finance. In contrast, a Masters in Finance focuses deeply on financial subjects like financial analysis, reporting, fintech, and quantitative finance. If you want specialised financial expertise, choose a masters. If you prefer leadership roles with finance knowledge, an MBA may suit you better.
There are many candidates for the status of the best universities to study financial courses abroad. Your choice will ultimately depend on where you want to study. For instance, Monash University and the University of New South Wales are some of Australia’s best universities to study financial courses. Besides, the London School of Economics and the University of City London are some of the best schools for finance education in the UK.
Investment banker, chief financial officer, chief compliance officer, financial application developer, and information technology auditor are some of the highest-paying finance jobs. That said, it is not easy to land one of these jobs in the industry due to the high competition.
Some knowledge and skills in mathematics may be necessary for any finance degree abroad, but not all programmes require students to have the same level of expertise in the subject. For instance, a quantitative finance degree programme has more mathematical coursework than a general finance degree.
Trusted Expertise
About the Author
Published and reviewed by AECC counsellors who guide students through every step of their study-abroad journey.
Published by Bindu Mary Idicula
Test Prep, Courses & Application Expert | 20 Years in International Education
Bindu Mary Idicula has spent over 20 years in international education, writing on three areas that students navigate across every study abroad destination: standardised tests, course selection and application documents. She covers TOEFL, SAT, ACT, OET, GRE and GMAT, writes on standalone course guides across disciplines, and covers the application documents students need including Letters of Recommendation, Statements of Purpose, academic essays and CVs.
What connects these three areas is the same practical angle. She does not write about tests, courses or application documents in the abstract. She writes about what students need to know when they are actively deciding: which test is required for a specific course and destination, what a particular discipline looks like across different countries, and what makes an SOP or LOR work for a student with a specific academic background. That specificity comes from two decades of student consultations.
Her articles across the AECC platform have been read over 650,000 times. The breadth of topics she covers reflects the range of questions students bring to consultations, from which exam to take first to how to write a CV that works for an international university application. She holds an MBA in Marketing and is based at AECC's Tamil Nadu offices.
