Coursera and ISB Launch Investment Management Courses

Coursera, the world’s largest open online education provider, and the Indian School of Business (ISB), a premier global B-school, announced the launch of a new series of four courses called a Specialization on ‘Financial Markets and Investment Strategy’. This is the second programme being offered by ISB on Coursera’s MOOCs platform after the course on happiness in November 2014.

The importance of sound financial planning and investment management in helping an individual to achieve financial goals can hardly be over emphasized. And yet, studies have shown that individuals commit mistakes on choosing their personal investment portfolios. In 2015, the S&P’s Ratings Services Global Financial Literacy Survey found that close to 76% of Indian adults do not adequately understand key financial concepts – lower than the worldwide average of financial literacy.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Vaidya Nathan, ISB, said: “In India, direct equity investments account for only 2% of household savings, which are dominated by other asset classes such as fixed deposits, gold and real estate. Surprisingly, the number has not changed significantly over the last two decades despite the economy going through structural transformation. Therefore, we developed this course with Coursera to address the lack of financial knowledge and educate the average person about financial markets and financial instruments.”

Rick Levin, CEO, Coursera, said: “ISB’s new Specialization will appeal to a mass audience not just in India but to our 19 million plus learners around the world – from aspiring to working professionals in finance to anyone who would like to learn the basics of financial planning for personal or professional use.”

Three premier ISB faculty – Vaidya Nathan, Vikram Kuriyan and Ramabhadran Thirumalai – teach the four course Specialization: Introduction to Financial Markets; Portfolio and Risk Management; Behavioral Investing and Investment Strategy, Philosophy, Client Management and Current Trends. In order to earn a specialization Certificate, learners are required to complete a final Capstone Project that involves managing assets and securities for a person or a company using portfolio management and behavioral aspects.

The partnership with Coursera puts ISB among the ranks of 140 other top universities and schools such as Stanford University, Yale University, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. These institutions have produced more than 1900 online courses and specializations on Coursera.