UCT financial masters degree makes global Top 50 list

© Matthew Benoit – 123RF.com

It is the only masters degree from any university on the African continent to achieve a ranking on the Eduniversal Masters ranking for this period.

The Best Masters Ranking for Financial Markets is done annually by Eduniversal and this year the top spot went to Stanford University's MS in Mathematical Finance. American institutions occupied the top nine positions. UCT is the only university in Africa to achieve a position on the list of the top 100 financial masters degrees worldwide.

UCT Faculty of Commerce head, Professor David Taylor said it's the first time the degree achieved this ranking and that the faculty is very happy with its achievement.

"The ranking system is very useful, not only to prospective students but to anyone wondering about the quality of the degree," Taylor said.

He said the masters degree was comparable to the best finance degrees in the world. According to Taylor, what made the ranking even more interesting was that most of the other institutions on the list were business schools and not faculties of universities as this was where financial degrees where usually presented.

Eduniversal is a global ranking and rating agency based in Paris. The organisation aims to promote higher education and to give an in-depth view of global academic expertise with the goal of actively supporting international exchanges between schools.

Taylor acknowledged that there are many issues around the quality of maths and science education at some secondary schools in South Africa. The country was recently ranked worst for mathematics and science education quality by the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2015.

"But this does not mean all of the maths education that comes out of South Africa is of a poor standard. We have a terrible inferiority complex and tend to underestimate the value and significance of our degrees and qualifications in this country.

"The Master of Philosophy specialising in Mathematical Finance is a superior academic programme and the Eduniversal ranking shows this, showing that not all of the maths education in South Africa is something to be concerned about. Indeed, some of it we can actually be proud of," Taylor concluded.