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The purpose of this paper is to investigate and identify threshold concepts that are the essential conceptual content of finance programmes.

Conducted in three stages with finance academics and students, the study uses threshold concepts as both a theoretical framework and a research methodology.

The study identifies ten threshold concepts in finance that are clearly endorsed by finance academics. However, the extent to which students are explicitly aware of the threshold concepts in finance is limited.

As well as informing further research into the design and delivery of finance programmes, the findings of the study inform the use of threshold concepts as a theoretical framework and a research methodology. The study does not explore the bounded, discursive, reconstitutive and liminal aspects of threshold concepts. Implications include the lack of recognition of more modern concepts in finance, and the need for input from industry and related disciplines.

The threshold concepts in finance provide the starting point for finance educators in the design and delivery of finance programmes. In particular, the threshold concepts in finance need to be made more explicit to students.

Using the threshold concepts in finance as well as the other findings of this study to inform to finance curriculum design and delivery is likely to achieve better quality educational outcomes for finance students as well as better prepare them for professional finance roles.

The finance curriculum is under researched and for the first time this study identifies the threshold concepts in finance to inform the design of finance programmes.

The purpose of this paper is to describe lessons learned from integrating student-managed investment funds (SMIFs) in finance education systems based on the case of the Raymond Rebsamen Investment Fund at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas.

The paper has three main parts. First, it describes how the Rebsamen Fund operates as an integral part of undergraduate and graduate finance education at the Walton College. Second, it explains how the Fund spawned creation of sister funds, an institute, a 62-seat trading center, and coordinates with other agencies and stakeholders. Third, it lists strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing future SMIF integration into finance education.

The use of innovative experiential learning solutions like SMIFs bridging theory and practice can be enhanced by integrating them into effective systems of finance education.

Lessons learned include benefits of SMIF management by class, licensing and professional certification, trading centers, use of SMIF finances to support other components of education, proliferation of SMIFs, SMIF stimulation of academic units like centers/institutes, SMIF facilitation of collaboration, importance of tying SMIFs to student finance clubs, coordination of industry speaker visits between SMIF classes and clubs, and use of SMIFs in addressing cutting-edge challenges.

This paper discusses how SMIFs can be integrated in finance education.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections between state education finance distribution models and student achievement. To date, lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of state finance systems have been heard in 45 states; the judicial interpretation of the requirement to provide equality of educational opportunity has led to changes in finance distribution models as well as the implementation of accountability policy.

The study included district level finance and achievement data from five states. Researchers reviewed the relevant judicial interpretation of the finance system, the accountability policy, and the finance distribution system. Next, researchers calculated the equity of both the finance distribution model and measures of student achievement. Finally, an equity ratio was developed and calculated to discern the degree to which state distribution models resulted in equitable measures of student achievement.

Findings reveal that no state has both an equitable system of finance and equitable measures of student achievement. The way that states define proficiency significantly impacts the percentage of students that reach proficiency. This impacts the provision of equality of opportunity.

Traditionally, the measurement of equity has only been applied to finance distribution systems. The authors of this paper have applied these concepts to measures of student achievement and aligned the two concepts with the equity ratio. Since states are charged with providing sufficient resources to enable students to reach proficiency, an understanding of the interaction between resources and achievement is a critical tool in analyzing the provision of equal opportunity.

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the implications for curriculum design by operationalizing threshold concepts and capabilities (TCC) in subject delivery. The motivation for undertaking this exploration is directly related to addressing public concerns for the business school curriculum.

A post facto analysis of a compulsory subject in finance that is part of an Australian business degree and the impact on a subsequent finance subject.

Customary approaches to granting part-marks in assessing students, (fractionalising) understanding of content can mean students pass subjects without grasping foundational concepts (threshold concepts) and are therefore not fully prepared for subsequent subjects.

Students passing subjects through fractionalization are poorly equipped to undertake deeper explorations in related subjects. If replicated across whole degree programs students may graduate not possessing the attributes claimed for them through their qualification. The implications for undermining public trust and confidence in qualifications are profound and disturbing.

The literature has exposed risks associated with operationalizing threshold through assessments. This highlights a risk to public trust in qualifications.

Operationalizing threshold concepts is an underexplored field in curriculum theory. The importance of operationalizing customary approaches to assessments through fractionalising marks goes to the legitimacy and integrity of qualifications granted by higher education. Operationalizing assessments for TCC presents profound, inescapable and essential challenges to the legitimacy of award granting institutions.

Finance is a male-dominated field of work. This study aims to understand if learning in finance follows the same pattern. Furthermore, the authors want to understand if foreign female students are subject to the same cultural norms and sorting mechanisms as their counterparts from the USA or Finland.

In the context of a capstone course, students of two well-known international business programs (one in the USA, the other in Finland) participate in a business simulation. The authors surveyed the students on their learning experience across different business functions. The authors collected 440 responses over five years.

A gender gap exists in learning finance. Females surveyed reported learning less (9%–15%) than males. However, foreign females reported learning more (11%–17%). Additionally, the authors find no gender gap in learning of other business functions (i.e. marketing and strategy). Foreign females seem to bypass traditional roles and sorting mechanisms.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to document the moderating effect of foreignness on the gender gap in learning.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education (2001), 15 percent of entering freshmen believe that there is a good chance they will change their college major and 8 percent are undecided. To gain insight into the criteria that students use to select a major, a model of the student decision making process was developed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This model predicted student’s first choice major with 88 percent accuracy for sophomores and seniors. An analysis of the criteria revealed judgement inconsistencies, particularly for accounting, finance, and decision science majors. Not surprisingly, sophomores were more inconsistent in their decision making than were seniors. It was also determined that students clustered the majors into two separate groups, viewing accounting, finance and decision science majors differently than marketing and management majors

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test through an experiment, an innovative online video teaching module that significantly improves financial literacy in college of business students. Specific business major financial literacy levels are also tested.

A total of 244 college of business students were given a financial literacy test. Half of the students were exposed to the “treatment” (watched a video module), while other half were not. The videos comprised 67 min of micro-lectures that students could download, free of charge, at their own convenience. The researchers analyzed the impact of a previous personal finance course on students’ financial literacy levels and tested across four business majors.

The video intervention was the most successful at increasing financial literacy, surprisingly more so than having taken a past personal finance course. Interaction effects were not significant. Four college majors were tested with a shorter, improved financial literacy measure – finding, to our surprise that non-quantitative business majors (particularly marketing students) are not less financially literate than other majors. Supporting past research, the authors found that female and African-American college students performed significantly lower on the test.

The research adds value to the literature by developing and testing a modern, novel teaching innovation to improve financial literacy in young adults. Using an experimental setting, the authors showed that the innovation was more effective than the commonly proscribed personal finance course. This is one of the few studies to measure financial literacy levels for specific college of business majors.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how a student-managed investment fund (SMIF) moved from an idea to an operational program over the period of a year at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada. The aim is to provide insight to other institutions on how to build capacity when developing their own SMIF.

I summarize the choices made with respect to funding source, governance structure, faculty involvement, recruitment, investment activities and integration into curriculum.

Underlying these choices were challenges pertaining to capacity, student competencies, the existing finance program and ties to industry. Through the development of the SMIF, efforts ensured that capacity was suitably developed in each of these areas.

This paper provides insight to other institutions on how to build capacity while developing their own SMIF.

This account provides the field with a unique perspective. It is written following a year spent developing a SMIF that is about to launch.

This account provides the field with a unique perspective. It is written by a new faculty member following a year spent developing a SMIF that is about to launch.

The study uses data drawn from a senior finance major cohort of 78 female undergraduates at Zayed University (ZU)-UAE to investigate factors, which increase the likelihood of achieving better academic performance in an Islamic finance course based on information about socioeconomic background of female students. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The research was conducted based on a survey designed to collect one-time individual data. Even though gender is considered as a variable affecting students’ performance as documented in the literature, it shall not be addressed in this study as the sample of our survey is limited to the female gender only. Whereas the population under investigation is a cohort of undergraduate female students enrolled at a finance course: Islamic finance and banking (BUS426) at one of the national universities in the UAE. ZU was established in 1998 by the federal government of the United Arab Emirates to educate UAE national women, in 2008 ZU started to accept male students in a separated campus building. The university is organized academically into six colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business Sciences, Communication and Media Sciences, Education, Information Technology, and University College. The primary language of instruction is English, though graduates are expected to be fully fluent in both English and Arabic (Zayed University, 2016). BUS426 is one of the major courses offered to students majoring in finance. The course is taught in English and requires mathematical skills on basic levels, but is mostly dependent on logical and critical thinking skills.

The study found that among the socioeconomic variables tested that being married, having a highly educated mother and having high pre-entry qualifications were significant variables as they increase the likelihood of an “A grade” performance.

The extent to which socioeconomic factors and lifestyle could contribute to student performance outcomes in an Arab culture setting is not clear due to the scarcity of research on this particular topic; hence the study attempts to fill this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how librarians used elements of market research, advertising and media literacy in a personal finance class.

Librarians each semester guest lecture one session in a personal finance class “Foundations of Money Education.” Through this class, librarians present engaging material about market research and advertising in an effort to encourage students to think about how these external forces influence their spending behavior.

Students appreciate learning about advertising through the engaging use of commercials. While responses were mixed as to the applicability of the topic, the majority of students agreed that the topic was a worthwhile addition to the personal finance curriculum.

Topics such as budgets, savings, and mortgages are typically taught in personal finance classes. Teaching information about market research and advertising is a topic that is usually not covered in a personal finance class.