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For undergraduate-only, AACSB-accredited business programs, establishing a student managed investment fund (SMIF) can be an enormous, but potentially worthwhile, undertaking. Resources are often very limited – especially for faculty where their time is already consumed by teaching, administrative and publishing requirements. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the five-year experience at Stonehill College and suggest considerations for undergraduate institutions seeking to establish such programs.

This is a retrospective on the experience of designing and implementing a SMIF-based academic program. Student education and professional skill development should be the primary outcomes evaluated with such programs. Included are brief perspectives on the program from its alumni with commentary on perceived value in one to four years following graduation.

The experience to date suggests that establishing a SMIF at a smaller, undergraduate-only institution is challenging. For a SMIF to generate educational returns commensurate with its cost, it needs to be part of a comprehensive, academic-driven program that garners broad support by the business faculty and administration of the college. Personal reflections by its program alumni suggest that it can be a very meaningful academic and experiential learning opportunity.

This paper is focused largely on the experience of one institution. Further insights may be attained by a broader, unbiased analysis of institutions where SMIF programs have succeeded or failed to meet similar objectives.

The authors suggests that the creation of a SMIF program at smaller, undergraduate-only institutions faces unique challenges relative to larger, more well-endowed universities. These challenges can be overcome but not without a broad internal commitment. These programs, if done in a comprehensive way, can significantly impact student outcomes.

The retrospective offers up-to-date insights on the value and challenges of starting a SMIF program at smaller-sized, undergraduate-only academic institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the student investment management program at Saint Louis University.

It is a case study of the program’s structure and investment performance.

The authors present information on the program’s philosophy and course structure, investment performance and how the authors use LinkedIn to involve alumni in the program.

The authors find that using LinkedIn to maintain alumni connections to the program takes little effort on the part of the instructors but adds value for current students and program alumni alike.

In recent years, student-managed investment funds (SMIFs), experiential learning programs at an increasing number of universities, have attracted significant scholarly interest. In this article, we review the academic literature on this pedagogy.

We use the systematic review method to assess a sample of 85 articles published in 30 journals during the period 1975 to 2020.

Our literature review reveals four streams of research: best practices and challenges, investment management, innovation and trends and SMIFs in a research setting. We also propose future research directions, including specific gaps in the literature, a focus on innovations to traditional programs, systematic investment performance and expansion into behavioral finance issues.

We contribute a comprehensive view of the body of scholarship on SMIFs, identifying existing streams of research and future research directions that will help guide the development of SMIF research into a cohesive and productive space.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provided funds to 25 universities in its service region for the establishment of student-managed investment funds (SMIF). The purpose of this paper is to examine the TVA Investment Challenge Program and its implementation at The University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM).

Each university has the freedom to structure the process for students to manage its investment fund as it chooses. This paper provides a description of the overall Investment Challenge Program and the specific Program at UTM.

The Investment Challenge Program is a valuable experiential learning opportunity for finance majors at UTM. Participating students enhance their portfolio management knowledge, their written and oral communication skills, and their employment opportunities.

The paper is limited to TVA Portfolio guidelines and managerial style.

Faculty who supervise similar programs at other universities may be able to replicate some aspects of the program’s design.

The paper describes the TVA Investment Challenge, a unique program of SMIF. TVA provided funds to 25 universities with the stipulation that the student managers adhere to the same guidelines as TVA’s professional money managers. The university is a participant in the Program.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest best practices for managing a successful student-managed investment program (SMIP) based on the experience of the Marquette University’s Applied Investment Management (AIM) program.

The authors provide a detailed description of the program curriculum, instructional design, fund structure, program history, fund performance and student outcomes.

Through its experiential learning innovations, focus on ethics and close relationships with a dedicated alumni group, the AIM program prepares students for a successful career in investment analysis. Students who graduate from the AIM program experience a significantly higher successful placement rate and higher compensation at their first post-graduation job than finance major students who graduate outside the program.

This paper provides a detailed description of the distinguishing characteristics of the AIM program and, in doing so, it offers ideas that could be implemented by other SMIPs to improve student satisfaction, proficiency in investment analysis and employment prospects.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an investment program that offers students with the opportunity to simultaneously manage a private asset fund and a public asset fund. The program has been in operation since 2013 and has made significant progress in student placement and connectivity with local, regional and national financial firms.

The authors describe the structure, methods used and challenges encountered in this dual portfolio environment and add relevant thoughts for discussion. The authors discuss potential conflicts of interests that may arise in managing a private equity portfolio, the concern of proper deal flow, the issue of the investment timeline when investing in private equity and the problems encountered when measuring private equity performance.

While public asset funds have been around for decades and are relatively well accepted throughout all levels and types of higher education institutions. The uses of private equity funds, though not unheard of, are much less prevalent. Allowing the same group of students to manage both type of portfolios is relatively unique and provides with a more comprehensive learning experience.

A primary distinguishing attribute of this program is that accepted students are given the opportunity to simultaneously manage both public and private equity assets throughout an academic year. The goal is to create a comprehensive portfolio management program that replicates a changing investment management environment where private equity is an increasingly significant asset class.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of the Archway Investment Fund (AIF) at Bryant University from its founding in 2005 as a portfolio focused exclusively on US equities to a multi-asset program that incorporates US equities, non-US equities, equity ETFs, REITs, individual bonds, fixed income ETFs and options. It also describes the explicit introduction of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into the investment process.

The paper follows a case study approach.

The paper describes the programmatic changes that accompanied this evolution in these areas: finance department curriculum innovations; the investment guidelines and constraints that govern the AIF; the investment process utilized; the oversight and governance process; and the reporting, presentation, and publicity initiatives that keep critical constituencies (university administration, faculty, alumni and students) informed and engaged in this program to sustain its success.

The vast majority of student-managed funds are equity funds focused on individual stock selection. The AIF is a multi-asset fund with separate equity and fixed income sub-portfolios that explicitly incorporates ESG factors into the security selection process.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the student managed investment fund at the School of Business, University of Connecticut.

The authors trace the history and growth of the fund and identify the special features and dimensions that have contributed to its success.

The operation of the fund is a constantly evolving program and the authors discuss the important changes and improvements made in the program since its inception in the early 2000s in response to growth in the number of finance majors, new career opportunities in the field of investments and most importantly, the strength of capital markets and the development of new instruments in the capital markets. The authors also discuss the common features of over 300 student funds in the USA. The authors close with a discussion of the limitations and constraints the fund advisors at, and possibly, at other schools, face in the management and administration of the fund, and also what developments and adjustments the authors expect to see in these funds in the future.

The authors combine extensive analyses of fund history and performance. The authors also provide some suggestions for the future direction and priorities for student funds.

The student-managed investment fund (SMIF) program at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), was launched in 1995 with one portfolio worth $50,000. In the two decades since then, the program has grown to include three portfolios with a combined value of more than $700,000, managed on behalf of three different clients. The purpose of this paper is to describe the creation, evolution and growth of the program including the development of the new quantitative approach and its subsequent implementation. The paper also discusses the ongoing organizational, educational and investment-management challenges associated with the program.

The paper includes a description of the development and evolution of the program along with a discussion of the investment results for one of its three portfolios.

The paper finds: the new quantitative approach implemented in the program is effective as insurance against “black swan” events; and SMIF-type programs can provide learning experiences both for students and faculty members.

The paper explains the practical application of the new quantitative approach as well as the educational benefits of a SMIF-type program.

The paper provides insight into the structure of CSULB’s SMIF program and discusses a unique quantitative approach to asset allocation and security selection.

BUSINESS SCHOOL GRAFFITI is a highly personal and revealing account of the first ten years (1965–1975) at Britain’s University Business Schools. The progress achieved is documented in a whimsical fashion that makes it highly readable. Gordon Wills has been on the inside throughout the decade and has played a leading role in two of the major Schools. Rather than presuming to present anything as pompous as a complete history of what has happened, he recalls his reactions to problems, issues and events as they confronted him and his colleagues. Lord Franks lit a fuse which set a score of Universities and even more Polytechnics alight. There was to be a bold attempt to produce the management talent that the pundits of the mid‐sixties so clearly felt was needed. Buildings, books, teachers who could teach it all, and students to listen and learn were all required for the boom to happen. The decade saw great progress, but also a rapid decline in the relevancy ethic. It saw a rapid withering of interest by many businessmen more accustomed to and certainly desirous of quick results. University Vice Chancellors, theologians and engineers all had to learn to live with the new and often wealthier if less scholarly faculty members who arrived on campus. The Research Councils had to decide how much cake to allow the Business Schools to eat. Most importantly, the author describes the process of search he went through as an individual in evolving a definition of his own subject and how it can best be forwarded in a University environment. It was a process that carried him from Technical College student in Slough to a position as one of the authorities on his subject today.