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Travel Report of Exchange in SAIF
Rong WU K242143
Aalto University School of Business
2012 Fall
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SAIF
In the spring of last year, I got the chance to exchange in Shanghai Advanced Institute
of Finance (SAIF).
SAIF was established at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in April 2009, with strategic
and financial support from the Shanghai Municipal Government. Its mission is to
become a world class institute of research and higher learning. SAIF is committed to
developing top talents for the financial world and to generating cutting-edge
knowledge in financial theories and applications. As a member of Shanghai’s financial
community, SAIF has plenty of resources as well as a good reputation in the field of
Finance in Shanghai, which will provide you with an impressive experience.
Preparing for the exchange
Before going to exchange, the staffs from its international affairs office will contact
you by e-mail and you will get some information of the host university as well as
some useful information of living, such as the housing issues. Besides, I was asked to
provide some documents as following to go through internal procedures with
Shanghai Jiao Tong University:
a) An application form which they will send to you by email;
b) A photocopy of the information page of my passport;
c) A photocopy of recommendation letter from home university which is just a
proof indicating the purpose of sending the student to SAIF, and the Aalto
International Student Services will get it done under request, so nothing to be
worried about;
d) A photocopy of academic transcript (web transcript not acceptable)
After the application process has been kicked off, you will get an official acceptance
letter from the host university mailed to Aalto and forwarded to you. Next on the only
thing you have to worry about is the visa. As a Chinese, I don’t need a visa to go back
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to my home country, so there is few I can tell. As a foreign student, you have to obtain
a visa as well as a temporary residence registration from the nearest police station
once you have settled down.
Exchange studies
Similar to Aalto, SAIF also prepared an orientation for all the international students.
During the orientation, the international students from different countries and
universities got to know each other. And the staffs of SAIF made some nice
introductions of Shanghai, SAIF together with life and study there. They also
mentioned some issues of concern like temporary residence registration, visa issues,
student card, cellphone, emergence card, Chinese class and so on. It was also a nice
experience that they served us a traditional Shanghai style lunch, and the student
buddies joined in the afternoon for a city tour.
Courses started the day after orientation. There are plenty of courses to choose from,
about 15 courses, including Fixed Income Securities, International Finance, Venture
Capital & Private Equity, Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management, Behavioral
Finance, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Merger & Acquisition etc.. Normally one
course (5 ECTS) lasts for four weeks, six contact hours per week. As we are joining
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the second-year student of MF or MBA, most of whom are encouraged to do some
internship or job hunting, the elective courses are given in the evening of workdays or
during the daytime of weekends. The whole term ended in 20 Jan, but it depends on
which course you choose. I think most of us won’t willing to stay until the last day.
During my study there, I registered for five courses, which can be transferred to 25
ECTS (2 credits=5 ECTS) in total. The courses are as following table:
Course Code Course Name Credit
M380025-11Fall Asset Management in Practice 2
F380004-11B Behavioral Finance 2
F380007-11B Commercial Banking 2
M380038-11 Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management 2
F380018-11N Risk Management 2
Table 1 Course Information
The lecturers of these courses are quite international and all have strong academic or
practice background, and they shared theoretical or practical knowledge with the
students. For example the lecturer of AMP Prof. Paul Burik once worked for US
Federal Bank, and the lecturer of CB Prof. William Bradford is the Faculty Director of
Foster School of Business Administration, University of Washington. The evaluation
for those courses are mainly composed of participation, case study, and exam. Of
course there is exception like BF, which uses case study and term paper instead of
exam.
Asset Management in Practice (AMP)
The lecturer of AMP Prof. Paul Burik has over 25 years of international financial
market experience, including leadership roles in business management, fund
management, investment program design and implementation, product
development and risk management. The course provides an overview of the asset
and wealth management businesses. It concentrates on the practice of portfolio
management (particularly active equity) and emphasizes global best practices and
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trends draw upon industry examples (both inside and outside of China)
extensively. It also considers the needs of institutional and retail clients and how
and why they hire (and fire) asset/wealth managers.
Behavioral Finance (BF)
The lecturer Mr. Yuan Yu graduated from Wharton School, and has abundant
experiences and researches a lot in the fields of behavioral finance. This course
used psychology and more realistic settings to guide and develop alternative
theories of financial market. We also examined how the insights of behavioral
finance complement the traditional paradigm and shed light on investors' trading
patterns, the behavior of asset prices, and corporate finance.
Commercial Banking (CB)
Different with most of the theoretical courses, CM is quite practical. Prof.
William Bradford adopted a simulation system which allowed us to have our own
bank. We were divided into several groups and were told to make our own
strategy every period. We changed interest rates, borrow money, issue securities,
and make predictions to make profit and increase the stock price of our bank. The
game lasted for four periods and the final stock price ranking and the balance
sheet of the bank accounted for part of our grades. Through the simulation, we
got to know more and more about the operation of a commercial bank by
ourselves, which impressed us a lot.
Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management (QEPM)
The lecturer Mr. Yen-Cheng Chang finished his Master at Duke University and
PhD at University of Washington, and has a lot of publications, especially some
working papers with Harrison Hong are published during some important
academic conferences. The course started with the conceptual framework of
market efficiency and its implications on QEPM. We reviewed various stylized
facts regarding the equity market, and from there, we learned how to build up
QEPM factor models for stock returns. Specifics on QEPM such as optimal
weights, rebalancing, market neutral, and leverage will then be discussed as time
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permits. We formed groups and built our own model and present our work
utilizing the class materials and the trading room facilities. Though it seemed
somehow a little bit complicated, we were doing it by our whole heart, we did
read papers and do something.
Risk Management (RM)
Prof. Son-Nan Chen got his Ph.D in University of Georgia in 1976, and has made
some achievements as well as earned a good reputation in US and Taiwan. In his
lectures, he introduced the different types of risks and the way to make the risks
under control. Some derivative products like credit default swap were studied to
obtain a deeper view of market risks and risk management.
Free time and other information
The IAO of SAIF organise some activities during the exchange period, such as a
walking tour, Halloween party, Shanghai Expo area visit, and Christmas event. In
their outgoing exchange info session, I got the opportunity to introduce Aalto
University to them, which drew some attention, hopefully. In addition, exchange
students always had a lot of ways to have fun. We went to some nice restaurant, or
bars or KTVs
during the free
time, together
with the local
students. We
also take
active part in
other related
activities and
for foreign
students, they got useful information from the website of smart Shanghai.
The cost of living in Shanghai is relatively cheaper than that in Europe. And there are
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a variety of products, European style, North American style, or Asian style, no matter
what you want, you can find it there. However, accommodation fees might be
comparable or even higher. To be noticed, you’d better stay at hotel first and visit the
apartment you want to rent
by yourselves. Don’t be too
confident in the information
given by internet. Thanks to
one of my friend in Shanghai
who helped me to find a
place to live, I saved a lot of
time. That may be an
advantage of going back to
your home country.
For me, as a Chinese, travelling wasn’t my priority selection this time. Due to the
evening course schedule, I got a lot of free time during the daytime. I spent some time
in the first month to explore the city, which was fairly easy for me. In the second
month, I got a part-time work in a logistics company, and has worked until the week I
came back to Finland. The work offered me another view of career. The working life
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is quite different from study. I learned many practical knowledges and grew a lot, and
the salary also funded my stay in Shanghai to some extent. My experience there will
definitely affect my career life in the future.
The most important, I got more time stay with my family and friends. My mother
and cousin came to visit me during the New Year Holiday, and I show them around
Shanghai and other cities nearby. I also got the chance to celebrate the Chinese New
Year at home, to enjoy the food, and to experience the atmosphere again. During the
holiday, I planned a trip to Macao and Thailand with some of my friends, which was
quite welcomed to receive plenty of sunshine and
get away from cold winter temporarily.
Conclusion
To summarize, SAIF and Shanghai would be a good choice to go for exchange for
foreign students. Both the city and the school are quite open and mordern, that it
won’t be too difficult to adapt yourself to it. They also present full of Chinese
characteristics, which allows you to experience another culture.
My exchange experience is obviously somehow different from normal. But in my
own view, I studied, worked, spent time with family and traveled with friends during
the exchange period, and what can be even better? Ah, maybe finishing my thesis and
getting my degree!