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In response to the rapid growth evidenced in the sector, a first-of-its-kind postgraduate course centred on fintech has been developed and is now open for enrolment.
Swinburne University of Technology partnered with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to develop a master of financial technologies, which will be delivered through Swinburne’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship.
According to its director, Dr Dimitrios Salampasis, the program will provide both comprehensive knowledge and specific, functional skills.
“Bendigo Bank will contribute to our students gaining the best of both worlds with industry practitioners teaching alongside Swinburne academics,” he explained.
“Guest speakers, real-life case studies, on-site events, access to data, work-integrated learning and applied projects are just a few of the opportunities to arise from this co-creation model.”
Leaders in the fintech space who have been approached to participate are “very interested” in what they all have expressed is a “fantastic initiative.”
As of now, the course is only available part-time to domestic students. Ideal applicants will have a minimum of two years of relevant job experience at either a financial services institution or in the tech space.
Drawing students from both backgrounds will facilitate an “exchange of fields,” which is a crucial component to “understanding what technology can do and how it can be translated and optimised towards serving new purposes.”
“Students will get exposure across different sectors – from wealth management to insurance to payments to banking to cryptocurrencies – but the aim is not to focus only on teaching the actual skills around the technology itself, but how these different technologies can be applied to actionable business models,” explained Dr Salampasis.
“AI, block chain, cloud computing – what do they mean in terms of developing new offerings, in terms of changing processes, in terms of delivering new business models?” he added.
According to Dr Salampasis, the program is a “hands on” and up-to-date experience that will keep pace with the rapidly changing fintech sector.
“This practical [approach] provides the ultimate innovative learning experience for our students in terms of relevance and professional exposure to a wide network of capabilities,” the director concluded.
While the degree is now open for enrolment, the official marketing launch is set to occur sometime in the next several months.
