The University of Malta has joined forces with the International Factors Group and Fimbank plc to launch the Certificate of Finance in International Trade.
The programme aims to introduce participants to the world of international trade, logistics, trade supply chain management, asset-based lending and trade finance.
It incorporates the IFG Academy Week, the only truly international comprehensive and integrated course on the theory and practice of factoring and commercial finance. The six-week curriculum which will be held in Malta is designed to provide participants with a wide range of competencies that will enable them to further their career in the corporate world.
The Certificate of Finance in International Trade has been jointly developed by the partners to meet the demands of the commercial world and offer a platform from which participants can increase their understanding of all aspects of international trade, the import and export business, logistics and trade finance.
The emphasis throughout will be on the practical aspect of real-life international trade scenarios. The course will be held at the University Campus in Msida and Valletta, and is expected to attract a significant number of inter-national students. The support of this training programme is being effected through the University’s Research Innovation and Deve-lopment Trust.
Prof. Joseph Falzon, head of the Department of Banking and Finance, and Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy at the University of Malta, explained that the programme will offer a unique educational experience – both theoretical and practical. The partners will provide additional international lecturers and trade finance bankers.
IFG is the representative trade association for the factoring and the asset-based finance industry, with more than 160 members in over 60 countries. IFG secretary general Erik Timmermans said the decision to embed the existing academy programme within this certificate course is intended to add value, because successful participants will now have the option to either enrol to the Academy Week or follow the full six-week programme over nine months and achieve an EU-accredited qualification in both instances.
“This is the first step in a long-term process. Our ambition is to see this certificate developing into a diploma, subsequently a degree and eventually into a fully-fledged MBA, which would be a first,” Fimbank president Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger said. She added that career opportunities in inter-national trade continue to grow even during periods of economic downturn and fluctu-ations in the business cycle.
Applications for the programme are currently being accepted.
Information is available at www.ifgroup.com or alternatively at www.um.edu.mt.