By McGill Reporter Staff
Students at the Desautels Faculty of Management will be able to learn more about financial markets in a state-of-the-art trading room to be installed in the Faculty’s building, thanks to funding and expertise provided by Desjardins Group, Canada’s leading cooperative financial group.
Desautels has begun construction of a novel Business Intelligence Centre on the second floor of the Bronfman Building, replacing the conventional business library that previously occupied the space. A centerpiece of this innovative centre will be the Alphonse-Desjardins Trading Room.
Desjardins will provide a total of $1 million in funding for the Trading Room over five years, and is sharing its expertise in design, securities trading and technology.
About 300 Bachelor of Commerce and MBA students study finance each year. The Alphonse-Desjardins Trading Room, expected to be completed at the latest by April 1, 2012, will provide all these students with an opportunity to learn complex analytical tools needed to succeed in financial services today. The new second-floor facilities “will be much more tailored to a business education in the 21st Century,” said Céline Junke, president of the Management Undergraduate Society.
“This new partnership with one of the best commerce programs in the world underscores Desjardins’ commitment to provide expertise in developing the next generation of financial professionals and to make significant investments in Quebec’s educational sector,” said Monique F. Leroux, Chair of the Board, President and CEO of Desjardins Group.
Desautels Faculty of Management Dean Peter Todd noted that “this cements an existing relationship which has seen Desjardins Securities experts collaborating with us to offer innovative finance courses, such as our Applied Investment Banking course.” It also complements Desautels’ Honours in Investment Management program, which recently launched Desautels Capital Management Inc., the first registered investment management firm founded by a university in Canada.
“We are enormously grateful to the Desjardins Group for their generous support. This important collaboration with Desjardins will provide our outstanding management students with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of financial markets in a highly sophisticated, cutting-edge learning facility,” said Professor Heather Munroe-Blum, McGill’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor.