This year KIU brings forward a unique and exciting new study opportunity and announces the admission of students to the new master's program in "Finance and Information Management (FIM)". The first FIM program was established at TUM in 2004 and has been ranked top by the nationwide CHE Master-Ranking of 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2020 of the newspapers “Die Zeit” and “Handelsblatt”.
The FIM program lead at KIU is Professor Rudi Zagst who holds the Chair of Mathematical Finance at the Technical University of Munich (TUМ) and is the co-founder of the FIM program at TUM. Prof. Zagst said “The technology revolution is rapidly changing the financial system, and I am very pleased to work with KIU and the Republic of Georgia to help create the responsible leaders of the future.” Co-lead of the program is the Head of the Kutaisi International University School of Management and Bachelor's Degree program in Management Professor Natia Zedginidze-Jishkariani. Her comments were “This partnership with Germany is bringing tremendous educational benefits to Georgia and the region, in an area of strategic importance to our country”.
Kutaisi International University is one of the fastest growing, high ranking and sought-after state universities in Georgia today. The KIU welcomed its first cohort of students in the fall of 2020 and held on to its top ranking in a short time (according to the average competition score for the 2021 Unified National Examinations). There have been impressive accounts of KIU’s success reported by the European partners. As of 2021, KIU was recognized as the fastest growing and progressive educational hub in the region by the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
The goal of the two-year MSC in FIM program is to produce competitive specialists in the field of finance and information management and to enhance the expertise of practicing managers, allowing them to push forward current finance and digital technologies, handle big data and integrate technology and entrepreneurship.
The FIM program offers a unique combination of (quantitative) finance and information management with various courses covering areas such as Business Process Management, Digital Innovation, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Block chains, Quantitative Finance, Applied Risk Management, as well as the rapidly developing areas related to sustainability and social innovation. Students enjoy an international and attractive study atmosphere and will be coached by academic and professional mentors who give advice on the study program and support for an individual career planning and personal development. The program is unique in offering communication and business skill courses for the students’ personal development, summer schools, projects with business partners and a mandatory social project.
In addition to financial management, information technology, computer science and mathematics also play a decisive role. This is particularly evident in the three concentrations: Quantitative Finance (QF), Financial Management (FM); Business and Information Systems Engineering (BISE). Thus, the program has an interdisciplinary character, imparting knowledge about financial topics in connection with data, their processing, analysis, and preparation with the help of information systems and mastery by means of empirical-analytical working methods.
The program will be implemented in English and international faculty and experts will be involved from the Technical University of Munich, the University of Toronto and other higher education institutions.
What career opportunities does the FIM program offer?
There is a diverse list of areas where the FIM program graduates can find employment or continue their professional career covering all sectors where experts in linking finance, digitalization and innovation are needed. Those sectors will be most in demand and high-paying by 2030 such as the financial sector; start-ups, especially the so-called FinTech and InsurеTech companies; insurance companies; investment companies; consulting organizations that specialize in consulting digital financial services, conceptual software design and development; healthcare and pharmaceuticals; computer and data science sector; multinational companies in distribution and production / manufacturing sectors.
What is the program fee and is there an opportunity for students to obtain funding?
The KIU offers tuition funding to the best candidates. The annual program fee is GEL 12,250 for Georgian citizens, and 7,000 euros for foreign citizens. The fee covers local transportation (Tbilisi-Kutaisi-Tbilisi), KIU Internal University shuttles, welcome kit with a laptop (if necessary, a KIU laptop can be provided free of charge for the program duration), email, Office365, corporate kit, access to KIU LMS, online library, etc.
Funding shall be obtained after the application procedure and submission of relevant documents. Funding will be provided through the budget allocated within the relevant category. It is a competitive process and scores obtained at the Master’s exam will be taken into consideration. For more detailed information on programs and grant opportunities please visit here.
