Overview
Top reasons to study with us
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1st for value for money in the UK
FT Masters in Finance (2021)
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10th for pre-experience in the UK
FT Masters in Finance (2021)
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54
54th for Masters in Finance (World)
QS Business School Rankings (2022)
Accounting today is increasingly complex and global in scope. This programme provides academic training at the frontier of accounting and financial management knowledge. It’s an excellent foundation on which you can build your career in accountancy, investment banking or financial analysis.
During this course, if you meet the minimum performance criteria in your first term you will have the opportunity to sit the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) Level 1 professional exam. On completion of your degree, you can also secure Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) exemptions from most of the Fundamental level papers depending on your module choices during the second term.
The programme balances theory with applied learning, using practical working examples to enhance skills and understanding. You will learn about the principles of financial reporting and foundation of finance, and have the chance to study modules such as financial statement analysis, advanced management accounting or advanced investment management. Some modules also provide training in Python programming to help address the industry’s skills gap and give you a competitive edge in the jobs market.
You are encouraged to select your dissertation according to your future career path. Dissertations are managed in streams. You will be invited to presentation sessions by the stream leader and you will choose from either empirical asset pricing, accounting, CFA level 1, or corporate finance.
Throughout your course, you will have access to the School’s career support. Advisers will help shape a one-to-one plan to ensure you make the most of your time here.
We keep pace with the ever-changing standards in accountancy, ensuring absolute relevance. We’re proud to produce graduates who have gone on to thrive in large accountancy firms such EY, PwC and other international firms.
Your department
Entry Requirements
Academic Requirements
2:1 (UK Hons) degree or equivalent in Finance, Accounting, Economics or other business-related subject. Graduates in non-business areas with strong quantitative elements may also be considered.
We may also consider non-standard applicants, please contact us for information.
If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.
English Language Requirements
We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.
We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 7.0, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.
If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.
Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
Course Structure
You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.
Core
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Financial Markets
Providing you with a strong foundation for understanding both the economics of financial markets and the main types of securities traded in these markets, this module focuses on bonds, futures, swaps and options. It strikes a balance between the theory and practice as well as making important links between models and the real world. The emphasis is on both principles and problem solving.
Topics covered include bonds, the economics of derivatives markets, futures and forwards, swaps, and options.
This module contributes to the following CFA syllabus areas:
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Securities Markets (CFA level I)
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Derivative Investments (CFA levels I and II)
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Debt Investments (CFA levels I, II and III)
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Foundations of Finance
In this module you will cover the basic building-blocks of finance that are of primary concern to corporate managers, and look at all the considerations needed to make financial decisions, both inside and outside the firm. The time value of money is applied to value financial securities, and the module considers in depth the relationship between risk and return. The second part of the module introduces you to the theory and practice of financing and dividend decisions.
Through this module you will gain a good understanding of the following areas: valuation of financial securities, portfolio selection and diversification, capital asset pricing model, financing decisions and efficient capital markets, capital structure and valuation for the levered firm and dividend policy.
This module contributes to the following CFA syllabus areas:
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Corporate Finance (CFA levels I and II)
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Portfolio Management (CFA levels I, II and III)
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Basic Valuation Concepts (CFA level II)
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Introduction to Accounting
The objective of this module is to ensure that you have grounding in basic accounting concepts before progressing to the programme’s main assessed modules.
It provides an overview of the context within which financial reporting occurs, the main components of a set of financial statements, concepts commonly accepted as underlying the production of financial statements and an introduction to basic techniques for analysing financial statements and valuing businesses.
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Introduction to Finance
This short module acts as a primer for the Foundations of Finance module. It starts by introducing you to finance and corporate governance, and then applies time value of money to value perpetuities and annuities. It also looks at the concepts of net present value and internal rate of return and builds on these to address capital-budgeting aspects of investment decisions. Although the module seeks to do this with a minimum of financial maths, to understand these topics properly you will need to invest some time in learning a few relevant formulae.
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Introduction to Financial Markets
The aim of this module is to provide students with an introduction to basic concepts related to financial markets, including key categories of market participants as well as main types of securities traded in these markets.
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Introduction to Quantitative Methods
This module provides a review of basic concepts from mathematics, namely calculus, matrix algebra and probability, that need to be understood by all students of accounting and finance. The emphasis is on helping you to understand these concepts and how to apply them to a wide variety of mathematical problems.
Topics include:
- Functions of one variable, including exponential functions and logarithms
- Rules of differentiation
- Rules of integration
- Functions of two or more variables
- Partial differentiation and stationary points
- Matrix algebra and simultaneous equations
- Rules of probability
- Conditional probability and Bayes' theorem
- Discrete random variables, including the binomial and Poisson distributions
- Continuous random variables, including the exponential and normal distributions
- Expectation, variance and standard deviation
- The normal approximation to the binomial distribution
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Principles of Financial Reporting
This module is designed to give you a better understanding of how professional accountants, working in a variety of environments in various countries, have attempted to use aspects of accounting theory to resolve major reporting issues. It also furthers your understanding of how academics have conceptualised and explained accounting choices.
Topics covered include the regulatory environment of financial reporting, international harmonisation of accounting standards, and contemporary issues in financial accounting.
This module contributes to the following CFA syllabus areas:
Financial Statement Analysis (CFA levels I and II)
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Quantitative Methods for Finance
To enable students to understand key concepts and methods from applied statistics that are used in several more advanced modules in accounting and finance.
Optional
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Advanced Corporate Finance
This module builds on and extends the concepts covered in the core financial management module in the first term. The major topics covered include capital budgeting, capital structure, corporate valuation, corporate restructuring, merger and acquisitions, dividend policies, and application of real options in corporate finance. The analytical tools and financial theories discussed in the module are brought together through in an assessed report for which you work in groups to undertake comprehensive corporate finance analyses on a real company.
In lectures we will use cases based on real companies to demonstrate the links between the various areas of corporate finance. A key objective of the module is to help you explore how the financing and investment policies of firms interact with each other and how the decisions have implications for corporate valuation.
This module contributes to the following CFA syllabus areas:
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Corporate Finance (CFA levels I and II)
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Advanced Investment Management
The aim of this course is to equip students with the tools necessary to enable them to make the core investment management decisions that managers face on a daily basis as well as the knowledge as to where they can find the information necessary to apply those tools. This course covers fundamental concepts and key issues in asset pricing; modern portfolio theory and its applications; equilibrium theories of asset pricing; portfolio performance evaluation; mutual funds and hedge funds.
By the end of the course you should be able to:
- Discuss the theory and applications of the modern portfolio analysis and understand their strengths and limitations.
- Trace the efficient frontier under different conditions.
- Construct the optimal portfolio for an individual or for funds with specific goals.
- Solve real-world problems with asset pricing models.
- Develop techniques to evaluate the performance of money managers.
- Understand the debate questioning the efficient market hypothesis.
- Comprehend the structure and objectives of mutual funds, closed-end funds and ETFs and identify when they are appropriate.
- Understand the characteristics of hedge funds, and the variety of hedge fund strategies and styles.
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Advanced Management Accounting
Designed to develop your appreciation of the main approaches to measuring, analysing and reporting information to support management decisions, this module provides insights into planning, decision-making, performance evaluation and control. The decision-making part focuses on the techniques that enable a firm to find solutions for management accounting problems; the control part provides the insights and techniques that enable a firm to bring these solutions to fruition.
The module deals with techniques that facilitate planning and decision-making such as multi-stage cost allocation and activity-based costing. But it also deals with the effects of these techniques on managerial behaviour, and how to control these behavioural effects. The module is consistent with modern micro-economic theory, but any maths content is presented in an intuitive way. Since the module brings together management accounting and modern microeconomics it will be particularly valuable for those interested in pursuing a career in consulting.
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Behavioural Finance
This module looks at what can happen to the asset pricing in situations where market imperfections coincide with imperfections in investor rationality. It therefore explores the boundary between mispricing which can be exploited and that which cannot be exploited profitably.
The module lays foundations for arbitrage, investment and wealth management, investment banking, and corporate finance. The material covered is at the frontier of academic and industry research, forming a conceptually advanced body of knowledge (CFA level III) which is of relevance for theory, research and practice.
Topics covered include:
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The efficient markets hypothesis and competing theories
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Limits to arbitrage
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Heuristics, biases and prospect theory: mental accounts and evidence in market prices
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Myopic loss aversion, disposition effect and overtrading
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Professional investors and analysts: over- and under-reaction
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Bubbles: observational and experimental, rational and non-rational
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Closed-end fund discounts, co-movement and sentiment
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The equity premium puzzle and the volatility puzzle
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Herding
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Behavioural portfolio theory
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Derivatives Pricing
Turbulent decades of economic crises and increased volatilities across all asset classes have brought about innovative and strategic derivatives solutions to manage financial risk and create value. Their failure has typically been due to a lack of understanding of how to use and price derivatives. Understanding derivatives’ dynamics, risks, valuations and uses has become more important than ever.
Although there is a plethora of derivatives structures, the key to understanding derivatives is that all financial products, no matter how complex, are portfolios of just two fundamental building blocks: a swap (forward) and an option. This course provides this understanding in a rigorous, consistent and coherent framework.
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Dissertation
This option is for students who do not wish to undertake one of the standard dissertation topics, and are able to find an independent supervisor.
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Dissertation: Accounting OR Finance (with CFA Level 1 Training)
CFA Dissertation Stream (Accounting)
The first component is a critical review and synthesis of the literature on the use of accounting numbers in business valuation. The second component of the dissertation focuses on the implementation of valuation methods.
CFA Dissertation Stream (Finance)
The first component is a critical review and synthesis of the literature on factors predicting the cross-section of equity returns. The second component of the dissertation focuses on implementation of a quantitative equity portfolio management strategy in a practical, real-word setting.
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Dissertation: Advanced Topics in Accounting
Advanced Topics in Finance
Upon completion of this module you should:
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Be familiar with the context for the use of accounting numbers in valuation;
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Understand the difference between entity and equity valuation perspectives;
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Understand the theory and rationale underlying the multiples-based valuation approach, including Price-Earnings models, Price-to-Book models, etc.;
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Be familiar with the key practical issues involved in implementing multiples-based valuation models;
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Be familiar with the theory and derivation of accounting flow-based valuation models including the Free Cash Flow Model, the Residual Income Valuation Model, and the Abnormal Earnings Growth Model;
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Be familiar with the key practical issues involved in implementing accounting flow-based valuation models;
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Be able to understand, synthesise and critique key theoretical and empirical research papers relating to accounting-based valuation;
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Possess a good working knowledge of the data resources, statistical methods, and computer software required to undertake empirical research;
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Be able to design and implement a small sample analysis of brokers’ reports;
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Be able to design and undertake large-scale empirical tests that compare the performance of alternative valuation models.
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Dissertation: Advanced Topics in Corporate Finance
Advanced Topics in Corporate Finance
Upon completion of this module you should:
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Understand the significance of debt in capital structure
- Understand the key theories used in debt contracting literature
- Know the main features of debt contracts and the role of financial covenants
- Be able to understand, synthesise and critique key research papers
- Possess a good working knowledge of the data resources, statistical methods, and computer software required to undertake empirical research
- Be able to understand and handle syndicated loan data
- Be able to design and undertake large-sample empirical tests on the topics discussed
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Dissertation:Advanced Topics in Investment Strategies, Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds
Empirical Asset Pricing and Investment Strategies
The class introduces the fundamentals of investment strategies and some of the main strategies used by hedge funds and proprietary traders. In class and through reading exercises and discussions, the strategies are illustrated using real data and students learn to use “backtesting” to evaluate a strategy. The class is highly quantitative. It requires the students to work independently, analyze and manipulate large datasets, and use mathematical modelling.
During the five weeks (Week 1-5) of the Summer Term, it is compulsory for students to attend all the lectures and training sessions designed to provide an introduction to the key literature and research methods. Both during and following this taught component, students are required to undertake independent research that (i) reviews the academic literature relating to investment strategies and market anomalies, and (ii) reports empirical evidence of the effectiveness of a chosen investment strategy or asset pricing anomaly. This document provides details of the taught element of AcF 701.
Python and MATLAB will be introduced and used extensively for chosen investment strategy. Admitted students need to achieve at least 65% on average for their first semester coursework. High achievement in econometrics related subjects, previous knowledge in at least one of the following programming languages or econometric packs (e.g. EVIEWS, VBA, STATA, MATLAB, SAS, Python, R, C++, Fortran, Gauss, Mathematica), or strong desire to input hard work to learn programming will be critical for high achievement in this dissertation topic.
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Financial Data Platforms
This module introduces you to the leading financial platforms used in the financial industry. In particular, it gives you a general understanding of the structure, type of data and functionality of the Bloomberg Professional platform.
The module has a strong practical component, as you will be using the Bloomberg Professional terminals in our Financial Markets Lab to extract, analyse and interpret data available within the platform in order to solve real-life financial problems. Through this, you will gain important insights into how financial platforms such as Bloomberg Professional are used for problem-solving within the industry.
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Financial Econometrics
This module explains how econometric methods can be used to learn about the future behaviour of the prices of financial assets by using the information in the history of asset prices and in the prices of derivative securities. It also gives you practical experience of analysing market prices.
It will help you to understand the important features of time series of market prices, appreciate the relevance of efficient market theory to predicting prices, and make you familiar with appropriate methods for forecasting price volatility. You will also learn how to use option prices to make statements about the distributions of future asset prices, gain experience of applying computational methods in Excel to stock market and currency prices, and develop your knowledge of a broad range of econometric methods that are applied in finance research.
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Financial Reporting for Complex Entities
This module examines the financial accounting issues that arise – from both conceptual and technical angles – for complex business entities operating within the context of International Accounting Standards, US and UK GAAP. It also assesses the impact of accounting theory in understanding and suggesting solutions to major reporting issues and examines the importance of relevant academic research to this area.
After introducing you to the nature and environment of complex entities, the module focuses on the following areas:
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Reporting financial performance: calculating earnings per share, defining income and comprehensive income, using reported income for analysis purposes
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Owner’s equity: accounting for share-based payments, reporting changes in owner’s equity
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Assets and liabilities: for example, intangible assets (including research and development), accounting for financial instruments, hedging
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Accounting for groups: business combinations, goodwill, non-controlling interests, different types of strategic relationships (associates and joint ventures), foreign currency translation
This module contributes to the following CFA syllabus areas:
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Financial Statement Analysis (CFA levels I and II)
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Financial Statement Analysis
In this module you will acquire the tools needed to analyse financial statement information, in particular for the purpose of valuing businesses. This module is heavily based on cases.
After introducing you to the basic framework of fundamental analysis, the module focuses on the form and content of financial statements, operating and financial activities in the reformulation of financial statements, and the analysis of profitability. We will also consider issues that arise in the forecasting of financial statements.
We will then look at common valuation techniques, with the attention to each technique’s advantages and disadvantages and the connections between them.
This module contributes to the following CFA syllabus areas:
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Equity Investments (CFA levels I and II)
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Financial Statement Analysis (CFA levels I and II)
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Fixed Income Markets
Designed to develop your understanding of the principles governing the valuation of fixed income securities and their derivatives, this module examines the main problems and selected issues relevant in the management of interest rate risk, and the organisations and structure of debt markets. Topics covered include debt securities and markets, the measurement of interest rate risk, and embedded options and interest rate derivatives.
This module contributes to the following CFA syllabus areas:
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Debt Investments (CFA levels I, II and III)
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Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
Fees and Funding
Location | Full Time (per year) | Part Time (per year) |
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UK | £13,650 | n/a |
International | £25,360 | n/a |
Scholarships and bursaries
At Lancaster, we believe that funding concerns should not stop any student with the talent to thrive.
We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries to help cover the cost of tuition fees and/or living expenses.
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Additional costs
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
College fees
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small which supports the running of college events and activities.
For students starting in 2022, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2023 have not yet been set.
Computer equipment and internet access
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
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Fees in subsequent years
The University will not increase the Tuition Fee you are charged during the course of an academic year.
If you are studying on a programme of more than one year's duration, the tuition fees for subsequent years of your programme are likely to increase each year. The way in which continuing students' fee rates are determined varies according to an individual's 'fee status' as set out on our fees webpages.
Important Information
The information on this site relates primarily to 2022/2023 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
Our Students’ Charter
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.