Investment Management and Financial Analysis

MSc

  • Entry year 2025 or 2024
  • Duration Full time 1 year

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 13

    13th for Accounting and Finance in the UK

    QS World University Rankings (2024)

  • 75

    75th for Accounting and Finance

    QS World University Rankings by Subject (2024)

  • Designed for recent graduates with quantitative backgrounds aiming to gain CFA Level II.

The investment management and financial analysis sectors require industry professionals with advanced technical knowledge, plus practical experience with programming. Our Investment Management and Financial Analysis MSc (IMFA) programme is designed to equip you with these skills, and help you acquire your CFA Level II professional qualification.

As such, the course offers modules that are academically more advanced and, at the same time, more practice-oriented than those offered by a typical UK master's programme in finance. You will study technical and practice-oriented modules. LUMS accounting and finance specialists and expert tutors from Fitch Learning will prepare you to complete CFA Level II. Core modules embed training in financial programming languages including VBA, R and MATLAB, and provide hands-on experience with data platforms such as Thomson EIKON or FactSet.

Course outline

You can elect to prepare for the February CFA Level I exam or if you already have CFA Level I, you will study alternative modules to benefit a career in Investment Management or Financial Analysis. You then prepare for the August CFA Level II exam. An alternative non-CFA pathway is available for those who do not want to acquire the CFA qualification, or those who already have the qualification but still wish to benefit from this practitioner-oriented programme.

You will study the following modules, outlined in the course structure:

Term 1 core modules:

  • Fund Management
  • Financial Modelling and Analysis
  • Programming and Databases for Financial Applications

Students without CFA Stage 1 will also study Topics in Professional Analysis

Students who have already attained CFA stage 1, or those on a non-CFA pathway will also study Quantitative Methods for Finance

Term 2 core modules:

  • Advanced Financial Markets and Investment Management
  • Advanced Financial Reporting and Analysis
  • Advanced Investment Research Methods
  • Careers Skills in Finance with Applications to ESG

Students without CFA 1 will take the February examination.

Term 3

Students taking the CFA Level II examination will complete the following modules followed by the examination in August:

  • Advanced Topics in Fund Management and Investment Analysis
  • CFA level 2 training
  • Capstone project

Students not taking the CFA Level II examination will instead complete a dissertation.

Employability and careers

Employability skills are key to this programme. The curriculum has been developed to deliver "desk-ready" graduates with a strong academic background and professional attitude. You will also receive career support from our specialist Financial Careers Coach. Potential careers on completion of your Master's include working as an asset analyst/trainee fund manager or in the fields of asset management, investment banking or financial services.

LUMS Accounting and Finance Master’s students not only go on to work at blue chip Investment Banks, Investment Management firms, Consultancy and Financial Analytics firms but also at smaller and medium size boutique financial firms, often via relationships with LUMS alumni. Read more about where our graduates go in the careers information below.

Entry requirements

Academic requirements

2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Finance, or in Accounting with a significant number of finance and/or quantitative modules studied. Applicants from other commerce (e.g. Business Studies or Economics, that contain finance or quantitative modules) or science-related (e.g. Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, Computer Science or another quantitative subject) subjects are also encouraged to apply.

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 6.5, 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

Pre-master’s programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored pre-master’s pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master’s degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Course structure

You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.

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.

Core

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Optional

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Fees and funding

Location Full Time (per year) Part Time (per year)
Home £16,270 n/a
International £32,760 n/a

General fees and funding information

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Scholarships and bursaries

You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status and course. You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.

Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.

If you're considering postgraduate research you should look at our funded PhD opportunities.

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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.

Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.

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Important Information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 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.