New finance chair at Cambridge's Business School

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :03/10/2007 15:43:36

A gift donation of £1.85 million has enabled a radical development of existing finance programmes.

The gift was from Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and the Eranda Foundation will fund the first Sir Evelyn de Rothchild Professorship of Finance.

The post will have special reference to Venture Capital and devise new strands of teaching, including a new open programme in finance targeting the Cambridge “Hi-Tech Cluster” of entrepreneurial ventures – a sector that makes up approximately 10% of Europe’s high-tech research and development investment.

Existing MBA finance modules will be significantly developed to match best practice worldwide and a specialist Master in Finance Programme will be introduced for those with previous experience in the financial sector.

The School, part of the University of Cambridge, will appoint an internationally-recognised leader in finance and economics to the role, able to promote excellence in teaching and research, foster collaboration between business and academia and bring rigorous research into the practice of venture capital.

The Professorship is designed to provide new leadership and fresh vision in this important area and help establish the School as a global centre of excellence in the field of business finance.

Professor Arnoud De Meyer (pictured), Director, Judge Business School, said:

“This generous endowment will mean major expansion of our faculty and the School’s teaching programme in the area of finance. This will allow us to maintain our pre-eminence as one of Europe’s leading business schools and compete internationally.”

“Our influence as a School is global. As a result we take very seriously our responsibility to contribute the best research, teaching and ideas to the field of business finance, and to bring new perspectives on how it is taught and practised worldwide.“

October 3 2007