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Travel Report of Exchange in SAIF

Rong WU K242143

Aalto University School of Business

2012 Fall

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SAIF

In the spring of last year, I got the chance to exchange in Shanghai Advanced Institute

of Finance (SAIF).

SAIF was established at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in April 2009, with strategic

and financial support from the Shanghai Municipal Government. Its mission is to

become a world class institute of research and higher learning. SAIF is committed to

developing top talents for the financial world and to generating cutting-edge

knowledge in financial theories and applications. As a member of Shanghai’s financial

community, SAIF has plenty of resources as well as a good reputation in the field of

Finance in Shanghai, which will provide you with an impressive experience.

Preparing for the exchange

Before going to exchange, the staffs from its international affairs office will contact

you by e-mail and you will get some information of the host university as well as

some useful information of living, such as the housing issues. Besides, I was asked to

provide some documents as following to go through internal procedures with

Shanghai Jiao Tong University:

a) An application form which they will send to you by email;

b) A photocopy of the information page of my passport;

c) A photocopy of recommendation letter from home university which is just a

proof indicating the purpose of sending the student to SAIF, and the Aalto

International Student Services will get it done under request, so nothing to be

worried about;

d) A photocopy of academic transcript (web transcript not acceptable)

After the application process has been kicked off, you will get an official acceptance

letter from the host university mailed to Aalto and forwarded to you. Next on the only

thing you have to worry about is the visa. As a Chinese, I don’t need a visa to go back

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to my home country, so there is few I can tell. As a foreign student, you have to obtain

a visa as well as a temporary residence registration from the nearest police station

once you have settled down.

Exchange studies

Similar to Aalto, SAIF also prepared an orientation for all the international students.

During the orientation, the international students from different countries and

universities got to know each other. And the staffs of SAIF made some nice

introductions of Shanghai, SAIF together with life and study there. They also

mentioned some issues of concern like temporary residence registration, visa issues,

student card, cellphone, emergence card, Chinese class and so on. It was also a nice

experience that they served us a traditional Shanghai style lunch, and the student

buddies joined in the afternoon for a city tour.

Courses started the day after orientation. There are plenty of courses to choose from,

about 15 courses, including Fixed Income Securities, International Finance, Venture

Capital & Private Equity, Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management, Behavioral

Finance, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Merger & Acquisition etc.. Normally one

course (5 ECTS) lasts for four weeks, six contact hours per week. As we are joining

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the second-year student of MF or MBA, most of whom are encouraged to do some

internship or job hunting, the elective courses are given in the evening of workdays or

during the daytime of weekends. The whole term ended in 20 Jan, but it depends on

which course you choose. I think most of us won’t willing to stay until the last day.

During my study there, I registered for five courses, which can be transferred to 25

ECTS (2 credits=5 ECTS) in total. The courses are as following table:

Course Code Course Name Credit

M380025-11Fall Asset Management in Practice 2

F380004-11B Behavioral Finance 2

F380007-11B Commercial Banking 2

M380038-11 Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management 2

F380018-11N Risk Management 2

Table 1 Course Information

The lecturers of these courses are quite international and all have strong academic or

practice background, and they shared theoretical or practical knowledge with the

students. For example the lecturer of AMP Prof. Paul Burik once worked for US

Federal Bank, and the lecturer of CB Prof. William Bradford is the Faculty Director of

Foster School of Business Administration, University of Washington. The evaluation

for those courses are mainly composed of participation, case study, and exam. Of

course there is exception like BF, which uses case study and term paper instead of

exam.

Asset Management in Practice (AMP)

The lecturer of AMP Prof. Paul Burik has over 25 years of international financial

market experience, including leadership roles in business management, fund

management, investment program design and implementation, product

development and risk management. The course provides an overview of the asset

and wealth management businesses. It concentrates on the practice of portfolio

management (particularly active equity) and emphasizes global best practices and

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trends draw upon industry examples (both inside and outside of China)

extensively. It also considers the needs of institutional and retail clients and how

and why they hire (and fire) asset/wealth managers.

Behavioral Finance (BF)

The lecturer Mr. Yuan Yu graduated from Wharton School, and has abundant

experiences and researches a lot in the fields of behavioral finance. This course

used psychology and more realistic settings to guide and develop alternative

theories of financial market. We also examined how the insights of behavioral

finance complement the traditional paradigm and shed light on investors' trading

patterns, the behavior of asset prices, and corporate finance.

Commercial Banking (CB)

Different with most of the theoretical courses, CM is quite practical. Prof.

William Bradford adopted a simulation system which allowed us to have our own

bank. We were divided into several groups and were told to make our own

strategy every period. We changed interest rates, borrow money, issue securities,

and make predictions to make profit and increase the stock price of our bank. The

game lasted for four periods and the final stock price ranking and the balance

sheet of the bank accounted for part of our grades. Through the simulation, we

got to know more and more about the operation of a commercial bank by

ourselves, which impressed us a lot.

Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management (QEPM)

The lecturer Mr. Yen-Cheng Chang finished his Master at Duke University and

PhD at University of Washington, and has a lot of publications, especially some

working papers with Harrison Hong are published during some important

academic conferences. The course started with the conceptual framework of

market efficiency and its implications on QEPM. We reviewed various stylized

facts regarding the equity market, and from there, we learned how to build up

QEPM factor models for stock returns. Specifics on QEPM such as optimal

weights, rebalancing, market neutral, and leverage will then be discussed as time

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permits. We formed groups and built our own model and present our work

utilizing the class materials and the trading room facilities. Though it seemed

somehow a little bit complicated, we were doing it by our whole heart, we did

read papers and do something.

Risk Management (RM)

Prof. Son-Nan Chen got his Ph.D in University of Georgia in 1976, and has made

some achievements as well as earned a good reputation in US and Taiwan. In his

lectures, he introduced the different types of risks and the way to make the risks

under control. Some derivative products like credit default swap were studied to

obtain a deeper view of market risks and risk management.

Free time and other information

The IAO of SAIF organise some activities during the exchange period, such as a

walking tour, Halloween party, Shanghai Expo area visit, and Christmas event. In

their outgoing exchange info session, I got the opportunity to introduce Aalto

University to them, which drew some attention, hopefully. In addition, exchange

students always had a lot of ways to have fun. We went to some nice restaurant, or

bars or KTVs

during the free

time, together

with the local

students. We

also take

active part in

other related

activities and

for foreign

students, they got useful information from the website of smart Shanghai.

The cost of living in Shanghai is relatively cheaper than that in Europe. And there are

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a variety of products, European style, North American style, or Asian style, no matter

what you want, you can find it there. However, accommodation fees might be

comparable or even higher. To be noticed, you’d better stay at hotel first and visit the

apartment you want to rent

by yourselves. Don’t be too

confident in the information

given by internet. Thanks to

one of my friend in Shanghai

who helped me to find a

place to live, I saved a lot of

time. That may be an

advantage of going back to

your home country.

For me, as a Chinese, travelling wasn’t my priority selection this time. Due to the

evening course schedule, I got a lot of free time during the daytime. I spent some time

in the first month to explore the city, which was fairly easy for me. In the second

month, I got a part-time work in a logistics company, and has worked until the week I

came back to Finland. The work offered me another view of career. The working life

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is quite different from study. I learned many practical knowledges and grew a lot, and

the salary also funded my stay in Shanghai to some extent. My experience there will

definitely affect my career life in the future.

The most important, I got more time stay with my family and friends. My mother

and cousin came to visit me during the New Year Holiday, and I show them around

Shanghai and other cities nearby. I also got the chance to celebrate the Chinese New

Year at home, to enjoy the food, and to experience the atmosphere again. During the

holiday, I planned a trip to Macao and Thailand with some of my friends, which was

quite welcomed to receive plenty of sunshine and

get away from cold winter temporarily.

Conclusion

To summarize, SAIF and Shanghai would be a good choice to go for exchange for

foreign students. Both the city and the school are quite open and mordern, that it

won’t be too difficult to adapt yourself to it. They also present full of Chinese

characteristics, which allows you to experience another culture.

My exchange experience is obviously somehow different from normal. But in my

own view, I studied, worked, spent time with family and traveled with friends during

the exchange period, and what can be even better? Ah, maybe finishing my thesis and

getting my degree!