Students majoring in Finance at the American University in Dubai (AUD) participated yesterday in the Global Investment Research Challenge, a major event organized annually by the CFA Institute and involving top business schools worldwide.

The students won the local challenge and will fly soon to Madrid, Spain to represent the UAE in the Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA) regional challenge. Only 20 teams go to Spain from the EMEA region and AUD is proudly one of them.

The challenge promotes best practices in equity research and company analysis. AUD students researched, analyzed, and reported on the National Bank of Abu Dhabi as if they were practicing analysts.
Participants were required to follow the bank’s performance during the whole Fall semester and then write a professional report under the guidance of a Faculty member and a mentor from the industry. The report is then presented it in front of leading industry experts.

Dr. Karim Mimouni, Assistant Professor of Finance at AUD and mentor of the students comments proudly: “The students worked hard during the last semester to best represent AUD and they succeeded. I am very proud of my students’ performance as this just confirms the quality of our programs”.

The CFA Institute Global Investment Research Challenge offers students the unique opportunity to learn from leading industry experts and compete with peers from the world’s top finance programs. This annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.

The challenge gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally, and globally for a real world competition.

Participation in the challenge promotes best practices in equity research and company analysis, as students research, analyze, and report on a company as if they are practicing analysts.

Additionally, all participants are introduced to and held to the standard of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.

How the Challenge Works
Local CFA societies host and launch an Investment Research Challenge in conjunction with the participating universities. The universities assemble teams of 3-5 business and finance students who work directly with a company in researching and preparing a company analysis.

The team’s final presentations are locally evaluated by high-profile panels of heads of research, portfolio managers, and chief investment officers from the world’s top firms.

The local champions advance to regional competitions in the Americas, Asia, and Europe and then to the global finale[i].