• Application deadline

    Application closed for academic year 2023/2024

    Application for the September 2024 intake will open 1 October. This is a capped programme. To find out more, please review the admission & application information below.

  • Starting date

    August 2023

  • Format

    Full-time | 12 months

  • Credits

    60

  • Fee

    €2,314 (EEA) | €21,500 (non-EEA)

    Find more information below

  • Language

    English

This one-year full-time MSc in Finance and Investments is demanding and requires a proactive attitude; it will provide you with the latest in-depth knowledge and insights, plus the right skills and mindset essential for a successful career as a finance professional.

  • 39% international students in programme
  • 97% of graduates employed within 3 months after graduation
  • Examples of your future job title:  Financial analyst, Portfolio / Risk manager, Financial consultant

What you will learn

The programme will prepare you for a position in, for example, a financial institution, a corporation, a consultancy, your own start-up, a government project, or an NGO. You will learn from world-class academics specialising in finance, and from leading practitioners.

RSM is one of only a few business schools in the Benelux that is partnered with the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute® (CFA). Thus, you can earn your master’s degree and prepare for the CFA® Level I exam within one academic year – another step on your way to becoming a financial analyst, portfolio/risk manager, or consultant.

And because RSM is also an Academic Partner of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA), your curriculum can be part of your preparation for CAIA exams as you learn strategies and practice for alternative investments that can be applied to hedge funds, real estate, or private equity.   

Programme highlights

  • The course portfolio is updated every year

    To reflect the transformation and the changing finance and investing landscape

  • Direct connection to the job market

    Through guest lectures, company projects and networking events with business and data professionals

  • Top-ranked

    RSM is consistently ranked well in (international) master rankings, for example in the national student satisfaction survey Studiekeuze 123.

  • Faculty

    International instructors who can explain theory and concepts in a clear and engaging way

  • On-campus

    Guest lectures by key people from the industry, interactive learning, and study clubs

  • Off-campus

    International study trips, company in-house days, and internship opportunities

More about the programme

Curriculum

The RSM MSc in Finance & Investments programme is one academic year’s duration. Core courses are compulsory and will be offered during the autumn semester (22 EC). Master electives (18 EC) are offered during the spring semester, of which one elective can be chosen from another MSc programme. It is also possible to replace one elective with an internship or business project. During the year, students work on a master thesis project (20 EC).

Please note that certain electives may be very popular. Although we can place most students in the elective(s) of their choice, there are no guaranteed places.

A teacher's story

  View all core courses below:

 

Corporate Finance deals with two broad and interrelated themes: i) how to value businesses and corporate investment opportunities and ii) how to finance corporate investment and activities. 

In the course you will learn the basic principles and foundations of corporate finance. The focus will be on financing and financial policy covering the trade-off theory of capital structure, conflicts of interests between investors, signaling models, the pecking order theory as well as key features of the issuance process for certain kinds of debt and equity. 

There will also be a discussion of selected topics of corporate finance and/or corporate governance. 

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Prof Dr D. Metzger.

Understanding what drives the valuation of companies is essential not only from an investor’s perspective but also in one’s role as a manager, security analyst or merger advisor. The goal of this course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for performing discounted cashflow valuation of firms from first principles. The course will also touch upon multiples-based valuation techniques.   

The first sessions of the course will focus on the adjustments necessary for identifying value relevant cashflows from reported earnings and other available accounting information. In the following sessions we will discuss how to identify the drivers of growth (as well as the limits to growth) so as to make economically meaningful forecasts. This will be followed by an estimation of the cost of capital for firms which involves among other things, the estimation of firms’ business and financial risk. Finally, we will learn how to incorporate these inputs into valuation models appropriate to the firm-specific context (for example the cost of capital approach or the adjusted present value approach) to come up with an estimate of firm value. 

To provide hands on experience, in the workshops we will apply the theories discussed each week to estimate different valuation inputs to complete a real-world valuation exercise by the end of the course. 

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr A. Rajamani and Dr M. Paaso

This course deals with financial decision-making from the perspective of an investor. We focus on the fundamental principles of risk and return, diversification, asset allocation, and efficient markets. Students will develop their knowledge on financial market structures, equity and fixed income securities, investment strategies, behavioral finance, anomalies, and the limits to arbitrage. The course furthers students’ understanding of Modern Portfolio Theory, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the Arbitrage Pricing Theory, market efficiency, and stock return predictability by discussing recent insights from academic research. Furthermore, the course covers fixed income markets and the term structure of interest rates. Although the main goal of the course is to cover the academic foundations for the broad field of investments (and lay the groundwork for more applied courses in the remainder of the MScFI), the course will also discuss practical applications as well as the implications of the theories covered. 

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Prof Dr M. van Dijk.

This course introduces a set of analytical tools to solve practical problems in finance using Microsoft Excel. The objective is to bridge the gap between theory and practice by understanding the foundations of financial models, implementing these models in Excel with real-world data, and using the outcomes to support financial decision making. The course helps students to gain the financial knowledge and modeling skills needed to succeed in the financial industry that is increasingly relying on quantitative models. Topics covered in the course include portfolio optimization techniques, performance evaluation methods, option pricing models, and risk management models. The course builds on the introduction to financial markets and portfolio theory given in the Investments course and prepares students for more advanced elective courses in investment management, derivatives, and risk management.  

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr M. Cosemans

The course overviews the main areas of finance, namely corporate finance and governance, entrepreneurial finance, asset management, and banking. It exposes the classical questions in each of these areas and then presents newly emerging topics, such as changes triggered by FinTech innovations or sustainability issues. All topics are approached from an academic and practical angle. Finance faculty links the topics to both core and elective courses. Guest speakers discuss the topics from a practical perspective.  

The overall aim is to give students a broad introduction to the MSc F&I programme by covering key academic concepts in finance in connection to their practical relevance, but also, and most importantly, to get to know each other (fellow students, staff and faculty) before getting started with the course work.

Review the course guide for more details.

The financial crisis of 2008 raised public discussion about a possible lack of moral conduct in the corporate world. Ethics and compliance became terms often used in the financial sector. The pressure for financial organizations to comply with laws and regulations and implement compliance measures to live up to ethical standards is ever-increasing. Compliance measures and ‘ethics & compliance’ departments are now commonplace within the financial sector. This course will provide students with background knowledge on what business ethics means in practice for financial organizations. It will help students to better understand crucial ethics and compliance concepts and how their own ethical behavior is sometimes influenced by external factors. Being aware of these concepts can help the finance professional to have a better awareness on potential ethical issues. 

For this course it is needed that students actively participate during the lectures and make the two assignments. 

Workshop 1: Ethics and misconduct in the Financial Sector: Welcome to the Dark Side? 

We discuss what is meant with the terms “ethics” and “compliance” in the context of a business organization. In the lecture we take a behavioral (as opposed to a philosophical) approach in order to understand what factors influence human behavior concerning ethics & compliance. What influences people towards morally good or bad decisions? We discuss different examples of misconduct from the financial sector. 

Workshop 2: Pressure and Dilemmas 

We will further discuss several examples of ethical issues and compliance violations from the financial sector in an interactive way. We have studied academic articles on behavioral concepts, and we will use these to apply and deepen our knowledge gained in the first lecture. 

Workshop 3: Compliance Management: Rules to protect us from the Dark Side? 

We will discuss several examples on how to manage ethical behavior. We will discuss the following questions: 

  1. How can we make employees comply with laws, regulations and guidelines? 
  2. What are the pitfalls of all these rules and controls? 
  3. How does an organization make the best use of compliance instruments like a Code of Conduct and a whistleblowing procedure? 

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by M. de Kiewit MSc.

The aim of ‘Your Future Career’ is to prepare RSM students at an early stage in their master's for their careers.

The online modules will help you make crucial steps towards the most suitable career step, whether an internship or a job.

To pass the course, you need to gain a minimum number of points within a few months. You can decide if you want to reflect on your interests and motivations, develop knowledge of the job market, receive peer feedback on application materials, learn to love networking, or attend an interactive alumni career panel or workshop.

See this page for more details.

 

This course is overseen and guided by Dr Maciej Szymanowski and Lisanne Keir

 

View all electives below.

Over the last decades, companies and investors have been increasingly challenged by risks due to unpredictable movements in stock prices, commodity prices, exchange rates, and interest rates. Financial markets have responded to this increase in volatility by developing a wide range of financial instruments known as derivatives, as well as strategies combining these products with traditional financial securities like stocks and bonds. As a result, derivatives markets have rapidly increased in volume and size and have become one of the most exciting areas in finance. However, the global financial crisis in 2007-2008 has made clear that derivatives can also create new risks when their design and limitations are poorly understood by market participants.

This goal of this course is to help students navigating the complex and esoteric world of derivatives. It covers the essentials of key derivatives instruments, such as forwards, futures, swaps, and options. You will learn how these products work, how they are used for hedging and speculation, how they are priced using fundamental no-arbitrage principles, and how to exploit any mispricing using arbitrage strategies. You will apply this theoretical knowledge to solve practical assignments and case studies. The course fosters a deep analytical and conceptual understanding of derivatives and enhances your problem-solving skills.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr M.M.J.E. Cosemans.

This course is intended to enhance the M&A preparedness of students in their future roles as employees, M&A advisors, or stakeholders by providing an overview of topics relating to M&A. The course will combine theory with practical insights from invited guest speakers. The theoretical content will be focused on the institutional settings that underlie M&A transactions and their implications for various deal-related choices. We will use findings from extant academic literature to highlight stylized facts about M&A and case studies to analyze specific deals.
The course will cover the following broad themes: (i) drivers of mergers and takeovers and sources of value creation from M&A, (ii) considerations underlying deal structuring, payment and financing choices, and (iii) valuation and risk management in the context of M&A.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr A. Rajamani.

From very humble beginnings in the 1980s, Private Equity has become a very large Asset Class. Although fundraising has levelled off in 2019 and 2020 from an all-time record in 2018, still, at the end of 2020 over $2 trillion of “dry powder” globally is looking to be invested by PE funds.

This course aims to give students a solid introduction to the world of Private Equity (including Venture Capital and Buyouts). It focuses on the following (along with practical insight from prior transactions) main areas of knowledge that underpin the PE environment:

  • “Organizational” topics related to PE funds & investing;
  • Cash flow analysis & modeling (we will be using a PE/LBO model for that);
  • Review of corporate valuation methods;
  • PE investment process (a complete cycle from a purchase idea to a completion of acquisition; and from putting the asset up for sale through to a complete exit) - we will follow a “live” (recently completed) transaction;
  • PE transaction structuring;
  •  Negotiation of a Term Sheet/Letter of Intent and Share Purchase Agreement (SPA);
  •  Finalization of the transaction price (Locked Box and Completion Accounts mechanisms);
  •  Practical key lessons from prior transactions, i.e. practical experience;

With the exception of item 1 (above), where some theory and “informational” delivery (deliberately kept to a modest minimum) is scheduled, this course focuses on practical aspects and transaction based learning.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by A. Grezsczak MBA.

Understanding and analyzing business value is a key competitive advantage in decision making in M&A, private equity as well as fundamental for any other corporate investment decision. A sound business valuation requires, amongst others:

  • Understanding of the valuation context;
  • Insights in different standards of value;
  • Analysis of the company, the competitive position and its strategy;
  • Conduct historical financial and value creation analysis;
  • Forecast of future financial performance; and
  • A valuation method/approach that fits the valuation context and standard of value.

In this course we discuss various (advanced) approaches to measure and analyze business value and value creation both from an academic and practitioners perspective. We will expand on the students basic theoretical knowledge on business valuation and value creation analysis and take this one step deeper. This course is highly relevant for students that pursue a career in M&A, private equity and/or valuation advisory.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by H. Haanappel. 

FinTech covers digital innovation and technology-enabled business model innovation in the financial services. FinTech is rapidly evolving across the globe and represents an existential challenge for major parts of the industry.

This course provides an introductory overview of innovations that are central to FinTech in the areas of payment, capital raising, investment, and credit. Specifically, the main focus is on blockchain technology and its specific issues and applications. However, other important innovations covered include crowdfunding, robo-advising, social trading, peer-to-peer lending, mobile money, and central bank digital currency. The course also explores threats and opportunities that these technologies pose to incumbent firms and discuss the way that FinTech interacts with law enforcement and regulation issues. Furthermore, the course features a number of guest speakers from industry.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr T. Lambert.

In this course the focus is on financial topics related to real estate investment and financing (corporate real estate, commercial real estate and residential). The course provides a theoretical framework to study these topics; ample empirical facts and actual practices of agents in Real estate and finance markets will show business relevancy.

This course prepares students to understand the risks and rewards associated with investing in and financing Real estate. There are three main topics:

»        Market analysis.

»        Real estate valuation, and most importantly,

»        Real estate finance.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr P. Neuteboom.

This course provides insight in the sustainability challenges and the link to finance. The main task of the financial system is to allocate funding to its most productive use. Traditional finance focuses on financial return and regards the financial sector as separate from the society of which it is part and the environment in which it is embedded. By contrast, sustainable finance considers financial, social, and environmental returns in combination and shows how finance can accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, inclusive economy.

The course reviews evidence that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors matter and explains in detail how to incorporate these in company business models and strategies, equity investing, bond investing, and bank lending. The course examines the financial instruments and techniques that can be applied in the context of evolving climate policies (and other sustainability policies). The tools will be applied in a group assignment on the valuation of a company based on ESG factors.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Prof. D. Schoenmaker.

Economic theory treats people as if they were making rational choices. Yet, in practice, investors and managers do not always make rational decisions. In fact, a lot of CEOs admit that major business decisions come “straight from the gut”. And such judgement about money and investment plans are often clouded by biases and emotions. In the course of Behavioral Finance, we investigate how these behavioral biases impact our financial decisions, and how we can avoid the most common pitfalls. 

Behavioral finance is the application of psychology to financial behavior of practitioners. It has gained prominence in academia. Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler were awarded the 2002 and 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics respectively for their contributions in the field. It is also appreciated by practitioners. Financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, ABN Amro, and Robeco all run funds employing behavioral strategies. 

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr L. He.

In the last phase of your study, it is important to apply the knowledge and skills you have developed by doing an internship. There is an option to do an internship as part of your MSc in Finance & Investments by choosing the Internship Elective in Block 5. During the Internship Elective, the students will be working independently at a well-established company (or other organization) where they will be involved in the financial activities, projects, and decisions that the firm is engaging in. More importantly, students will actively have to work on a project within the company that is of a solid academic level where the students can demonstrate and apply their knowledge in the field of finance in a real project. While working at this company, the students have to write a report in which they explain the contents of their work and translate the knowledge and skills obtained in the MScFI program into the working field. The students are responsible for finding their own internship company.

Review the course guide for more details.

This elective examines the business of banks, and other financial institutions. We will analyze how banks carry out their business, what risks they are subject to, and how these risks can be managed. Besides commercial banks, we will also study how investment banks operate and how new developments in fintech interact with traditional banking. A central focus of the course is also on financial innovation (such as credit derivatives and securitization) and how they are used by financial institutions. Finally, we study financial crises and how regulation can mitigate the risk of failures in the financial system.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Prof. W. Wagner.

The objective of this course is to provide students with a state-of-the-art understanding of the valuation of small and mid-cap public and private firms, and the economics of contracts as it applies to entrepreneurship and new venture finance. Entrepreneurship concerns the undertaking of new business ventures. We will analyse the unique financial issues relating to entrepreneurial firms and to develop a set of skills that has wide applications for such situations. Specific topics will include: start- up ventures; financial management of rapidly growing firms; deal structuring; valuation; initial public offerings; the decision to harvest; and leveraged / management buyouts. We will discuss the various sources of capital for entrepreneurial firms. These sources include venture capital, commercial banks and crowd funding. The decisions of firms at various phases of their life cycle will be examined and the advantages and disadvantages of various sources of financing will be compared. Analytical tools will be introduced and utilized. Financial analysis, various valuation methods, negotiations,

and deal structuring are examined in the context of entrepreneurial firms. This course is aimed at students who plan to start, acquire, finance or work for entrepreneurial, fast-growing businesses. It will also be useful for students who plan to join venture capital / private equity firms and investment banks. The course aims at instructing the student in how “real world” professional investors and corporate managers operate to create wealth from entrepreneurial activity.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Prof. Dr P.G.J. Roosenboom.

This course teaches a general management perspective on financial distress. Participants acquire the skills and knowledge to understand and manage financial distress risks. The course should appeal to participants who want to work as finance executives within a corporation, consultants, investment bankers, private equity, or venture capital investors. As financial distress is relevant for every area of finance, this course is also suited for participants who simply want to extend their finance knowledge in the area of financial distress.

The first part of the course discusses features of the legal environment for financially distressed firms. The second part discusses financial distress costs. The third part shows how bargaining and corporate finance theory can be used to understand the incentives of different stakeholders and how to achieve an optimal restructuring outcome. The fourth part introduces ways to estimate default risks as well as investments in financially distressed securities. The course is highly interactive and employs a variety of didactic formats, including lectures, case studies, and a bargaining simulation game.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr C.H.O. Schmitt.

It is a data-driven world with an extreme competition for analytical talent, according to research by McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey Analytics in 2017. In this course, I will discuss two main techniques to deal with structured data and unstructured data at entry level: 1) textual analysis and 2) machine learning. It aims to introduce a set of analytical tools for understanding and examining real-time data examples in R. Students need to complete empirical assignments in R to enhance the knowledge and skills learned in the course.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr M. Luo.

This course has been designed to help students understand important and topical dilemma’s financial market participants face in real live and how academic insights can be used to solve these problems. The course builds on Financial Modeling course in which basic financial models have been discussed and implemented in MS Excel. The main features of the course are the following: (1) introduction to topical dilemma’s in the financial industry such as differentiating between alternative philosophies in setting up investment portfolios and the implementation of sustainability, (2) the use of both classical studies and latest insights from the stream of literature on empirical asset pricing to solve these problems, and (3) Problem-Based Learning.

This course will cover topical and relevant topics in the financial industry that are put forward by authoritative financial institutions. The lecturers will rely on their networks in the financial industry and interview decisionmakers to understand the problems they face. This will facilitate students to understand real problems like gauging the value added of active managers; evaluating the performance of investment portfolios; understanding the economic rationale behind investment strategies and anomalies in financial markets; and the
dilemmas investors face when incorporating sustainability in their investment portfolios.

Through the course, both classical studies and the latest academic insights will be used to solve these problems. Developing a skillset to solve such problems will help students to better understand the nuances of the methods used, and facilitate placement of students at authoritative investment institutions.

The course aims at students that want to further develop their financial modeling skills and obtain deeper understanding of topical dilemmas in the financial industry. Although assignments need to be solved using MS Excel there are no specific requirements other than strong motivation.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr. J. Huij.

The objective of this course is to help students bridge the gap between fundamental investment theories and modern investment practice. We will consider empirical evidence for the efficient market hypothesis as well as market imperfections and their implications for portfolio management. This will involve mastering the tools of optimal portfolio construction and performance evaluation along with careful discussions of market anomalies and the behavioral biases from which they may arise. We will also learn about two key players in the investment management industry, mutual funds and hedge funds, and each topic will be put in the context of its use by both professional money managers and individual investors. The course will include presentations of classic papers, analysis of real financial data using statistical software, and a group project to apply investment management concepts.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr. L. Emery.

Financial risk management is of the utmost importance for institutional investors, both from the regulatory and fiduciary perspective. In this course, the Vestia case is discussed in-depth as it is a prime example that highlights the importance of an effective risk management strategy. Vestia is a The Hague and Rotterdam-based social housing corporation, and it turned out to be one of the largest public sector scandals in the history of the Netherlands. In 2011, Vestia suffered very large losses on its interest rate derivatives portfolio and experienced serious liquidity problems in the aftermath.

In this course, the theoretical concepts are discussed in order for the students the fully understand the flaws in the risk management strategy of Vestia. The main sources of financial risk are discussed, such as: market risk, liquidity risk, credit risk and operational risk. Approaches to quantify each of these risks (e.g. duration, VaR, ES, etc.) as well as the various approaches to manage these risks are explored. The course explores the market for fixed income securities which were at the center of the Vestia case, and these are instruments with direct exposure towards market risk (interest rate risk) and credit risk.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Dr. J. Koëter.

The Honours Class is an interactive course by academics and practitioners on current developments in finance, its relation with technology, and the role of finance in society. The course consists of interactive (guest) lectures as well as a living management case. Topics and cases are each year refreshed reflecting the newest trends in societal thinking and their application to finance.

  • Block 3 & 4: Nine lectures (a mix of academic lectures, and guest lectures by industry).The topics for academic year 2022/2023 are Sustainable Investment and Banking, FinTech and Blockchain, and Responsible Finance and Financial Inclusion. The form ofassessment is an exam for the interactive course.
  • Block 5: Living Management case with corporate partners. The form of assessment is a group assignment for the case.

Review the course guide for more details.

  

The Research Skills course gives students the opportunity to acquire the statistical and econometric skills needed to work with data, conduct an empirical analysis, interpret and report the results in the context of an academic paper or thesis. These skills are essential for the

successful completion of the Master Thesis. Students will attend lectures and workshop sessions, will work with Stata (and Excel) and have to complete an empirical assignment.

For the assignment, students can choose between two tracks: Corporate Finance or Investments. Otherwise, the two tracks are identical. The skills students train are the same (e.g., processing data, implementing empirical methods using statistical software, and interpreting results), and so is the exam.

Review the course guide for more details.

Taught by Prof. M. Verbeek.

The master thesis trajectory comprises four compulsory stages that are followed sequentially by the students:

Stage 1: Orientation and topic selection

Stage 2: Research Skills course

Stage 3: Master thesis proposal

Stage 4: Master thesis.

After the successful completion of the Master thesis proposal, Master thesis, and defence students obtain 16 EC. The Research Skills course yields 4 EC and is part of the core courses.

Note regarding taking courses if you are not an RSM master student: RSM does not offer the possibility for non-RSM students (master or otherwise) to take RSM MSc courses outside of official exchange partnerships or other inter-faculty agreements. If you are interested in learning more about corporate social responsibility, sustainability, or business ethics, please refer to our Open Programmes section.

For more information on all international opportunities offered at RSM, visit the website of our International Office.

Learn more

Why this programme?

Factsheet

CFA/CAIA

Internship

International exchange

Faculty

Career training

The aim of the course ‘Your Future Career’ is to prepare RSM students at an early stage in their master's for their careers.

The online modules will help you make crucial steps towards the most suitable career step, whether an internship or a job.

To pass the course, you need to gain a minimum number of points within a few months. You can decide if you want to reflect on your interests and motivations, develop knowledge of the job market, receive peer feedback on application materials, learn to love networking, or attend an interactive alumni career panel or workshop.

See this page for more details.

 

This course is overseen and guided by Dr Maciej Szymanowski and Lisanne Keir

 

 

 

Career Opportunities

An alumnus talks about RSM’s MSc in Finance & Investments

A recruiter talks about RSM’s MSc in Finance & Investments

Was it worth the investment? The success of our graduates speaks for itself. Graduates of the Finance & Investments programme are in a position to perform many different finance-related jobs within many different organisations – and have excellent opportunities to do so. 

Our graduates today are working for companies ranging from financial institutions, like investment and merchant banks (ABN-AMRO, Aegon, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs) to insurers (Aegon), and pension funds. Careers in government (Ministry of Finance, Stock Market Authorities) have also been pursued, as well as in multinational companies (Shell, Philips, Proctor & Gamble). 

Graduates choosing the CFA orientation generally start in positions such as junior financial analyst at a bank, mutual fund (e.g. Robeco, Fidelity) or pension fund (e.g. ABP or PGGM). They may also work as financial advisors accounting firms (e.g. Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers) and commercial banks (e.g. ING, Rabobank). 

More Academic Challenges 

For MSc graduates who would like to advance their education further or who have ambitions within academia, we offer an additional years study leading to a Master of Philosophy in Business Research (MPhil) qualification. The selective MPhil programme allows you to combine education in a specialisation area of your choice with the challenges of undertaking scientific research in a specific field. This focus on research methods and techniques makes this programme a perfect preparation for a successful PhD study in management or business. Our PhD programme is three-years and facilitated by ERIM, our world-class research institute.

Non-EEA nationals who have earned a diploma from a higher education institute in the Netherlands can apply for a special residence permit called the orientation year after completing their studies. The 'Orientation Year for Graduates Seeking Employment' is a residence permit aimed at retaining foreign talent for the Dutch labour market. During this orientation year you are free to work without a work permit. Participants who find a job during this period can change their orientation year into a residence permit for Highly Skilled Migrants under more favourable terms.

For the most up-to-date information please visit the following website.

Career progress

Many students find positions within multinational firms and organisations, partially thanks to relationships they have developed with representatives from the world of business – as well as peers – during the programme’s corporate and other networking events. Students applying for jobs in their home countries are equipped with knowledge and skills to take with them.

Find the Employment Factsheet for your MSc programme here.

View LinkedIn profiles of our graduates

You can read more about our graduates and their career progress from their public LinkedIn profiles.

Tip: you can see more of our graduates’ profile information if you are not signed in to your LinkedIn account. Sign out of LinkedIn, then click the links.

2009-2012

Maciej Witkowski​​​​​​
Annerieke Nijenhuis
Nikolaos Christodoulidis
Clemens van Vuurde
Daniel Faloppa 
Filip Shen
Alejandro Lolkema Plascencia
Thijs C. Essens
Martijn van Os 
Mara Gumbs 
Yentl Blom

2014

Mariana Gomez
Maurits van Heijst
Mindaugas Pekorius
Neha Valiuddin
Athanasios Bounas
Nuno Ferreira 
Pieter Knobel 
Sheena Katyal 
Willem Jongepier
Diederik Langenberg
Fiorita Prandini
Jorick Loman 
Lotte Humme

2015

Chairul Adi
Christophe Babis
Koen Bendermacher 
Aleksas Byla 
Joost Buck 
Jannes Eiben
Teus Jan van Ekeren
Yang Fan 
Julia Gerken 
Eszter Haraszti
Tom Hermans
Michael Hlavac
Ibrahim Karatas
Patrick Krebbers
Rytis Mazeiva
Olivier de Ruiter
Joel Siegwart
Maximilian Seibold
Adam Vari

2016

Cristian Cerneanu
Vasil Daskalov
Benedikt Feenstra
Raman Gupta
Roberto Gusmeroli
Jarell Habets
Klaas Hartmans
Tim van ‘t Hof
Athanasios Kardasis
Mike Jennekens
Duncan Karregat
Markus Linnenberg
Bernard Maciulewicz
Mick Mackaay
Jim van der Meijden 
Tom Michels
Janne Niemelä 
Ilia Nikolov
Jesse Norcross
Sabrina Ostrowski
Erhan Őzen
Iñigo Sánchez Arriola
Anar Sevdimailiyev
Jurjen van Rhee
Christos Velonakis
Leon Verlaan
Michael Zouliatis

2017

Olav Bakker
Daniela Bozadzhieva
Dimitrios Chlorokostas
Jacob Cramer
Jonathan Eichler
Aldo Genovesi
Karol Grabowiecki
Tammi Horn
Marc Joosten
Paraskevi Kalogeropoulou
Hugo Krier 
Timothy Leo
Huan Ma
Kristaps Matusevics
Mila Nedelkovich
Enzo Neefjes
Nils Nienaber
Stefan Owczarzak
Emily Paulus
Ruben Siemens
Groves Vincent
Geert Wassens
Anatolii Zhadan
Zheng (Joanne) Zhang

Good to know

Career Centre

Alumni networks

MSc employment report

Studying at RSM

A student's story

The RSM Experience

Education for life

Studying at RSM will be a life-changing experience. Your master degree will prepare you for a fulfilling professional life as a capable, self-assured individual. It will make you valuable to business and attractive to employers because it teaches you skills that make the most of your innovative mind. You will be challenged in and outside of the classroom, and you will gain an education based on the latest developments in business. Your master degree from RSM will include RSM’s promise of life-long learning, and membership of the more than 40,000-strong alumni network that is present in more than 110 countries which hosts activities and events all over the world.

Open intellectual culture

Your education at RSM is valuable. You will learn from academics who produce the highest quality research and the most innovative management thinking. In the classroom, sharing and questioning opinions is encouraged – yours and those of your fellow students, as well as the professors’. Many of RSM’s faculty members are young and passionate professors and researchers with outstanding academic credentials. Their work is published in top international management journals.

Engaging environment

Professors’ doors are always open for students who have questions, projects or ideas. Depending on the study programme, students have different opportunities to tailor their programme. This can, for example, take the form of a minors course, an internship, an exchange at one of over 160 partner schools worldwide, elective choices, the participation in a consulting project with a company or public sector organisation, or a thesis project in their specific area of interest. RSM’s strong links with local and international businesses and organisations offer opportunities for practical projects and real-life collaborations.

What is your ‘I WILL’?

RSM’s I WILL movement allows you to define your goals, your ambition, your drive. It’s our forward-thinking community that asks you to say something about your future. Your I WILL statement becomes part of the spirit of RSM’s diverse community of students, researchers, staff, professors, alumni and others related to the school. Making a public commitment to your goal will allow you to achieve it faster and better. What is your goal?

Rotterdam, a future-oriented city

Living and studying in Rotterdam has never been better. Rotterdam is home to one of the largest and busiest ports in the world and many multinational companies have their headquarters here. The city is famous for its stunning modern architecture, such as the Centraal Station or its covered food market, the Markthal. At the same time, the city authorities are forward-thinking in improving its liveability. There’s no shortage of restaurants, museums and theatres, yet Rotterdam is still an extremely student-friendly city with plenty of affordable student housing, and a bustling nightlife that includes events organised by students associations.

Find out more about life in the city of Rotterdam.

RSM Master Students

Talk to a student ambassador!

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More information

Study Clubs

Life in the city

Coming from abroad

Fees & Scholarships

The combination of affordable tuition fees and living costs together with quality education and an excellent global reputation make a Masters degree at RSM a clever investment.

Tuition fees 

The 2023-2024 tuition fee for the MSc programmes is approximately €21,500 for non-EEA students. The Dutch government contributes towards this cost for students who hold a nationality from a country belonging to the European Economic Area(EEA). These students therefore only pay the statutory fee of €2,314 in 2023/2024.

For EEA nationals who have already completed a master in the Netherlands (and obtained the diploma) the tuition fee for a 2nd master is approximately €12,600.

The MSc International Management - CEMS (18 months) is a longer programme, for which the tuition fee will have to be paid for the duration of the programme. The expected tuition fee for the 18-month MSc International Management - CEMS programme is approximately €32,250 for non-EEA students and is approximately €3,471 for EEA students in 2023/2024.

Please note that all these tuition fee tariffs are subject to change.

Scholarships

The number of scholarships is limited and mainly merit based. If a scholarship covers only the tuition fees, be aware that you need to finance your own living expenses (rent, food and insurances) for the duration of your studies. RSM does not offer scholarships for the pre-master programme. We do however offer a maximum of 2 scholarships per academic year to RSM pre-master students enrolling in an MSc programme.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) offers multiple scholarships to prospective students from non-EEA countries who are not entitled to pay the EEA tuition fee, provided their grades are considered ‘excellent’. RSM also offers one scholarship, the Erasmus Trustfonds Scholarship, to students from EEA countries. 

Besides scholarships awarded by RSM, there are also scholarships awarded by the Dutch government or other organisations that are available if you meet certain criteria such as nationality, age, etc We have listed some of them below but we encourage you to use resources such as Grantfinder or the Scholarship Portal to find additional scholarships.

Scholarship tips

  • Contact the Ministry for Higher Education in your home country to see whether there are scholarship options.
  • We have virtual information session covering all you need to know about scholarships and financial aid. Watch it here.

For students from the Netherlands or the EU/EEA, it may be possible to apply for limited funding towards payment of your tuition fees. Find out whether you meet the nationality and age requirements and read more information about the application process here.

Master Application Handling fee

After having filled in all of the necessary application information on the Online Application Form (OLAF) and uploaded the required documents, applicants with a degree obtained outside the Netherlands will be asked to pay a non-refundable €100 handling fee. This fee can be paid online via the Erasmus Payment System which uses either iDEAL (for those with a Dutch bank account) or PayPal (which can be linked to any bank account or credit card worldwide). It is important that applicants complete the payment process as indicated, otherwise the system cannot register the payment.

Additional programme related expenses

The additional expenses in addition to tuition and general living costs (see below) vary per programme and may include:

  • Study materials such as books, readers and business cases
  • Costs involved in kick-off meetings
  • Costs related to travel, international excursions and compulsory exchange semesters or internships abroad

Living expenses

For a reasonable standard of living in the Netherlands, you should have an income of between €1,000-€1,600 per month depending on your lifestyle. Further information about the costs of living in the Netherlands and related subjects can be found on this website. Below is an example of monthly expenditures:

Furnished accommodation, including gas and electricity  €   500-900
Medical insurance  €   50
Telephone/internet €   15-25
Food €   200 - 300
Books, recreation, clothing €   200 - 300
Public Transportation €   50
Total €  average 1000 - 1625
Other potential expenses:  
Buying or renting a bike €  100 - 250 (for the full 3 years)
In private residence (not student housing) yearly municipal and water taxes €  100 - 300 (per year)

Study and work - part-time jobs

Please ensure, prior to your arrival at RSM, that you have or will have sufficient funding available to finance your stay at RSM. Finding a part-time job, may be an option, but can not be guaranteed. You should therefore not rely on finding other ways to supplement your income during your studies. For additional information on obtaining a part-time job, visit the website of the Nuffic.

For EEA students there are no formal restrictions in finding work in the Netherlands, but students with a lack of Dutch language skills will find it difficult to secure employment. Non-EEA students are subject to labour regulations, which makes the likelihood of obtaining a work permit very small. We therefore ask students not to rely on this possibility. We do not encourage students to combine studies with the heavy workload from a part-time job.

Admission & Application

The application for MSc Finance & Investments for the September 2023 start has closed, as the programme has reaced maximum capacity. Application for the September 2024 start, will open on the 1st of October, 2023.

Immigration

Immigration & visas

Find out everything you need to know about entry visas & residence permits for non-EU or EEA students at RSM.

Release date: October 2022

Housing

Housing

Finding housing in Rotterdam can be tricky. To help you in your search for housing, we have compiled some helpful resources.

While this programme is ultimately a research-based master programme, it has a strong practical aspect. Besides learning theory for finance and investments, we apply our knowledge to practical situations through group projects. The programme also provides a wide variety of elective programmes, allowing us to tailor it based on our interests.

Dennis Santo (MSc Finance and Investments 2020)

Dennis Santo

Is it right for me?

If you’re talented and motivated, and recently graduated with a bachelor degree in business, economics, finance or accounting – and keen to develop yourself into a finance professional – then this master programme is for you.

 

You’ll need to be able to study independently as well as eager to work in teams.

 

Many graduates find their first career steps as analysts, consultants, or controllers in financial services, consultancy or corporations, according to the findings of our latest MSc Employment Report. Their salaries rank second highest of all graduates from all RSM MSc programmes. While some find a job in top international banks in major financial centres such as Frankfurt and London, many others work in other banks, financial advisory companies, large corporates, or smaller businesses.

Are you still in doubt?

Would you like extra information or support? We are here to help!

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Will you lead or will you follow?

I Will