Duisenberg School of Finance was an educational organization in the Netherlands which offered Master's level education in finance between 2008 and 2015. The school was initiated as a collaborative initiative of Dutch the financial sector with local and international academic institutions. Amongst others, the founders of the initiative were Nout Wellink and Minister of the Economic Affairs, Maria van der Hoeven. The name was chosen by the founders to honor Wim Duisenberg, the first President of the European Central Bank. The annual enrollment accounted for around one hundred students. An administrative staff of eighteen faculty members was created with the support of the partnering institutions, amongst others Dutch Central Bank, ING and APG. The university is located in the Symphony offices in the Amsterdam financial district Zuidas. The campus of the school is in the Symphony Offices building. The board of directors and the executive fellowship at DSF are also executive board directors at largest financial institutions in Netherlands. In 2015, Dutch Center for Higher Education Information has ranked LLM Finance and Law programme as the highest ranking professional program in Netherlands As of fall 2015, the program of Duisenberg School of Financed is integrated into the school programs of Vrije Universiteit and University of Amsterdam. The program has been named Duisenberg Honors Program at VU and UVA.
Program
The school offers Masters of Science in four major tracks, amongst them the LLM program in Finance. The program is designed as an expedited and intensive training in finance and law, taught by an international faculty. Masters courses are designed for MSc in Risk Management, Financial Markets & Regulation, Corporate Finance & Banking and Masters in Finance LLM track.
Mission
Duisenberg School of Finance brings academic and industry perspectives together in order to move towards sustainable operation of the financial sector. The school aims to contribute to the creation of a favorable investment climate for financial institutions in the Netherlands.
Background
On September 7, 2008 several major Dutch financial services companies signed an agreement to partner in financing the operation of DSF. Executive management, including the governmental officials, have seats on the board of DSF or act as the executive fellows. DSF was founded as a collaborative effort of academic researchers, financial companies, legal firms and governmental organizations.
Academic profile
Courses are typically taught by visiting faculty. Academics from, amongst others, University of Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit, work on collaborative research projects with financial practitioners. Periodically the lectures are taught by executive management of the partnering financial institutions. DSF Policy Briefs are designed together with regulators, professionals from the industry and policymakers. Articles that meet the school research criteria are published in the public domain. Students and faculty publish research papers aimed at critically reassessing the contemporary regulatory environment and efficiency of the financial sector. The Tinbergen Institute cooperates with DSF to work on collaborative research projects.
Notable faculty
The faculty at DSF are full-time professors and researchers at the partnering institutions. , professor at London School of Economics, a lecturer of the Financial Systems and Regulation at DSF
Noreena Hertz, academic, economist and best-selling author
Hans Haanappel, Independent corporate finance advisor, provider of in-house training on valuation and modelling
Wouter van der Heijden, Director at KPMG Corporate Finance
Roderick van den Hemel Vice President, ING Corporate Finance
Students
The school has on average 90 students with approximately 25 students per program. Master's students either study full-time or part-time. The majority of the students are international students, and the average age is between 26 and 28. As part of coursework students normally complete an internship in finance or a related field, traditionally with one of the partnering institutions. The Higher School of Economics has a dual-Masters agreement with DSF and annually 5-10% of the student body is from Russia. Other students come from India, China, Africa, Indonesia, USA, Latin America, Students from The Netherlands represent around 30-35% of the student body.
Student culture
It is DSF tradition to open the academic year with one of the students ringing the bell at NYSE Euronext.
Public events
Duisenberg school of finance hosts public debates on topics related to international finance, economics and banking. The debates feature speakers and panelists from DNB, EIOPA and IMF, amongst others. The results of these public debates are frequently used by participating financial service companies as external communications tools.
School management
Executive Fellowship
The network of the industry practitioners from the partnering institutions collaborates with the school and each other with the Executive Fellows program. The Executive Fellows work closely with the school research for seeking the solutions to contemporary developments of the finance industry. Herman Mulder, a prominent figure in the fields of sustainability was an Executive Fellow at DSF until the school integration into the VU/UVA honorary program in October 2015.
Scholarships and awards
Duisenberg school of finance offers the Wim Duisenberg Scholarship, Thesis Competition, Dutch Board Member Leadership Award, Woman in Finance Scholarship, Country Specific Scholarships, Orange Tulip and the ING Loan Scheme. Duisenberg Battle winners are awarded scholarships as well.
Accreditation
Both the MSc and LLM programmes of DSF are accredited by the NVAO.
Duisenberg Honors Program
Duisenberg school of finance, University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Amsterdam have signed a letter of intent to collectively set up the Amsterdam Universities Business School. The three parties closely collaborate in order to create an Amsterdam-based international business school, operating in the fields of accounting, business, finance and law. In the fall of 2014 the DSF board took a decision to integrate the existing Master's programs with partnering academic institutions. As of September 1, 2015, DSF was integrated into the economics and business faculties at the UvA and VU.
