What is the VIAF Programme?

The Victoria International Applied Finance Programme (VIAF) incorporates the Master of Applied Finance degree, the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Analysis and the Postgraduate Diploma in Treasury Management. The programme is offered in 'block release' mode, where personal contact time is heavily concentrated in just two sessions per trimester, with the remaining time as electronic contact, simulations and assignments.

The VIAF courses are designed to fuse the traditional conceptual or textbook side of Finance and related areas of economics, law, accounting and management, with an instrumental or hands on capability. This means that graduates acquire immediate operational capability; they hit the ground running.

Degrees/Qualifications Offered as part of the Programme

• The Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Analysis
• The Postgraduate Diploma in Treasury Management
• The Master of Applied Finance

Industry Relevance

The VIAF Programme features an instrumental approach - learning by doing, which is combined with a sound conceptual base. The programme is designed in consultation with accrediting professional bodies, and has an emphasis on crucial industry skills such as financial modelling.

Course lecturers are drawn from industry and academia, and include guest speakers from major financial institutions. The Programme Director, Dawn Lorimer, comes from an extensive operational background in both the commercial and educational environments, having worked with Barclays Bank, Sydney, Challenge Bank in Perth, and consulted for a number of major Australasian corporates before returning to New Zealand to develop professional treasury education.

Networking between students and industry players is encouraged and considered an important feature of the course.