About us

Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation is the recognized leader of financial education in Russia. The graduates of the IFF make up the core of the financial and economic elite of the country and hold high posts in government financial institutions, in politics and business.

During the year of 2007 the Financial Academy formed the International Finance Faculty (IFF) offering educational programs with a master and bachelor degree in International Economics. The form of education is internal. Upon the end of the students education (4 years for bachelor's and 2 years for master’s they will receive a Financial Academy diploma and have the opportunity to get a diploma from a foreign university in cooperation with the IFF.
 

The advantages of studying with the IFF

• All the classes are held in English.

• Educational programs close to the professional exam standards of CFA/ACCA, international educational literature and innovative educational technologies.

• The IFF has a strong composition of educators and professor composed of the best educators of the Financial Academy and other leading Russian and Western universities. The professional competence of our lecturers is confirmed, in many cases by foreign degrees.

• Our faculty is supported by large Russian and foreign business structures: Regular Master classes held by top managers sharing their knowledge and competence, necessary to get employment and career growth.

• Possible internship in investment and audit companies.

• Internship in partner universities of Great Britain, USA and Europe and also get the opportunity to get a second diploma.

• Highly developed academy infrastructure for work and leisure. Excellent conditions for different sports. Modern sport hall and swimming pool.

The Bachelor Program

In this present day the faculty has 55 first course students mainly from Russian but also from Lithuania Estonia and Kazakhstan.For the most part our students are graduates of foreign and special English shools. Among our IFF students are graduates from such famous schools as Moscow Economic School and the program International Baccalaureate. The program is thaught completely in English and is attractive for foreigners as well. Our student exchange program makes it possible for students from our western partner universities (Austria, Germany and France) to come and study with us in Moscow. The studying conditions at our academy are excellent but the pace is high, as the result of year 2008/2009 5 students out of 54 were excluded from the faculty. However such sad events are lost in the background of the achievements of our other students, nine of them have straight A’s! And are also prize winners in the academy’s English contest. The team of our academy also took part and won the Economic Modeling Contest which is a competition held for the most prestigious universities of Moscow. The students of the IFF are also skilled sportsmen, one of our students is the republic champion of Tatarstan in Kyokushin Karate.
The part of Nonresident students is 16%, and around 30% of our students have finished their previous schools with silver and gold medal awards. First course student of IFF go through basic mathematical studies as well as natural science disciplines (42% of total study time) Humanitarian courses (40%) and professional courses (18%). The mathematical and humanitarian courses are built in such a way that they are not thaught in an abstract way but are closely related to economical and financial situations.
 

The Master Program

In February 2009 11 students including a student from Bremen joined the master program at the IFF within the student exchange program. The students of our master program are graduates from the top universities of the country – The economical faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University, State University - Higher School of Economics and leading technical universities. Many of them also work in large Russian and international financial organizations. The IFF is the only faculty with a full educational cycle: Bachelor and Master Degree’s in English. The base for the magistracy program International Finances are course's in international accounting, corporate finances and investment management.

The teaching process

Is based on a modular principle, each semester is split into two modules lasting 8 and 9 weeks, with a week of mid-term exams. This kind of study schedule is supposed to stimulate student to study continuously throughout the semester. Practical classes are held in groups of 18-20 students while the English groups have no more than 9 students. The study program also includes numerous consultations by teachers on different subjects.

Value - virtual study enviroment

An important composition of the educational process at the IFF is the Value virtual study environment system, where students are able to find course programs, lecture abstracts, materials for in depth study of subjects and assignments for seminar studies. This tool makes it possible for student to interact with teachers outside of ordinary classroom lectures. Although this form of internet project is common for western universities, it is being launched for the first time at the Financial Academy and the IFF.

Preparatory English Courses

The Faculty has functioning preparatory English courses available. The course has two directions: Professional preparation for the Russian Single Governmental Exam and Modern Economical English. The second course helps prepare students for a English financial education.

Events of the year

• In the first semester this year the faculty took three exchange students from Germany who attended many lectures at the IFF.

• Intensive Course « the Theory and practice (IFRS): Bases of consolidation » Organized by KPMG in cooperation with the IFF, the course will introduce students to the basics of international standards in financial reporting and the basic principles of consolidation. The course will be held in English.

• IFF and the company Price Waterhouse Coopers held a master-class for the students of the Financial Academy in preparation for the ACCA (Association of Certified Accountants) certification exam.

• The British embassy arranged a business contest during the British Industry week for the top universities of Moscow in cooperation Deloitte. Students from the International Finance academy, Lomonosov State University, Higher School of Economics, Moscow State Linguistic University and many others. The student teams from The IFF took both first and third place.

• With the combined efforts of all the members of the faculty, we are organizing lectures by leading business representatives (Paul Ostling former COO at Ernst & Young, Stefan Dirks KPMG partner, Jeffrey Roberts Costello executive director of J.P. Morgan in Russia) for students of all faculties of the financial academy. These lectures are very valuable for students since they allow them to familiarize themselves with the actual problems of the financial world.

• Doctor Leonid Timoshyk, the head of the department of currency risks at the Calyon bank (London, Great Britain) a known specialist in the field of currency risks and financial derivatives. He held a crash course for the students of IFF on the topic of global currency and share markets, and the problems of risk management.

• The progress analysis showed that an insufficient knowledge of the English language is not the primary cause of low performance of some students. The low grades are rather a cause of common problems for first grade student which is low organization and not enough attention or work in the classroom.