One of the most exciting things of being an educator is that you have the opportunity to help students acquire new knowledge and master new skills that will eventually be beneficial for them in the workplace.
Up till beginning February, around 130 students in the International Business program at Fontys had never thought about ‘Technology in Finance’ and its implications on daily life and business. Something we all know, but Liza Minelli, in Cabaret, puts it in a fun way – “Money makes the world go ‘round … the clinking clanking sound … ”! Add technology to the mix, and we have a faster, better, cheaper way to clink and clank that money around!
Thus to fill the knowledge gap in the curriculum, we created an innovative course to show students what the impact of technology is on finance, financial institutions, and the operations in and strategic decision making of companies. These multiple angles require different experts. That is why we are happy to work with a multi-disciplinary team of lecturers from different departments, including our colleagues from Finance & Control, Thanh Nguyen and Guido Bonouvrié.
The plenary kick-off of Technology in Finance took place on February 17, and was just as exciting for students as well as for the staff. A line-up of bespoke guest speakers from the international business community shared their latest insights on the topic, including Antonio Mora Rives (Just Amazing BV), exploring AI in FinTech and sharing business opportunities; Dumitru Bulatel (Microsoft) with future perspectives on hyper-automation; and Rashmi Sharma (Mambu) sharing FinTech trends and the future of composable banking. We also warmly welcomed FEC Director Ralph van Disseldorp, who shared his views with the students on the importance of a moral compass in technological developments and the implications on learning.
Seeing the enthusiasm in the students and their hearty attendance in lessons, we are enjoying running the course Technology in Finance and continue to explore and have fun in the coming weeks.
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Over Kiran Aswani
Exploration of human nature has been a lifelong interest, and gathering the knowledge and deeper understanding of the world, a constant pursuit. Having lived on four continents and having been exposed to so many places and persons, I find myself even more curious, and with a heightened awareness. In Fontys, I teach finance and accounting in the International Business program. My blog is an exercise in critical thinking, looking at the intersection between finance-education-life.