Department of International Relations

International Finance: 2011-2012

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Course schedule: days, as listed in the course outline.

Goals

Students taking this elective course should expect to learn the basics of international finance. They will gain skills in choosing sources of external financing, foreign investment and international risk analysis. They will learn through hands-on case studies how to assess risk. In the end, the goal is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of international finance.

Instructor

Prof. António Marques-Mendes
Office nr.: 417. Tel +351-239-790-548; Fax +351-239-790-413
Web site   http://www.marques-mendes.com • E-mail student@marques-mendes.com

Lectures and seminars take place on Monday in Room 1.2 and on Friday in room 2.2, both at 11:00AM.

Tutorials and appointments are available by prior booking through email

Details on Marques Mendes' current research interests and availability to supervise MBA and PhD thesis can be found in his personal web page.

Pedagogy

The course employs cases and problems as well as classroom lectures and discussions. We will make use of international as well as domestic examples. Presentation assignments will be due for most sessions. These will be prepared individually. Each student will be expected to participate actively in class discussion. There will be a final exam.

The Course on the Internet

We will make use of the Internet--notably the World Wide Web--for resource material and communication. Indeed this course outline itself will change: the definitive version is the Web site at www.marques-mendes.com/feuc/iif/index_iif_2011-2012.htm. All students must have an email address and Web access. Your default address will be the one assigned by the Course Instructor. Lecture materials, as available, can be downloaded from the Web. (In some cases you will need the Adobe Acrobat reader, Version 6 or higher, available free from Adobe's World Wide Web Site http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html.). To access it, use iif2011 number ID, and your 4-digit password (ask me) to get in.

To keep up with the world of international finance try the following Web sites:

• CNN Finance • The Financial Times • Bloomberg • Reuters •

• and much more at Marques-Mendes's Finance Resources on the Web

Text and cases

• José António Porfírio, Gestão Financeira Internacional, Ed. Rei dos Livros, 2003

• VALDEZ, Stephen, Julian Wood, An introduction to global financial markets, 4^th ed., Palgrave, 2003. [UCFE 339.7 VAL]

Students should have read the assignments before coming to class. Material covered in the assigned textbook readings will not be repeated in class. Rather, class time will be devoted to lecture and case discussion, applying the material covered in the readings.

Grading

Students must choose one of the following grading systems:

A - Standard assessment regime (written final exam )

B - Mixed assessment regime (available only for students with a minimum class attendance of 60%), includes:

• Class participation   5% 

• 1 Written Essay + Presentation 10%

• 1 Final written exam 35% 

• Final oral examination 50%.

Students failing to pass through project work and oral examination can still register for the standard written examination, but are discouraged to do so because the pass rate is usually very low.