History

The Department of Finance was formally established in July 2001, although finance subjects had been taught at the University of Melbourne for many years prior to that date.

The Department has grown substantially since its inception, from just over 700 full-time student units in 2002 to over 1,000 in 2010. Staffing levels have also expanded from 15 academics in 2002 to 28 academics in 2010. The finance specialisation is very much in demand with more than 1,200 BCom students graduating with a major in finance. The Department continues to offer a particularly strong Honours program with an intake restricted to around 40 of the very best undergraduate students majoring in finance. The Honours program is well established across Australia and New Zealand with more applications coming every year from the best interstate and trans-Tasman universities.

The Department offers a suite of postgraduate programs, ranging from the Master of Finance to the more research-focused Master of Commerce in Finance and PhD in Finance with coursework. Beginning in 2009, the non-cognate pre-experience Master of Management (Finance), was added to the available course offerings - with promising student intakes in 2009 and 2010 underlining the ever increasing interest in high quality finance education.