Program Structure

The two-year (four-semester) Portfolio Management Program (PMP) consists of Portfolio Management Theory (I and II), Asset Management: Advanced Investments and MATLAB for Portfolio Management in year 1. Portfolio Management Implementation (I and II) is completed in year 2. The Portfolio Management Program awards students a total of 21 ECTS credits.

Portfolio Management Theory I & Asset Management: Advanced Investments provide an introduction to financial market theory and give an overview of the various approaches to portfolio management. Students learn about the theoretical underpinnings of behavioral, quantitative, and macroeconomic methodologies. The courses also cover a wide range of investment strategies spanning predictability and the cross-section of expected returns in equity, bond, currency, and options markets. The course Asset Management: Adv. Investments covers the theoretical part and is open to students outside the Portfolio Management Program. Portfolio Management Theory I is structured as a seminar and includes student presentations and discussions.

MATLAB for Portfolio Management introduces students to the basics of MATLAB for Portfolio Management. The course provides a foundation in programming for the Portfolio Management Theory II and Portfolio Management Implementation seminars.


Portfolio Management Theory II: Based on the knowledge acquired in Portfolio Management Theory I and MATLAB for Portfolio Management, the students are tasked with constructing a sustainable investment strategy within a group. Such a strategy is developed to a level of detail that it may be implemented in a practical setting. The investment strategies are built on the basis of a behavioral, quantitative or macroeconomic framework. 

The students are additionally required to complete Bloomberg Market Certificate using the Bloomberg Terminals which are provided to each team.

Following a year of insight into the theoretical foundations of portfolio management and asset allocation, students are given the unique opportunity to implement what has been learned. They take over a portfolio from previous managers and actively manage it, following a behavioural, quantitative or macroeconomic approach.

Students provide regular performance updates in the form of monthly reporting sheets and regularly present on their portfolio holdings and performance to their peers, professors, and industry experts.

Upon successful completion of the program students are awarded with a PMP Certificate from the ZZ Vermögensberatung (Schweiz) AG.