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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Understanding Financial Markets by University of Geneva

4.8
stars
5,593 ratings

About the Course

In this course, you will learn what the main financial markets and their characteristics are as well as how they are linked to the economy. Our very diversified team of experts will start by teaching you how the price of stocks and bonds are computed and why they move while you will become increasingly aware of the notion of risk and why it matters when measuring an investment's performance. The focus will then move to less popular markets such as gold, emerging markets, real estate, hedge funds and private markets. These will be analyzed with an emphasis on their particular risks and return opportunities as well as how they can help in building efficient portfolios. Finally, the policies of central banks and their impact on financial markets will be presented to you along with the link between the economy and the price of financial assets. All along these different steps, experts from UBS, our corporate partner, will show you how the concepts you just acquired are effectively applied in a leading global bank. This focus on practicality means you will not only understand what is going on in global financial markets but also start to figure out how you can use them to achieve financial goals, be it a client's or your own. Course Director and main teaching contributor: Dr. Michel Girardin, Lecturer in Macro-Finance, University of Geneva...

Top reviews

MC

Jul 16, 2017

Mr. Michel is really an amazing teacher! His lectures are vivic and greatly attracts my attention. I hope to take more of his classes because I've Learned more than I nomally can do in a short class

RK

Oct 5, 2020

Thank you! Coursera for providing me the platform for boosting my knowledge in Financial Markets, as i have learned various financial parts in this subject and this will help me in my carrier too.

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1 - 25 of 1,176 Reviews for Understanding Financial Markets

By Alexey K

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Sep 4, 2016

Not happy about the course. Very very general information. This can be obtained through any internet reading and doesn't require a purchase of the course. 79 dollars is not peanuts for many countries. The lecturers often refer to the videos which are not part of this course. Examples: PPP valuation has not been part of lectures, but is referred to. Maturity and duration of the bond comparison with the glass of water is referred to, but was not part of the course. For the money - we are getting some shorter version of a bigger course. Not satisfied at all. Just finished all the tests and passed, but not happy. Do not recommend to anyone and surely will not buy the next course.

By Collin S F

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Mar 6, 2016

I am disappointed in the quality of the lectures in this course. They're too summarized -- too quick-- and they lack the thoroughness required to accurately convey the intuition the student needs to comprehend the lessons taught. When I have to spend a significant number of hours watching lectures on YouTube to compensate for the poor quality lectures offered in "Understand Financial Markets", I am left wondering why I enrolled in the specialization. I think Coursera needs to have a conversation with the professors at Geneva University about the need for prerequisites before allowing students to enroll in this specialization.

By Ariel H

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Jul 21, 2016

Beware - will make you upgrade to complete quizzes (and pay) - should definitely be much more upfront about this from the beginning.

Seems like very poor tactics on their behalf.

By Socrates A

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Feb 1, 2020

All the instructors were very knowledgeable and used lots of real life examples to explain the theory. They were also kind of funny and turned a "stiff" topic into a lively and fascinating story.

By Nqobani Z

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Aug 10, 2020

This was very informative, packaged in a way that makes it easy to understand and makes the Financial Markets accessible to the common people. Thank you for putting this package together for us.

By Vladislav B

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May 16, 2016

Inconsistent course content, presenters hop between topics, complete lack of definitions, absense of content structure. Moreover, the presentation style is very boring. One thing is for sure - avoid attending finance at university of Geneva by all costs.

By Mark C

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Jul 17, 2017

Mr. Michel is really an amazing teacher! His lectures are vivic and greatly attracts my attention. I hope to take more of his classes because I've Learned more than I nomally can do in a short class

By Nadim K

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Apr 10, 2019

Excellent course. If there is one thing I'd recommend you do, it is to keep updating the examples and data used. Some of the data used in the course I just took were from 2013. But this does not impact on the usefulness of the course--just distracts from the fact that what we are learning was applicable as much in 2013 as it is now. I have spent 30 years assessing investments for Official Development Assistance (ODA) sources of funding or public sector funding...I needed a course just like this (and more like this) to get on the steep learning curve for understanding and hopefully designing investments using private sector, bonds and "blended" sources of funding. Thank you.

By William M

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Aug 15, 2016

Thoroughly enjoyed the course. Very well thought out and presented in an informative and very engaging manner. Brought to life many subjects I was aware of but lacked in depth understanding.

By tayfun t

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Feb 16, 2019

Very disappointed by this course. Concepts are explained very poorly, pop-up questions in the videos are a joke.

By Kushal B

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Mar 25, 2016

The teachers are really great!

So far I have studied, I have found that the teachers have worked hard to present the course beautifully and lucidly. Dr. Michel Girardin is just awesome.

I liked an earlier course by the University of Geneva (International Organization Management) - which I completed with distinction. I'm enjoying this course very much, as well.

I'm not from the finance background, rather from a completely different field - Medicine. These are probably my first true lessons in finance. Really great.

By profession, I'm a teacher (junior faculty) and I try to make the classes enjoyable for the medical students here. In this course, my additional gain is to experience the art of teaching - I was amazed by the walking lecture by Dr. Michel Girardin.

Thank you very much, respected teachers.

Thanks a lot to the University of Geneva and to Coursera.

By Himanshu

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Jul 18, 2022

Very important concepts deliverd in an easy and simple manner.

By Tom S

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Nov 18, 2016

Course was taught by people who gave no indication they had ever bought a security. They read flatly from the teleprompter and rarely looked at their audience. Very disconcerting and not conducive to trusting what is being said.

By Russell L M

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Feb 6, 2021

I have been an investor for several years, but this course helped me to understand the theory behind the investing decisions I've made. The methodology utilized to deliver the materials was perfect, a very effective mix of lectures/visuals. I actually looked forward to studying each day! The professors' enthusiasm for their teaching was obvious and including UBS practitioners to discuss 'real world' implications was a brilliant decision. I cannot wait to begin the next course in this specialization. To the professors and staff, well done!!!

By Andrea F

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Aug 10, 2020

There is a professor for each topic. I enjoyed every single lesson. They're all very well designed, given in small packages and with questions along the videos so you get to think, and follow and not just watch. Every lesson starts with objectives, they develop and at the end there's a quick overview "In conclusion...". Also, if you think you didn't grasp to something, the next lesson gives an example.

Really enjoyed it. Congratulations to all the staff. Definitely taking the second part of the specialization course.

By Majid A

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Dec 6, 2021

It was one of the most valuable courses in fundamentals of financial markets and Investment. The teaching of Dr. Michel Girardin was really engaging and fun that transferred the knowledge to me in a beautiful way that I don't think going to forget any of these materials. Also, other instructors were very good at teaching the relevant topics and UBS guests were really helpful to implemented new ideas that I've learned.

By Javier I V C

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Sep 24, 2020

Excellent course helped me understand the economic relationships that exist with the TPM of central banks and financial markets. It also gives me knowledge on how hedge funds operate, the risks of government bonds, and how economic growth is related to the variable income market, thanks to this knowledge it will give me to know when is the perfect time to enter and exit From the market.

By Miona B

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Mar 26, 2016

I finally understand all the basics about Bonds and Equities and how they react to changes in markets. Great course for all people who are interested in financial markets and their functioning.

By Teo W X

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Oct 27, 2016

The course is nicely paced throughout the four weeks. Love that the videos / content are "bite-sized" making it eas to digest admist a busy work schedule. Looking forward to the next course!

By Antonio F

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Mar 15, 2016

This course excellent provides all the basic information which is important and necessary would recommend the course to all the newbies in financial markets

P.S:The professors are AMAZING!

By AutoIDs

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Jul 25, 2023

A very good course. I advise you to take this course before you start investing (if you are in beginner level)

By Jose M M

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Mar 6, 2016

The course is fine but the obligation to pay for reviewing quizzies is a mistake if the course expects to get good valuations (in stars) and promotion. There are similar or even better content available in other courses which are truly open and that request for payment if the student wish to get the certificate.

Wrong positioning of University of Genève offering this MOOC from an economical point of view. They ask for more than others and will get less.

By Gerald M

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Apr 1, 2016

One of the things that I didn't like is that I couldn't complete the course because, without purchasing the course, I didn't have access to the assignments / quizzes. But the content is good and the Geneva teachers are nice (specially Michel!). Also, some USB guest lectures are not adequate for this type of course, which is for beginners. Sometimes the guest lectures are not even related to the content of the modules where they are presented.

By Dawn H

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Oct 23, 2020

The material covered is fine. But it's done at warp speed and with no information on how to compute the complex mathematical formulas that are required. The glitches in the segment non-grades quizzes is annoying. You can't have the opposing answers both being correct. This gets worse as the class goes on. It really needs to be fixed. As well, the materials are about 5-6 years old. It's time for an update.

By Diego C

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Aug 25, 2017

This is a very basic course on financial markets and adresses various topics in a relatively vague way. It is a good introduction if you have not much experience with finance and economincs, but on the other hand, sometimes it treats some topics as if the student already has previous knwoledge on them.