Finance threshold concepts are the essential conceptual knowledge that underpin well-developed financial capabilities and are central to the mastery of finance. In this paper we investigate threshold concepts in finance from the point of view of students, by establishing the extent to which students are aware of threshold concepts identified by…

Graduates with well-developed capabilities in finance are invaluable to our society and in increasing demand. Universities face the challenge of designing finance programmes to develop these capabilities and the essential knowledge that underpins them. Our research responds to this challenge by identifying threshold concepts that are central to…

The role of universities in preparing students to use spreadsheet and other technical software in the financial services workplace has been investigated through surveys of university graduates, university academics, and employers. It is found that graduates are less skilled users of software than employers would like, due at least in part to a…

Software, particularly spreadsheet software, is ubiquitous in the financial services workplace. Yet little is known about the extent to which universities should, and do, prepare graduates for this aspect of the modern workplace. We have investigated this issue through a survey of financial services employers of graduates, the results of which are…

Due to the changing nature of learning and teaching in universities, there is a growing need for professional development for lecturers and tutors teaching in disciplines in the mathematical sciences. Mathematics teaching staff receive some training in learning and teaching but many of the courses running at university level are not tailored to…

Measurement of the quality of teaching activities is becoming increasingly important since universities are rewarding performance in terms of promotion, awards and bonuses and research is no longer the only key performance indicator. Good teaching is not easy to identify and measure. This paper specifically deals with the issue of good teaching in…

Lectures remain the lynchpin of mathematics teaching at university even with advances in information technology and access to the internet. This paper examines the requirements for learning mathematics and shows how important it is for lecturers to be aware of the different modes of presentation they are using. Ways to assist students to make the…

Recent graduates of degrees in the mathematical sciences were interviewed in depth about their work and the skills required to perform those tasks. One common undertaking could be described as teaching: demonstrating to colleagues, training their assistants or explaining mathematics to their managers. The paper describes how this understanding of…