Elective Modules

In the 4th semester, students from the Master of Finance, Master in Management, and Master in Applied Data Science programmes undertake two electives. This allows them to delve deeper into their chosen field while also exploring additional subjects. These electives are designed to enrich the academic experience, offering students a chance to tailor their studies to their interests and career aspirations. The electives span various cutting-edge topics and practical applications, ensuring that graduates are well-rounded and equipped with diverse, advanced knowledge relevant to their future careers.

• Elective modules may be subject to change

• Electives may not be available for all Master's degree programme.

AI & New Frontier

The course is about advanced current topics that are at the frontier of AI research and industrial application. Examples from past courses are Graph Neural Networks, Generative Learning: GANs and Diffusions Models and Deep Reinforcement Learning.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Florian Ellsäßer

Advanced Mergers & Acquisitions

The course will cover the explanation of “Three Dimensional Analysis” and the creation of fully dynamic iterative and circular financial models in Excel, up to the advanced level used in the leading investment banks and private equity firms. Students will create a fully-fledged M&A model in Excel, using real companies as the bidder and target.

Lecturer: Simon Hirst

Alternative Investments

This module provides a concise overview of the most significant types of private equity and alternative investments, and how they affect different portfolio parameters. The course covers the differentiation between ‘classic’ investments vs. ‘alternative’ investments and an introduction to portfolio concepts in general, and their application in modern portfolio management.

Lecturer: Thomas Maier

Bank Controlling & Treasury

The module focuses on case studies and Excel exercises to understand the value management of a bank. The special highlight throughout the course will be guest speakers such as bank specialists on the topics.

Lecturer: Thomas Heidorn

Blockchain and Digital Assets

This course is for students wishing to explore blockchain technology’s potential use - by entrepreneurs & incumbents - to change the world of money, finance and beyond. Kicking off with a review of the technology’s initial application, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, students will gain an understanding of the commercial, technical and public policy fundamentals of blockchain technology, distributed ledgers and smart contracts in both an open sourced and a private context.

Lecturer: Christoph Kreiterling

Design and Management of Hierarchies

The module Design and Management of Hierarchies introduces key principles and methods used for designing effective organisations. It focuses in tradeoffs associated with the design and adaptation of cooperation and coordination in teams, departments, business units, and large corporations. The module builds on economic and behavioural perspectives and introduces classic as well as contemporary approaches to organisation design. The module combines case analyses, conceptual and problem-driven discussions, as well as teaching simulations, in order to offer a compelling introduction to managerial challenges in organisational design.

Lecturer: Stephan Billinger

Ethics in Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility

This course focuses on Ethics in Finance and the relation with Corporate Social Responsibility. The course takes place within one week and broadly consists of two parts; a qualitative theoretical part, and a quantitative empirical part. During the first few sessions, the main ethical theories will be introduced and discussed (e.g. consequentialism, deontology, etc.) and how this can be applied to come to theoretical constructs of corporate social responsibility. Next, it is argued whether ethics matter in finance, and why, and how social responsibilities interact with financial risk and return. In the second part, the course investigates empirically how social responsibility and ethical conduct impact financial decisions; e.g.: How does moral hazard of bank bailouts impact excessive risk taking of banks? How do ethical environmental standards impact foreign direct investments? How does socially responsible investing impact the risk-return trade-off on stock market returns?

Lecturer: Dam Lammertjan

Insights into Manufacturing Industry

This module covers industries like Automotive Industry, Steel Industry, Machinery Industry, Electronics Industry, Pharmaceutical Industry, Chemical Industry, Aviation Industry, Food Industry, Apparel Industry, Defense Industry, Oil Industry & Energy Sector, Beverage Industry, Agricultural Industry, Furniture Industry, Tobacco Industry, Cosmetics Industry (subject to change). Hence, profound knowledge about the particularities of the respective industry is important for managers of all disciplines, not only for those with a specialisation in manufacturing. However, this course is particularly interesting for students who are interested in the manufacturing industry, want to learn about important business developments, or want to get a deeper understanding of several industries.

Lecturer: Jörn-Henrik Thun

Intercultural Management

This module covers definition of culture and communication (cultural diversity), regulators of human life (religion, nation, class, gender, race, civilisation), cultural dimensions (models of Hofstede, Trompenaars and Hampton-Turner, Hall), barriers to Intercultural Communication (anxiety, assuming similarity, instead of difference, ethnocentrism, stereotypes and prejudice, nonverbal misinterpretations and language), comparative Cultural Patterns (USA, China, Middle East, Russia, etc.) Future challenges, immigration and Acculturation (Europe), cultures Within Cultures: Identity and Subgroups, contact Between Cultures Business Oriented.

Lecturer: Manouchehr Khorasani

FX Options & Structured Products

Students will learn how to structure hedging solutions for corporate treasury, judge pricing and hedging strategies and implement these in practical situations using spreadsheets/VBA, matlab, or similar.

Lecturer: Uwe Wistup

M&A

Students will analyse M&A transactions in detail and all its aspects, with different structures and deal parameters. They will formulate an approach which is entirely consistent with strategic and financial priorities.

Lecturer: Simon Hirst

Political Leadership in Business and Finance: Philosophy & Practice

This is a course about power: its sources, how it is sustained and lost, and the responsibilities to which it gives rise. The aim of this course is to equip future business and finance leaders with a framework for understanding, engaging with, and leading in the context of, the increasing demands being made for political leadership from leaders of major enterprises.

Lecturer: Andrew Newton

Quantitative Trading and Analysis with Python

The course is built as an experiential learning module and focuses on the completion of a course project. Two homework assignments are designed to deliver necessary data and skills for the course project, and the lectures are designed to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills, including tools for data preparation and analysis, for the completion of the final tasks. The lecture hours are split between lecturing and programming together or under the supervision of an instructor.

Lecturers: Grigory Vilkov

Mergers & Acquisitions Strategy

The module covers the entire M&A journey from a corporate perspective and it is structured in four phases taught by E&Y expert practitioners and partners. The module is designed for students not necessarily specialising in finance field but for those intending to work in consultancy and strategy to gain a thorough understanding about Mergers and Acquisitions processes starting from its strategy setting, sales and separation, purchase and integration processes, and value creation and synergies in M&A. The module does not require prior knowledge in M&A, it is designed to be delivered in qualitative manner.

Lecturer: Markus Greif-Bacigalupo

Behavioural Finance

This course delves into the psychology of financial decision-making, focusing on how mental shortcuts, or heuristics, can lead to systematic errors. Over an intensive five-day course, participants will explore why people sell well-performing stocks but hold onto poor ones, how real human behavior differs from classical economic theories, and how factors like probability, availability, and biases such as framing, representativeness, and overconfidence influence decisions. The module aims to equip participants with the tools to recognize and overcome these biases, improving their financial decision-making skills.

Lecturer: Christoph Kreiterling

Resource Allocation Strategy

The course begins by acknowledging the limits to human (& AI) foresight. We then spend most of our time on thinking about processes for managing irreducible uncertainity. We examine performance expectations for strategic decisions under uncertainity. We discuss heuristics for avoiding strategic mistakes and improving the low odds of success. An emphasis is on finding configurations of strategy that permit equifinal success in competitive markets. Such configurations address trade-offs made by early and late movers, specialists and generalists, and pure players and integrators make, for example. Through interactive games and in-class exercises, the course also lets us experience fundamental laws of probability and behaviour that underpin resource-allocation strategy.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Ronald Klingebiel 

The Management Lab

This module is an action-learning module. Under the guidance of the instructor(s), students perform in-depth case research about concrete real-world management challenges. Based on this research, they develop so-called “teaching cases” and “teaching notes” that capture these challenges and their possible solution(s) for classroom use in degree programmes in management.

Lecturers: Markus Mädler, Solouki Ayeh

Numerical Analysis of Dynamical Systems

This course introduces the fundamental concepts of dynamical systems theory, which explores how internal variables in natural and engineered systems evolve over time. Dynamical systems are found across diverse fields, including ecology, medicine, biology, economics, and finance. In addition to covering numerical analysis of these systems, the course delves into modern techniques such as neural differential equations and dynamics-informed neural networks, bridging the gap between machine learning and dynamical systems theory.

Lecturers: Böttcher Lucas

Strategic Business Modelling

This module introduces a dynamic business modeling approach based on system dynamics, a method developed at MIT in the 1960s by Jay Forrester and used by companies like Airbus, Commerzbank, and Volkswagen. Participants will learn techniques to build models that reflect real-world data, predict future outcomes, and test new ideas to improve performance. Through hands-on sessions and interactive exercises, they will gain practical skills to apply immediately in their business environment.

Lecturers: Jürgen Strohhecker

Strategic Finance: Cases in M&A and Technology Change

The lecturer will share exclusive insights from transformative M&A deals in the German industry over the past 30 years, drawing on his experience as an M&A advisor and Private Equity professional. The course begins with an introduction to key financial analysis tools, including valuation methods, M&A strategies, IPOs, LBOs, and investor approaches. In the second part, students will engage in interactive, case-based learning, discussing real-world financial and strategic challenges. Cases will focus on how technological changes influence corporate strategy and M&A, with examples like Daimler-Chrysler, Bayer/Monsanto, and RWE/E.on. The course also connects these case studies with key literature on corporate strategy, such as The Innovator's Dilemma by Christensen and Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Rummelt. Students will work in groups to present their analysis of both cases and readings.

Lecturers: Fellhauer Eric