Deakin University has partnered with Telstra to give business students first-hand experience of the world of currency trading.
Through the Telstra Trading Room, launched yesterday, Deakin Business School students will move from the lecture theatre into the fast-paced, and often overwhelming, life of the foreign currency trading floor.
"The Telstra Trading Room enables us to teach our students to trade in a space that looks and operates in the same way as the trading floors of major banks and corporations around the world. The only difference is that our students are trading in virtual money," said Associate Professor Victor Fang, coordinator of the Deakin Business School's trading program.
Based at Deakin's Burwood Campus, the trading room simulates a real inter-bank foreign currency trading floor, complete with pods for 15 banks, named after real Australian and international institutions, and state-of-the-art equipment including tickers, ASX and Bloomberg feeds on the trading wall.
"We are one of only a few Australian universities to offer a trading curriculum in such a high-tech teaching space to undergraduate and postgraduate students," Associate Professor Fang said.
"Not only do we teach the theory of trading, we challenge our students to take that knowledge and apply it to real-world economic scenarios. This way our students are exposed to the risks, pressures and strategies experienced in real-world currency trading."
When working in the Telstra Trading Room, the students are divided into teams of three and allocated the roles as traders, position keepers and risk managers for the 15 banks. They are provided with an economic scenario and given time to prepare a pre-trading report on their currency trading (that includes formulating trading strategy, expected profit and contingent strategy plan) before the bell rings and trading begins.
During the scenario, the students will be confronted with the same challenges as real-world currency traders such as formulating and carrying out transactions, identifying risks and strategies, keeping track of transactions and being nimble enough to respond to the ever changing economic situations occurring around the world, and ultimately make a profit for their bank.
At the end of trading, each bank team prepares a post-trading report on its actual trading performance and must explain any variations to their expected outcomes.
"Enabling the future of Australian business through cloud technology is one of Telstra's core missions," said Will Irving, Group Managing Director of Telstra Business.
"With Deakin University being at the forefront of digital learning, – particularly for business students, it was natural for Telstra to partner with Deakin to build this digital learning tool. We look forward to working with Deakin University and seeing Deakin students as part of Australia's competitive edge in the years ahead."