The Financial Literacy Project for Economists

09:37, May 20, 2022

Students of the International Economics and Business programme improved their financial literacy with UBRD

2nd year students of the International Economics and Business programme GSEM UrFU dived into the world of finance under the guidance of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD): master class “Financial tools for everyday life” and exclusive games “Money life” were held within the framework of the “Money, credit, banks” Course. The Financial Literacy Project with a corporate partner has been successfully implemented for the second year in a row.

Denis Babushkin, Managing Director of the Yekaterinburg Division, and Temur Rakhmatov, Managing Director for Direct Sales Development, talked about financial products and services, existing types of financial behavior and budgeting features as well as discussed with students the trends in payment systems in the current geopolitical conditions. The speakers touched upon important issues of financial security, identified popular fraud schemes and shared practical tips on how not to fall for the tricks of scammers. Colleagues from UBRD also invited future economists to participate in a practical project, and today a group of students of the IEB programme began to conduct marketing research.

Also, students practiced managing their finances and making investments during a series of “Money life” games

Alisa Tyagunova, curator of the UBRD Financial Guide project, said:

“It is important for us to teach people how to effectively manage finances in an understandable and interesting format in the frame of the Financial Guide project. Our board game is a worthy example of increasing the financial culture among young people, simulating various career tracks, and helping to understand how banking products work in different life situations. The participants of the game demonstrated great involvement and high motivation! Congratulations to the winners of the “Money life” games: Maria Kondratieva, Anastasia Ivanova, Uliana Bogdanova, Samira Alyshova, Polina Pastukhova, Elena Marunyak, Evgenia Petrova, Elena Zakharchenko and Marina Somina. All students received branded souvenirs; the winners got useful prizes”.

“We participated in a board game corresponding to the real stages of the student's career path. We solved various work tasks, improved our skills, faced competition and investment decisions. The game turned out to be very interesting, we not only managed to have a good time, compete with other team members, but also immerse ourselves in a business atmosphere, think about a future career both as a corporate employee and as the owner of a business. A very cool experience, I would like to repeat and test my analytical thinking and strategic planning skills again!” – shared Polina Pastukhova.

“I really liked the game! The game allows you to upgrade your financial literacy, logical mindset, and guess what the next participant's move will be. Thanks to the UBRD company for creating such an exciting game and the IEB programme for organizing the event” –  added Samira Alyshova.

Gamification is an important component of the International Economics and Business programme curriculum that allows students to develop hard skills in different areas and soft skills. The IEB programme provides applied development of the discipline, inviting leading business experts to form required learning outcomes for successful employment.