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Journal of Education for Business

ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20

Effectiveness, Teaching, and Assessments: Survey

Evidence from Finance Courses

Ming Ming Lai , Jing Hui Kwan , Hazlina Abdul Kadir , Mahdhir Abdullah &

Voon Choong Yap

To cite this article: Ming Ming Lai , Jing Hui Kwan , Hazlina Abdul Kadir , Mahdhir Abdullah & Voon Choong Yap (2009) Effectiveness, Teaching, and Assessments: Survey Evidence from Finance Courses, Journal of Education for Business, 85:1, 21-29, DOI: 10.1080/08832320903217556

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320903217556

Published online: 07 Aug 2010.

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CopyrightC Heldref Publications ISSN: 0883-2323

DOI: 10.1080/08832320903217556

Effectiveness, Teaching, and Assessments: Survey

Evidence from Finance Courses

Ming Ming Lai, Jing Hui Kwan, and Hazlina Abdul Kadir

Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Mahdhir Abdullah

Islamic Science University of Malaysia, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Voon Choong Yap

Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia

The present article examines the effectiveness, teaching, assessment methods, and the im-portance of finance concepts in three undergraduate finance courses in a private university in Malaysia. Approximately 224 undergraduates (finance majors) were surveyed and demon-strated positive attitudes toward the effectiveness of the finance subjects. The students indicated that the finance degree courses are able to produce analytical, computer, communication, inter-personal, and language skills for them. The chalk-and-talk lecture method and tutorial session are still the most important teaching methods of all. The risks and returns concept emerged as the most important finance concept among all.

Keywords: Assessment, Effectiveness, Finance course, Learning outcomes, Teaching

Academics and professionals have become increasingly con-cerned about improving the quality of undergraduate educa-tion in recent years. One way institueduca-tions can improve the learning experience of students is through well structured course structure which might include well defined syllabi, internship program, case study, use of online tools and finan-cial analysis software.

Becker (2002) indicated that education and training are the most important investments in human capital. In many studies in the United States, the findings have shown that high school and college education greatly increase a person’s income, even after netting out direct and indirect costs of schooling. People with more education tend to have higher IQs and are better educated.

Economists regard expenditures on education, training, medical care, and so on as investments in human capital. They are called human capital because people cannot be separated

Correspondence should be addressed to Jing Hui Kwan, Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Jalan Multimedia, 63100 Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia. E-mail: jhkwan@mmu.edu.my

from their knowledge, skills, health, or values in the way they can be separated from their financial and physical assets.

Ongoing studies have also found similar results in many countries with different cultures and economic systems. The earnings of more educated people are almost always well above average, although the gains are generally larger in less developed countries (Becker, 2002)

We realized that although there was substantial research on financial education, little work has been done to assess the undergraduate finance course. Moreover, previous re-search in the area of teaching finance had focused on the content of the courses taught. These studies, however, did not provide any insights into the effectiveness, teaching meth-ods, and human capital investments of a higher learning institution. Therefore, we are motivated to bridge the gap by examining various aspects of the undergraduate finance course such as the effectiveness of finance course accord-ing to the enrolled courses and subjects, the assessment of the teaching methods, human capital investment, and impor-tance of finance concepts which are largely obtained from the students’ perception in first-private university—Multimedia University (MMU) in Malaysia. Over the years, a wide ar-ray of instructional methods, media and other teaching aids

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22 M. M. LAI ET AL.

were used in conducting the classes for each course. This includes incorporating online tools such as the Multimedia Learning System (MMLS) and financial analysis software such as Thomson DataStream databases, to enhance students’ learning experience in MMU.

The findings provide important insights to the top man-agement of higher education in enhancing effectiveness of fi-nance courses and student learning experience. The findings can be a useful source of reference for other institutions of higher learning that offer finance courses and are concerned about increasing the competitiveness of the design, course structure, and delivery of finance courses at undergraduate level.

LITERATURE REVIEW

In recent years, there are several studies on undergraduate financial education. Previous research on financial education could be categorized into four main groups, namely cur-riculum development, development and delivery of courses, pedagogic tools, and faculty career-related topics (Krishnan et al., 1999). Besides, there were numerous academic stud-ies which investigated ways to improve the design, structure, and delivery of the introductory finance courses at the under-graduate level (Balachandran et al., 2006; Berry & Farragher, 1987; Cooley & Heck, 1996; Krishnan et al.).

Some researchers also focused on identifying the most important finance topics that can be covered in one course or in one academic major. For example, Cooley and Heck (1996) conducted a survey among finance academic professors to identify which topics were perceived as most essential to teach in introductory finance courses. Similar research to identify important courses for finance major was done among financial executives in large corporations by McWilliams and Pantalone (1994). Anderson, Envick, and Roth (2003) surveyed entrepreneurs and financial advisors to determine which finance topics are more important and to be included in entrepreneurial finance courses.

Bernheim and Garrett (2003) investigated the efficacy of employer-based financial education, focusing on the effects of these courses on saving. The study tries to find the relation between financial education in the workplace and household saving (including saving outside of pension plans). They found that the availability of financial education in the work-place may be systematically correlated with the underlying predisposition to save, that the estimates may confound the effects of unobserved plan characteristics, and that educa-tion may affect reporting, rather than behavior. Though they are aware of the limitations of cross-sectional analysis, they believed that the results favor the hypothesis that financial ed-ucation significantly stimulates savings for retirement among low and moderate savers. Further analysis supports the view that this effect represents a net contribution to total saving rather than asset shifting.

Our study is rather similar to Krishnan et al.’s (1999) and Balachandran et al.’s (2006), except that we investigate the undergraduate course as a whole. Krishnan et al. exam-ined the differences in perceptions and expectations among students who have an option to major in finance in their un-dergraduate university degree and those who do not. They surveyed students from three different business schools to learn about their perceptions toward finance and the intro-ductory finance course offered. The findings concluded that although students found that the course was difficult, it was yet interesting and useful. However, most of the students in-dicated that they would not take the course if it were not required.

Vihtelic (1999) stressed that theory of finance instruction needs to be developed to specify the requisite topics and ex-periences, discipline structure, topic sequence, and reward system that best achieves student growth. How the lecturer teaches is as important as what he or she teaches, and what he or she teaches needs to be presented in ways consis-tent with students’ views. A well taught personal finance course, the first course of the undergraduate finance curricu-lum, would provide the necessary fundamental knowledge to study all other subsequent finance subjects. It would also promote transfer of knowledge in later undergraduate finance and business course work.

Saunders (1999) reported the results of a national survey of corporate finance faculty teaching methods and assessment techniques. Of the 852 surveys sent out, 170 were returned. The survey results indicated that lectures and instructor-led problem solving were the dominant teaching methods. Text-book reading and individual homework were the primary outsiclass assignments. Students’ overall grades were de-termined almost entirely by individual in-class exams. Most institutions of higher education that offer finance courses used computers in their teaching. Approximately half of these institutions assessed their students by group work and writ-ing assignments, but fewer than half assessed student through presentations.

Blundell et al. (1999) provided a nontechnical review of the evidence on the returns to education and training for the individual, the firm, and the economy at large. Their studies involved either a growth accounting theoretical framework or new growth theories. Although the empirical findings of this work did not distinguish between the two approaches, they found substantial evidence on the contribution of education to economic growth.

Some related studies emphasized the differing perspec-tives of academics, practitioners, and students on curriculum development. For example, DeMong et al. (1979) surveyed financial executives and academicians to learn the differing perceptions of what skills finance majors most need. Graham and Krueger (1996) compared the opinions of chief financial officers and finance students regarding the importance of various skills to finance majors. In addition, Gup (1994) in-vestigated on topics that were perceived as most important

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in an introductory finance course among finance professors and chief executive officers in large corporations. Gup then summarized the responses from finance professors and chief executive officers (CEOs). Their results suggested that CEOs placed a higher value than did finance professors on account-ing subjects and cost of capital. CEOs placed a lower value on subjects like valuation and the capital asset pricing model. Using a Likert-type scale, the finance professors ranked the topics from 1 (most important) to 6 (least important), and those rankings are as follows: (1) present value, (2) capi-tal budgeting, (3) the capicapi-tal asset pricing model, (4) capicapi-tal structure, (5) valuation, (6) accounting topics, and (7) cost of capital. CEOs used the same ranking system, and theirs were as follows: (1) present value, (2) accounting topics, (3) capital structure, (4) capital budgeting, (5) cost of capital, and (6) the capital asset pricing model.

DATA AND METHOD

The present article investigates the undergraduate finance courses offered by MMU, Malaysia. MMU was the first government-approved private university in Malaysia. Three

finance degree courses offered by MMU are Bachelor of Financial Engineering (Honors), and Bachelor of Business Administration (Honors) in Finance with Multimedia. The degrees are offered by the Faculty of Management in Cyber-jaya campus. Alternatively, Bachelor of Business Adminis-tration (Hons) in Banking and Finance is offered in Faculty of Business and Law in Melaka campus. In the present study, a total of 224 completed questionnaires are obtained from these three finance courses.

The present article aimed to study the perceptions of finance students regarding the finance course offered by Faculty of Management and Faculty of Business and Law. Three different sets of questionnaires were distributed among students enrolled in three different finance undergraduate courses from two campuses. We recognized student per-ceptions on the validity to this study may be of limited value. However, according to several studies by Krishnan et al. (1999) and Balachandran et al. (2006), they found that students’ inputs could both enable us to better un-derstand the student needs and to evaluate the effective-ness of the course. Students are in the best position to tell us what they are getting from the course because they are the users of the course. Furthermore, because students’

TABLE 1

Demographic Characteristics of Survey Respondents

Respondents

Variables/Characteristics R1 R2 R3 All

Gender

Female 61 (70.9%) 68 (76.4%) 41 (83.7%) 170 (75.9%)

Male 25 (29.1%) 21 (23.6%) 8 (16.3%) 54 (24.1%)

Race

Malay 16 (18.6%) 32 (36.0%) 7 (14.3%) 55 (24.6%)

Chinese 66 (76.7%) 51 (57.3%) 33 (67.3%) 150 (67.0%)

Indian 3 (3.5%) 6 (6.7%) 7 (14.3%) 16 (7.1%)

Others 1 (1.2%) — 2 (4.1%) 3 (1.3%)

Marital Status

Married 2 (2.3%) 1 (1.1%) — 3 (1.3%)

Single 84 (97.7%) 88 (98.9%) 49 (100%) 221 (98.7%)

Age

–Mean 3.263 3.174 3.072 3.188

–Standard deviation 0.403 0.321 0.475 0.396

Missing Value: 7 14 7 28

Number of Respondents 86 89 49 224

R1 =Respondents majoring in Bachelor of Financial Engineering; R2=Respondents majoring in Bachelor of Business

Administration (Finance with Multimedia); R3=Respondents majoring in Bachelor of Business Administration (Banking and

Finance).

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24 M. M. LAI ET AL.

TABLE 2

Ratings of the Perceived Effectiveness of Their Enrolled Course

N 1 2 3 4 5 Mean

Perception of Effectiveness of Enrolled Course: 0.792

Provides me with sufficient knowledge in Finance area.

224 0 6 51 150 17 3.79 0.608 0.533

Offers me a range of useful knowledge on how to deal in the real business world.

Prepares me to work in the current job market.

223 1 24 97 85 16 3.41 0.794 0.729

Enables me to handle important financial analysis tools.

224 6 32 88 85 13 3.3 0.881 0.717

General Satisfaction: 0.788

I am satisfied with the overall:

-Course 223 2 17 78 109 17 3.55 0.781 0.640

-Faculty 215 7 21 107 70 10 3.26 0.823 0.882

-University 215 7 26 96 76 10 3.26 0.852 0.875

perceptions play an important part on their receptivity to the course and its content, the understanding of these percep-tions should enable the university to assess the course as a whole.

A pilot study was first conducted using self-administered questionnaires. A series of questions concerning the effec-tiveness, teaching, and assessment methods as well as impor-tance of finance concepts in undergraduate finance courses on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) were designed. In section A, 10 ques-tions were designed to solicit the respondents’ attitude toward effectiveness of the undergraduate finance course. The sub-section A asked for the responses of respondents by indicat-ing their agreement with each statement on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In section B, the questionnaire elicited the respon-dents’ opinions on the importance of teaching assessments and methods. Section C of the questionnaire asked human capital development from the three finance degree courses. Students were asked to indicate whether the finance degree courses have provided analytical, computer, communication, interpersonal, and language skills for them. In section D, re-spondents were asked to indicate the importance of finance concepts and its relative application to the real world. The last section of the questionnaire gathered demographic infor-mation about the respondents, such as gender, race, marital status, age, education level, the course enrolled, the number of years in the finance course, background on preuniversity education, and academic achievements. The only exceptions

to the 5-point Likert-type scale are questions seeking demo-graphic information and additional comments. We preferred specific word responses to these questions as these suited the questions better. Mean scores were used to rank the finance subjects from most important to least important according to each group.

To be effective, survey instruments need to have both re-liability and validity. Thus, both rere-liability and validity are tested together as they are related to each other. Reliability is estimated through internal consistency in this study. sti-mation is based on the correlation among the variables com-prising the set, typically, Cronbach’s alpha (Garson, 2006). Internal consistency is a type of convergent validity, with.6 considered acceptable for exploratory purposes,.7 considered adequate for confirmatory purposes, and.8 considered good for confirmatory purposes (Garson).

Factor analysis with principal component analysis and varimax (orthogonal) rotation is used to reduce the num-ber of original variables to fewer factors. All retained factor solutions that have initial Eigenvalues of more than 1 and variables of more than 50% factor loadings of the rotated component matrix were accepted. Those factor loadings of less than 50% are eliminated even though the cut-off factor loading is purely arbitrary.1_{Removal of low factor loading}

items resulted in moderate to high factor loading within the specific construct. Therefore, items in the survey instruments were considered to have good construct validity. For example, the factor loading for perceived effectiveness of the enrolled course ranged from .533 to .758 and general satisfaction with

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TABLE 3

Student Mean Score Ranking of Finance Subjects (Perception of Effectiveness of Finance Subjects)

Mean Standard Deviation Cronbach’s Alpha

Bachelor of Financial Engineering 0.868

Investment 4.11 0.637

Principles of Finance 4.02 0.64

Portfolio Management 3.94 0.665

Financial Derivatives 3.91 0.648

Statistics for Finance 3.80 0.728

International Finance 3.76 0.652

Corporate Risk Management 3.70 0.661

Financial Modelling 3.62 0.743

Financial Markets and Institutions 3.61 0.709

Bank Management 3.54 0.667

Bachelor of Business Administration (Multimedia with Finance) 0.879

Financial Management 1 3.98 0.668

Personal Finance 3.94 0.709

Practical Financial Analysis 3.89 0.711

Tax Planning 3.85 0.681

Advanced Topics in Finance 3.84 0.611

Corporate Financial Strategies 3.84 0.63

Financial Statement Analysis 3.77 0.730

Merger and Acquisition 3.38 0.565

Islamic Banking and Finance 3.24 0.737

Bachelor of Business Administration (Banking and Finance) 0.903

Financial Derivative 3.92 0.679

Corporate Finance 3.9 0.621

Credit management 3.80 0.612

Global Finance 3.78 0.621

Mergers and Acquisition 3.78 0.654

Risk Management 3.73 0.700

Offshore Banking and Finance 3.73 0.785

Note. Respondents evaluated the effectiveness of enrolled courses on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

the course, faculty, and university factor loading ranged from .64 to .882.

Prior to the reliability and validity tests, we conducted a face validity test of the questionnaire items with the finance lecturers who had taught finance courses. They serve as pan-els of content experts and their comments as well as judg-ments are taken into consideration to establish face validity.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 reports on the demographic characteristics of re-spondents. In total, 224 students had participated in the

present study, of which 85, 89, and 49 students were from Bachelor of Financial Engineering (BFE), Bachelor of Busi-ness Administration (BBA) majoring Finance with Multime-dia, and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) major-ing Bankmajor-ing and Finance, respectively. Female respondents comprised 75.9% of the respondents when compared with male respondents. This is consistent with the current phe-nomenon in which female students outnumbered the male in the Malaysian institutions of higher learning. Chinese stu-dents consists of 67% of the responstu-dents are the largest group of the respondents, followed by Malay, Indian, and other races. The self-reported average cumulative GPA for

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26 M. M. LAI ET AL.

TABLE 4

Human Capital Investments of Three Undergraduate Finance Courses

Items Mean

Standard

Deviation Factor Loading

Cronbach’s Alpha

My knowledge in Finance: 0.816

Is important in preparing me for the job market 4.10 0.723 0.760

Is applicable in my daily work 3.60 0.721 0.700

Is the core knowledge that I should have in order to perform my work

3.89 0.701 0.756

Makes the company I work for put high value on me 3.75 0.787 0.795

Gives me an edge over my colleagues 3.60 0.762 0.708

Computer skills acquired while studying at the university:

0.665

Were acquired in the Finance courses 3.43 0.886 0.808

Are applicable to my daily work 3.79 0.745 0.729

Make me perform better compared to my colleagues in all tasks

3.71 0.765 0.741

Communication skills developed while studying in the university:

0.712

Are developed in the course of doing Finance subjects 3.39 0.834 0.766

Are developed through group projects 3.88 0.729 0.811

Are developed through class discussions 3.69 0.781 0.768

Interpersonal skills: 0.705

Are developed while studying at the university 3.87 0.769 0.566

Are essential to prepare me for the job market 4.00 0.718 0.870

Enable me to work well with any person at any level in the organization

3.90 0.760 0.855

Language skills: 0.800

Finance degree course opens the opportunity for me to acquire language skills

3.32 0.911 0.803

I have improved my verbal skill 3.53 0.847 0.856

I have improved my writing skill 3.48 0.836 0.793

Developing Attitudes while pursuing a Finance degree: 0.836

I have developed sense of responsibility 3.79 0.780 0.772

I have developed good attitudes towards teamwork 3.87 0.705 0.773

I have developed good time management 3.61 0.813 0.791

I have developed self-esteem 3.66 0.777 0.800

Possessing good attitudes is a prerequisite to being a good employee

3.95 0.805 0.630

Note. Respondents evaluated the effectiveness of enrolled courses on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

BFE students is 3.263, followed by BBA majoring Finance with Multimedia with average cumulative GPA of 3.174, and BBA majoring Banking and Finance, 3.188. The majority (67%) of the respondents are from FOSEE (preuniversity) level from Multimedia University. This also implies that the preuniversity students provide the main source of finance students at the degree level.

Table 2 summarizes the rankings made by the respon-dents and the ratings of the perceived effectiveness of their respective enrolled courses. The number of respondents re-ports the mean score rankings of 12 statements structured to investigate the effectiveness of the respondent’s enrolled course from their perspectives. All statements received mean scores higher than 3, which imply that most respondents at least fairly agreed all the statements addressed in the ques-tionnaire. Most of them agreed that their enrolled course provides them with sufficient knowledge in finance area with

a mean of 3.79. The mean score were merely 3.3 as for the statement “enables me to handle important financial analysis tools.” Interestingly, when the respondents were asked about their satisfaction toward the faculty and university, the mean was only 3.26. Table 3 reports the mean score rankings by the students according to their perceived finance subjects which contribute to the effectiveness of their enrolled course. All topics received mean scores higher than 3, implying all sub-jects offered are at least fairly contributed to the effectiveness of the course as perceived. However the ranking varies ac-cording to the different courses. One of the reasons is that the subjects offered for the courses are slightly different to accommodate the specific needs of the course itself. Second, the differences might also derive from different course fa-cilitators or teaching methods whereby they have different teaching materials, such as textbook or syllabus in different faculties and campuses. The highest ranked topic, however,

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TABLE 5

Perception of the Importance of Teaching Methods Assessment and Finance Concepts

Perception of the Importance of Teaching Methods Assessment:

Assessment System 0.673

Assignment 3.93 0.711

Text and Reference Materials 0.590

Local textbooks 3.61 0.917

International texts 3.70 0.762

Articles (printed or online) 3.56 0.784

Online notes 4.15 0.730

Newspaper/magazines 3.72 0.811

Teaching Method 0.699

Lecture (face-to-face) 4.26 0.653

Tutorial 4.29 0.695

Respondents’ Perception of Finance Concepts: 0.834

Present Value 4.27 0.678

Costs of Capital 4.17 0.699

Cash Flow and Financial Statement Analysis 4.28 0.652

Risk and Return 4.34 0.622

Financial Markets 4.09 0.724

was similar between BFE and BBA (Multimedia Finance), which was Investment subject where the mean was more than 4.0. As for BBA (Banking and Finance), the enrolled students perceived that Financial Management I subject con-tributed the most to the effectiveness of their course. The perceived least contributing subjects were Islamic Banking and Finance, as rated by both BBA (Multimedia Finance) and BBA (Banking and Finance) students.

Table 4 reports the human capital development from the three finance degree courses. The students indicated that the finance degree courses have been able to produce analyti-cal, computer, communication, interpersonal, and language skills for them. Overall, the finance courses were able to pro-duce knowledgeable finance graduates and developed good attitudes while pursuing a finance course.

From Table 5, the result shows that the respondents’ per-ception of finance concepts and respondents’ perper-ception of relative real-world application and examples in the lecture and classroom materials have alpha value of more than.70. It means that there is a high correlation between the finance concepts learned in class and relative industry application and examples. More exposure to the industry could aid them to fully understand the concepts as well as to expose them to the financial world development.

The mean result shows that finance students in MMU perceive that final exam is the most important mode for the assessment system, followed by assignment and midterm examination. Quizzes would be the least as some classes do

conduct quizzes, but others may not. Meanwhile, for text and reference materials, they perceive online notes as the most important, followed by newspaper and magazines and international texts. Studying in a multimedia university, the use of online notes is high. Yet, to some extent, the result shows, they prefer articles the least, printed or even online. This shows that the student lacks interest toward the academic articles as part of teaching materials in Malaysia, despite the good content and references these articles provide.

Students also feel local textbooks and international text-books as least important text and reference materials. Rich and Rose (1997), in their study particularly in finance text-books, of confusing and sometimes conflicting terminology for various interest rate concepts, found that all the textbooks reviewed provide at least some coverage of all the fundamen-tal interest rate concepts. However, most books failed to dif-ferentiate clearly among the various interest rate concepts by using a single term (or similar terms) for multiple concepts. In addition, the majority of the texts neglect to link different applications of the same concept, often using different terms for a single concept across different chapters of the book. All of these practices can create unnecessary confusion for in-troductory finance students trying to understand the different interest rate concepts.

The teaching method, both face-to-face lecture and tuto-rial are deem important in the view of students enrolling in finance subject in the Faculty of Management Multimedia University. In terms of student’s perception of importance of

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28 M. M. LAI ET AL.

TABLE 6

Respondents’ Perception of Relative Real World Application and Examples of Finance Subjects in Three Undergraduate Finance Courses

Bachelor of Financial Engineering 0.858

Investments 4.26 0.823

Financial Market and Institutions 3.64 0.990

Bachelor of Business Administration (Multimedia with Finance) 0.779

Financial Statement Analysis 3.97 0.789

Bachelor of Business Administration (Banking and Finance) 0.883

Risk Management 3.86 0.764

Mergers and Acquisition 3.84 0.898

Corporate Finance 3.82 0.727

Credit Management 3.71 0.816

Global Finance 3.65 0.779

Offshore Banking and Finance 3.63 1.112

Note. Respondents evaluated the effectiveness of enrolled courses on a scale of 1 (least important) to 5 (most important).

the finance concepts, the survey results indicated that students perceived that all five finance concepts asked in the survey were important with mean score values ranging from 4.09 to 4.34. As shown in Table 4, not much variation was found with risk and return (4.34), cash flow and financial statement analysis (4.28), present value (4.27), costs of capital (4.17), and financial markets (4.09).

Students learn complex concepts best when structured in ways that have meaning and relevance to them. The result of the present study in the section of respondent’s perception of relative real world application and examples in the lecture and classroom materials shows, both the Bachelor of Finan-cial Engineering and Bachelor of Business Administration (Multimedia with Finance) feels investments lecture class as the best in meeting this objective. For Bachelor of Financial Engineering, the next most applicable lecture classes are all the lecture classes offered during their final year, which are portfolio management, financial derivatives, corporate risk management, and corporate financial strategies.

For the Bachelor of Business Administration (Multime-dia with Finance) students, they perceive that investments, corporate risk management, and financial statement

analy-sis classes exposed them with relative real world examples compared with other finance classes. Meanwhile, not many variations were found in the perception of Bachelor of Busi-ness Administration (Banking and Finance) students in the courses offered. The reason may be due to more subjects offered for this major, so the students are exposed to more specific examples in the area of the specific subject. High standard deviations are notable for Islamic Banking and Fi-nance subject as well as Offshore Banking and FiFi-nance sub-ject. This may be due to small number of students enrolled in the class. In addition, there were 67% Chinese respon-dents who were usually non-Muslim in this survey. Thus, they may not be interested to take an elective subject in the field of Islamic Banking.

CONCLUSIONS

The overall results showed the students’ perceived effec-tiveness of three undergraduate finance courses and finance subjects in MMU. In terms of investment on human capital, finance courses in MMU were able to produce knowledge-able finance graduates.

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Despite the University’s emphasis on online lecture notes and multimedia learning, the chalk-and-talk lecture method as well as face-to-face tutorial session remain the most im-portant the teaching methods. The students had also indicated that the five most finance concepts are most important with a mean score of 4.09–4.34. The risks and returns concept emerged as the most important finance concept among all.

Future research could be conducted to examine other courses (such as economics, marketing, management ma-joring) on students’ attitudes toward undergraduate courses enrolled. A comparative study could also be performed to find out about responses from the courses in the Malaysia, Asia-Pacific regions and across the continents.

NOTE

1. This is purely arbitrary, but common social science practice uses a minimum cut-off of .3 or .35. Norman and Streiner (1994: 139) give this alternative formula for mini-mum loadings when the sample size, N, is 100 or more: Min FL =5.152/[SQRT(N-2)]. Another arbitrary rule-of-thumb terms loadings as “weak” if less than .4, “strong” if more than .6, and otherwise as “moderate.” These rules are arbi-trary (Garson, 2006).

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