The National Stock Exchange (NSE) & Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak have signed an agreement to launch a two year MBA course in Financial Markets and a three year BBA course in Financial Markets for the forthcoming July-August session.

Students will have the option of either doing a distance education course or a course, in which they can train in a financial sector company for four days in the week and do classroom training for 2 days in the week. This will help students to learn effectively on the job and make them more eligible for the job market.   

The Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU) has nearly 490 affiliated colleges for classroom training and more than 1000 extended learning centres for distance education.

Students who study the MBA course will also have to appear for 15 modules of NSE's NCFM or National Certification in Financial Markets. BBA students will have to qualify in 8 NCFM modules as part of their course. The NCFM modules are widely recognised in India as a necessary criterion for employment in the financial and capital markets space.

MDU students who qualify in these NCFM modules will be given industry skill certificates by NSE. The university will also factor in the marks given by NSE for these modules in the final grade given to the students for the MBA or BBA courses.

Maharshi Dayanand University was established in 1976 with the objective of promoting interdisciplinary higher education and research in the fields of environmental, ecological and life sciences.  It was rechristened as Maharshi Dayanand University in 1977 in the name of the renowned social reformer, Maharshi Dayanand. MDU has over 490 affiliated Institutions/Colleges, which specialize in general education, engineering, technology, computer sciences and management sciences in 10 districts of Haryana.

The National Stock exchange's MD and CEO Ravi Narain said, "Educating the youth on financial issues has been a key focus area of NSE for many years. The exchange  has conducted hundreds of seminars on financial literacy, to bring more people into the financial mainstream. This is another step in that direction to train the youth and empower them to take sound financial and investing decisions."

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has taken a number of initiatives to promote Financial Literacy and Financial Markets Education. In 1998, NSE launched an on-line education and certification programme called NSE’s Certification in Financial Markets or NCFM, which is now actively pursued by students, broker dealers, investors etc.

More than 12 lakh students have already appeared for various NCFM modules. Its flagship index, the NIFTY 50, is used extensively by investors in India and around the world to take exposure to the Indian equities market. NSE will train the faculty of all the affiliated colleges and study centres of MDU and will send trained industry professionals to deliver guest lectures in these colleges.

Apart from training the faculty, NSE will provide a mock investment, trading and portfolio management software, so that students can develop essential skills for financial markets.