University relations – professor FAQs
Answers to frequently asked questions from university professors.
General
The University Affiliation Program recognizes degree programs that are significantly aligned to the topics of the CFA® Program Candidate Body of Knowledge™ (CBOK) into their curricula. Through cooperation with universities around the world, we seek to promote ethics-based investment education in university degree programs aimed at developing investment professionals.
Additional information including requirements and benefits can be found on the University Affiliation Program page and in the University Relations Handbook. For more information and an application, please email us.
The Professor’s Kit is a slide deck presentation that helps university faculty explain the structure, benefits, fees, and registration requirements of the CFA Program. Email us to request your Professor’s Kit.
Contained within the Learning Ecosystem (LES) is an expanded set of resources such as practice questions, mock exams, and access to all three levels of the CFA Program Curriculum.
CFA Program candidates will receive access to the LES as soon as they register. Access is also offered to UAP Principal Contacts each year for reference and cannot be shared with colleagues or students. This can be requested from the CFA Institute University Relations team.
If you would like to use content from the CFA Institute Learning Ecosystem in the classroom, you must obtain copyright permission. Please email us for more information.
The Ethics Learning Lab is an interactive digital learning community which offers world-class learning programs, a library of resources, and a community focused on building and promoting ethics and professionalism in the finance industry. Content in the Lab can be used to meet the ethics teaching requirements for affiliated universities. Here are access instructions:
- Go to CFA Institute Ethics Learning Lab (you will be taken to the CFA Institute website).
- Create a CFA Institute account (or log in if you already have an account).
- After your account is created, you will be redirected back to the Ethics Learning Lab.
- On the Welcome page, watch the video for a brief overview of how the platform works, click continue, and explore.
We also offer the Ethical Decision-Making (EDM) Toolkit for universities to give their own EDM workshops. The toolkit consists of a 10 minute tutorial video, a PowerPoint Presentation and talking points that can be personalized for your students, and an Ethics Casebook with additional cases to enhance your webinar or event.
There aren’t CBOK requirements for each level but for undergraduate degrees, affiliated universities are required to cover 70% of the Level I curriculum. Graduate programs must cover 70% of CBOK across all levels.
The University Students page provides extensive information for students on CFA Program and certificates, exam topics, and career opportunities in finance. The University Student FAQ answers many frequently asked student questions.
The Professor Resources Portal provides UAP Principal Contacts with exclusive content and resources to support a successful affiliation. Access is exclusively for UAP Principal Contacts, and login details will be provided by CFA Institute. UAP only: Click here to access the portal.
Scholarships
Additional details on the scholarships that CFA Institute offers may be found on the scholarships page.
Only students enrolled at an affiliated university are eligible for student scholarships. If your university is not currently part of the UAP program, your students may be eligible for other available scholarships. Please see the Scholarships page to learn more.
UAP Principal Contacts may refer to the PC Guide to Student Scholarships for detailed information about the scholarship program and how affiliated universities can begin awarding scholarships to their students. PCs can share the Student Guide to Student Scholarships with their students. This provides an overview and a step-by-step guide to submitting a completed application. Both documents may be found on the UAP Professor Portal.
UAP Affiliated Universities
UAP PCs may complete the Additional Requirements Survey found on the UAP Professor Portal to ask students for Additional Requirements Before Submission of their scholarships - for example a CV, cover letter etc. They can see what other universities have listed using this link: Additional Requirements Before Submission PDF. This can often help them to decide who to award if they have a lot of students interested.
Students can apply for scholarships from September 1 through July 31. The scholarship platform is not available during the month of August for annual maintenance. Please note if these scholarships are not awarded by July 31, they will not carry over to the next program year.
We suggest that university PCs create an internal university process letting students know by when they would like students to apply, and by when they will be awarded the scholarships. The scholarship timeline is flexible and allows universities to develop a timeline that works for them.
Because of the increased flexibility with computer exam delivery, we no longer impose deadlines relating to specific CFA exams. Students will have a year to use their scholarship once the PC has awarded it and may choose any exam delivery period that suits them in that year. However, if a student wants to take the exam in a particular exam window, the PC will need to award the scholarship in time to meet registration deadline. We would recommend that PCs award scholarships at least 6 months prior to the exam the student plans to take.
The CIPM® Program scholarships are for a specific exam offering. CIPM is available in September and March each year, and awarded scholarships must be used for the next upcoming exam.
A scholarship recipient may take either exam at any testing center as long as there is a seat available to them when they schedule their exam.
If an affiliated university would like to designate a secondary contact as scholarship reviewer in place of the PC, the PC should email us to request this change. Please include the reviewer’s name, email address, and CFA ID
If you are unsure of your CFA Institute ID number or have not yet created an account on our website, you can use this guide to obtain your CFA Institute ID.
Automatic rejections are not sent. You may manually reject any students in the system. Our team will reject anyone remaining in the system in early August.
Registered candidates are not eligible to apply for or receive a scholarship. If a student is not registered and submits a CFA Program Student scholarship but later registers before receiving the award decision email, their application will be voided. The scholarship reviewer will receive email confirmation if this occurs.
Yes, students who are rejected will get early bird pricing. This will automatically be applied to their account the Friday after the award decision is made.
Yes, students are welcome to apply as many times as they like as long as they are eligible and enrolled at an affiliated university.
According to our policy, the scholarship applications should be reviewed while the awardee is still enrolled as a student. Applications can be reviewed between September 1- July 31; we encourage reviewers to review scholarships early and often. If the awardee has applied and been granted the scholarship, it is valid for one year from the time of being awarded; therefore, they can use the scholarship after their graduation.
There is no probation period. A PC can award a scholarship to a student if the scholarship is granted while they are still a student. Candidates are permitted to take the exam a maximum of two times per calendar year, but not in consecutive windows or windows that are six months or less apart. Candidates will have a total of six maximum attempts per exam level.