A £2m endowment will fund the Grosvenor Professor of Real Estate Finance who will lead the new finance-based real estate masters degree at Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is to launch a ground-breaking education programme for real estate finance in Europe. The University’s Department of Land Economy will begin a Masters of Philosophy in Real Estate Finance in October, which will comprise modules such as securitisation, investment and risk analysis, urban economics, and mortgage securities and property law.
The course aims to bridge the gap between the growing requirements of the industry for more finance-focused post-graduates and the more traditional real estate education in Europe, mainly the UK, which has its roots in valuation.
Professor Malcolm Grant, head of the Land Economy department, said it would have a business school-style approach. “It is not a valuation-based course. It will revolve around finance. We want to establish this as the premier European programme in real estate finance: it will be extremely rigorous and is aimed at top achievers.”
The masters will be led by Professor Jim Shilling, formerly of the University of Wisconsin in the US. Shilling will be the first Grosvenor Professor of Real Estate Finance following a £2m endowment for the professorship from the Duke of Westminster, owner of the UK property company Grosvenor.
The course has had strong backing and advice from influential property professionals in Europe. The programme’s external advisory board includes: Jeremy Newsum; chief executive of Grosvenor; Jon Zehner, managing director and global head of real estate at JP Morgan; Christophe Tanghe, managing director, private equity at Lehman Brothers; Michael Topham, managing director of Hines Europe; Alec Emmot, managing director at Société Foncière Lyonnaise; Chris Bartram, chairman of Haslemere and Paul Orchard-Lisle, chairman of Healey & Baker Investment Advisors and a board member of Cushman & Wakefield.
