Georgia FinTech Academy
Clayton State University is proud to be a member of the FinTech Collaborative--a partnership between 26 institutions in the University System of Georgia and the Georgia FinTech Academy. Georgia FinTech Academy is an online talent development platform developed through collaboration with the University System of Georgia and Georgia's FinTech industry leaders. Courses and programs developed through the FinTech Academy allow learners to access the specialized educational experiences necessary to enter the FinTech sector regardless of geographic location.
What is FinTech?
FinTech is the technology that makes electronic banking possible including everything from gift cards, debit cards, credit cards, ATMS, and the phone apps you use to electronically transfer money to your friends or pay bills. FinTech allows you to invest, insure, and bank from your mobile device without ever having to set foot in a building. Courses in financial technology prepare you for a high demand career in areas such as information technology, cybersecurity, data science, and business.
Did you know that Georgia is home to the largest concentration of financial technology companies in the country? Georgia companies process more than 70% of all credit and debit card transactions in the United States. Georgia has truly earned the name "Transaction Alley!"
FinTech in Georgia:
- $72 billion+ annual revenue in Georgia
- 160+ financial technology (FinTech) companies
- 70% of all U.S. payments processed run through a company located in Georgia
- 50,000+ employees are in FinTech in Georgia
- 15 million+ global card-enabled merchants rely upon Georgia companies
FinTech Core Courses
For students who have an interest in FinTech, a good way to explore your interest is by taking an introductory course as a free elective in your degree program. Sampling courses as electives allows students an opportunity to explore a given subject area as a potential career choice before pursuing that path.
The following courses have been developed by Georgia State University as part of the Georgia FinTech Academy and are available both online and in an electronic hybrid format through USG eMajor. Students at participating institutions are able to seamlessly register for these courses through their home institutional registration system without any transient admission requirements.
- FTA 4001 Foundations of FinTech
- FTA 4002 Financial Technologies
- FTA 4003 Commercial Banking and FinTech
- FTA 4005 Introduction to Financial Data Analytics
- FTA 4100 Introduction to Information Security for FinTech
eMajor courses are supported by USG eCampus and offer several benefits to students such as:
- Low $199/credit hour tuition rate
- Dedicated student success coaches
- Free online tutoring
Students enrolling in eMajor courses should be aware of the differences between collaborative courses and institutional courses:
- eMajor courses follow the USG Collaborative Academic Calendar. Important dates for these courses (such as start/end dates, midpoint, etc.) may differ from the institutional calendar. Students are expected to be aware of the collaborative calendar dates, which are usually different from campus academic calendars.
- eMajor courses are delivered through the GoVIEW Learning Management System. Students are given access to courses on the first day of class. However, students may login to GoVIEW and explore the eConnections tutorial course starting two weeks prior to the start of the semester. Visit the eMajor website for information on accessing GoView.
- eMajor students have free access to online library, tutoring, and writing resources in addition to existing on-campus resources for assistance in writing and the learning management system.
- Withdrawals from eMajor courses must be initiated by the student through USG eCampus. Information on withdrawal procedures and other important student forms is available on the eMajor website.
For questions about eMajor courses and programs available at Clayton State University, contact:
Dr. Shuju Bai, Interim Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology (ShujuBai@clayton.edu)
or
Dr. Elliot Krop, Interim Chair of the Department of Mathematics (ElliotKrop@clayton.edu)
or
USG eMajor emajor@ecampus.usg.edu 1-855-9eMajor (1-855-936-2567)
FinTech at Clayton State University
If you are a major in Information Technology or Mathematics, there are concentrations that provide opportunities for Clayton State students to take concentrations using these courses. The concentration requirements are listed below.
Security for Financial Technology Concentration (BIT)
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FTA 4001 | Foundations of Fintech | 3 |
| FTA 4002 | Financial Technologies | 3 |
| FTA 4100 | Intro to Info Security FinTech | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 9 | |
Financial Technology Concentration (BS Math)
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FTA 4001 | Foundations of Fintech | 3 |
| FTA 4002 | Financial Technologies | 3 |
| FTA 4005 | Intro to Financial Data Analytics | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 9 | |
If you are a major in any program in which you have free elective credit hours, you can take advantage of the FinTech Academy courses. While there are no published prerequisites and the courses are self-contained, it is helpful to have the following prerequisite knowledge/exposure:
- Income statements, balance sheets, statements of cash flows
- Time value of money calculations
- Value and describe stocks and bonds
- Evaluation of capital budgeting projects
- If you are interested in taking FTA 4004 Introduction to Financial Analytics, you should also have some background in statistics.
- If you are interested in taking FTA 4005 Introduction to Information Security for FinTech, some background in information technology and/or information security would be helpful.
eCampus has plans to develop online modules that will provide background in these areas. Until then, Clayton State students have access to some free resources within Skillsoft. Students interested in FinTech Academy courses should complete the following modules which are all at the beginner level
- Comprehending Financials: A guide to Financial Statements (29 minutes)
- Financial Statement Analysis for Non-financial Professionals (30 minutes)
- Preparing Financial Statements and Closing Accounts (27 minutes)
- Basic Accounting Concepts for Non-financial Professionals (30 minutes)
- Basic Budgeting for Non-financial Professionals (28 minutes)
- Accounting for Stock Transactions (20 minutes)
- The Banking Industry Overview: Version 4 (1 hour)
- Creating a Project Budget (PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition) (1 hour 8 minutes)
- Data Science Statistics: Inferential Statistics (1 hour 2 minutes)
- Data Science Statistics: Simple Descriptive Statistics (1 hour 11 minutes)
- Data Science Statistics: Using Python to Compute & Visualize Statistics (1 hour 16 minutes)
Important Registration Information: Before registering for FinTech courses, you should speak with your advisor about your available unmet free electives. It is very important to note that the FinTech Academy courses follow the USG Collaborative Academic Calendar. Important dates for these courses (such as start/end dates, midpoint, etc.) may differ from the Clayton State academic calendar. Students are expected to be aware of the collaborative calendar dates.
Important Financial Aid Information: Financial Aid is available only to students who are eligible and who take courses that are part of their program of study. At this time, for financial aid considerations, FinTech courses may count only as unmet free electives in a student's program of study, or in one of the two recognized major concentrations, and may or may not be eligible for financial aid. It is important for students to consult with academic advisors and a financial aid advisor to determine whether any of the FinTech courses may be eligible for financial aid.
Student Support Services: On-campus tutoring through the Center for Academic Success is not available for these courses, however eCampus provides online tutoring and coaching for students who are registered for the FinTech Academy courses. Writing assistance may be obtained through Clayton State's Writers' Studio. Assistance with the learning management system is available through the Clayton State Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
Textbooks: Some courses have free course materials and others require purchase of a textbook. Some textbooks may be available through the Clayton State Barnes and Noble store, and they are available through third party vendors. The textbooks for Spring 2020 are listed below.
How to Register for Spring 2021: In Spring 2021, Clayton State is offering 5 courses in collaboration with the FinTech Academy. All courses are fully online and some sections may have required weekly online class meetings through the FinTech Connect platform (this would be indicated in the notes for the course). It is important to carefully read the comments for the courses to select the best fit for your schedule.
FinTech Course Descriptions
Lead instructors for FinTech courses are faculty at Georgia State University, which is home to the Georgia FinTech Academy.
FTA 4001 Foundations of FinTech: The financial services industries are changing rapidly with the emergence of financial technology (FinTech). The objective of the course is to provide students with an overview of FinTech and introductions to its applications in financial services, such as commercial and investment banking, digital investing, financial advising, and insurance. Students are expected to develop a broad understanding of the recent FinTech development and its impact on different parts of the financial world. Students will also have hands-on problem-solving experiences that can be useful in FinTech applications and innovation. Topics may include but are not limited to: blockchain and cryptocurrencies, smart contracting, payments, digital banking, P2P lending, crowdfunding, robo-advising, and InsurTech.
FTA 4002 Financial Technologies: This course examines the information and communications tools, technologies, and standards integral to consumer, merchant, and enterprise services in the payments and financial service sectors. Explores technology’s role in reshaping FinTech businesses. Technologies span messaging, communication networks and gateways, core processing, mobile and online software, and application program interfaces (APIs). Includes the challenges, standards, and techniques associated with securing systems and data.
FTA 4003 Commercial Banking and FinTech The FinTech: revolution is creating significant disruption to the traditional processes of managing and regulating financial institutions, especially banks. Understanding, assessing and forecasting FinTech’s impact on banking is particularly important because proper management and oversight of financial institutions is essential to the efficient operation of the national, as well as global, economy. In this course, students will learn about the principles and practices of commercial bank management, bank regulation, and the tradeoffs between risk and return. Challenges presented by the FinTech evolution, including traditional and emergent competitors as well as demographic, social, and technology forces driving change in the industry, will be integrated throughout the entire course.
FTA 4005 Introduction to Financial Data Analytics: This course provides the foundation for financial data analytics used in business and FinTech applications. The objective of this course is for students to gain experience in analyzing financial data using modern machine learning techniques, statistical methods, and prediction models. Students will develop computational skills to perform data analysis using a modern statistical programming environment, and apply these skills to address a range of problems encountered by business firms, including those in the FinTech industry. The topics discussed include an introduction to R language, visualization of financial data, cluster analysis, simple and multiple linear regression, classification models, high dimension data analysis using Lasso, tree regression, and model assessment and selection using cross validation. Students will have hands-on experience in the development of data analytics applications to analyze real world financial problems.
FTA 4100 Introduction to Information Security for FinTech :The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the rapidly evolving and critical international arenas of Privacy, Information Security, and Critical Infrastructure for FinTech. This course is designed to develop knowledge and skills for security of information and information systems within FinTech organizations. It focuses on concepts and methods associated with security across several systems platforms, including internal and Internet-facing systems. The course utilizes a world view to examine critical infrastructure concepts as well as techniques for assessing risk associated with accidental and intentional breaches of security in a FinTech network. It introduces the associated issues of ethical uses of information and of privacy considerations.