ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The Bloomberg Terminal is a modern icon of financial markets and is used by more than 325,000 of the world’s most influential decision makers. Now, Essex County College has full access to the same real-time financial market data from Bloomberg as do the top business and financial industry experts.
Through the federal Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, ECC recently received the funding required to add two Bloomberg Terminal software packages in the college’s Faculty Technology Resource Center. The Bloomberg Terminal software is available to faculty in the Division of Business and students enrolled in the division’s eligible CTE programs. Essex is one of four New Jersey community colleges to have Bloomberg Terminal access on campus.
The Bloomberg Terminal software provides real-time and historical data, market-moving news and analytics to help leading business and financial professionals worldwide make more informed investment decisions.
“Having Bloomberg Terminal software on campus is a major selling point for our college,” said professor Germaine Albuquerque, acting chairperson of the Division of Business. “The ‘who’s who’ of the financial world use it and that’s very significant for our college.”
Bloomberg Market Concepts certification, which takes 10 to 15 hours to acquire, is required by the college to use the system, said business professor Jean-Wilner Alexandre, coordinator of the college’s Finance Program, as he recently watched two students start the certification process in the Resource Center.
“Having the Bloomberg Terminals here increases our profile,” said Alexandre, who completed the BMC certification several years ago.
Essex County College’s Bloomberg Terminal subscriptions will serve as a resource for both students and faculty. It will enable students to become familiar with tools used in financial services, and reinforce classroom theory, while faculty can use it to further their own research.
Alexandre said the software is much more “sophisticated” than other, readily available, options. He said the Bloomberg Terminal provides its users the latest business and financial updates.
Albuquerque said securing Bloomberg Terminal subscriptions has been in the works for several years, when interim President Augustine Boakye was the Business Division chairperson.
“I applaud the hard work of everyone in the Business Division in securing Bloomberg Terminals, and I look forward to our students and faculty earning their BMC certification,” Boakye said. “Students will see how the certification and the many applications that will be available to them provides huge career boosts.”
ECC student Tonhon Haba, a business administration major, has already started on her BMC certification.
“I will be using the data for my school work and in my career. There’s just so much information available now,” said Tonhon, a Newark resident who is interested in a finance career.
Fellow student Mina Michael, a business administration major from Bayonne, said he likes the real-time data he has at his fingertips.
“This is something that has always interested me and being BMC certified will definitely help me going forward into the business world,” he said.
According to Albuquerque, the “next five months will be a good learning curve for us as we look to expand the availability of the program.”
Looking to increase the college’s number of Bloomberg Terminals in the near future, Alexandre said, “I would like all our business students to become certified on the Bloomberg Terminal.”
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