Class of 2024: Oliver Marland

Oliver Marland is proud of his achievements at Essex, especially his involvement in setting up a pioneering scheme which gives students hands-on experience of the economics industry.

Along with a group of fellow students, and with the support of lecturers and alumni, he helped to establish the Student Investment Trading Fund (SITFund) and became its President during his last academic year.

Graduating this summer with a BSc Financial Economics from the Department of Economics, Olly is proud of his association with the SITFund.

“Allowing us to start a Student Investment Fund, and helping us increase our knowledge within the industry, has been incredibly useful to a lot of students,” he said. “And from a personal point of view, the people I have met through the SITFund and the students I was able to learn from, allowed me to grow my knowledge within the financial sector – this will always be an important memory to me.”

Olly praises the support from the Department and other staff.

“We wouldn’t have been able to start the SITFund without the help and expertise of Marco Francesconi and Antonio Vivas from the Department and Mark Williams from Philanthropy.

“They always went above and beyond to help us whenever we had a problem. They would often get in touch and would go out of their way to check up, whether it was over an email or in-person. I will always be grateful for how I was treated and for my friendship with them.”

Originally from Chamonix in France, Olly came to Essex due to the international reputation of the Department of Economics.

“I was attracted to the Department due to its level of research and its international reputation. If you are interested in economics and finance, Essex has lots of opportunities to learn more about the industry.”

He said he was surprised about the number of talented and knowledgeable people he has met along his academic journey – both students and faculty members – and appreciates the help they gave him during his undergraduate degree.

Olly also recognises that the Department is growing and progressing quickly and believes that it is, most importantly, adapting to the needs of the students for post-graduation.

“The addition of bringing in external companies to provide bootcamps on specific topics of the industry allowed us to gain hands-on experience,” he said. “And all of the recent changes and innovations have allowed students to get jobs, internships or graduate roles at some of the biggest banks in the world.”

Olly is going to working for a Forex broker in London as an analyst from September.