Students at American University of Sharjah (AUS) have completed a trading game sponsored by NASDAQ Dubai, in which they learned how to develop successful investment strategies in shares and other popular asset classes.

More than 50 AUS students at the School of Business Administration took part in the month-long simulated online Mock Securities Exchange competition, which was held for the second year following the success of the inaugural competition in 2013. Starting with a notional AED 100,000, each participant traded UAE and other stocks as well as foreign exchange, indices, exchange-traded funds and commodities. The most popular asset class among students was stocks.

As the winner of the competition, student at AUS Salman Merchant received an opportunity to intern at NASDAQ Dubai, the region's international financial exchange. Kamil Valiullin won the freshman/sophomore category and received a cash award.

The competition prizes were handed out by Unmesh Kantak, NASDAQ Dubai's Head of Operations and Risk, during an awards ceremony held at AUS.

Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of NASDAQ Dubai, said, "By learning how financial markets operate and how to succeed as an investor, AUS students have taken an important step towards taking their place as productive and responsible members of the workforce and the investor community. NASDAQ Dubai is committed to supporting capital markets education for students as well as finance professionals and all members of the public."

Dr. Daniel Dupius, Assistant Professor of Finance at AUS, said, "The integration of theory and practice is one of the core values of the finance program at AUS and the 2014 Mock Stock Exchange competition in collaboration with NASDAQ Dubai is a testament to that commitment. We thank the NASDAQ Dubai team for their commitment and hope that this relationship will continue to benefit our students and the population of the UAE in general for years to come.

As part of The School of Business Administration's aim to provide high-quality financial education programs for its students, a group of students and faculty members will continue developing the Mock Securities Exchange initiative to benefit more AUS students.