Financial Capacity: Do students know what they need to know?

This paper reports a survey aimed at assessing students’ financial awareness and knowledge in the fields of banking and personal, corporate and public finance. The survey on the financial capability of students at the Gdansk University of Technology employed a questionnaire containing 64 questions. It lasted 6 months (June – November 2015) and involved 414 students. It was designed to collect comprehensive information regarding financial capability including knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour. The present study has shown that the greatest shortcomings of students’ financial knowledge are in the areas of personal finance and corporate finance and they lack satisfactory skills in the fields of public finance and corporate finance. This means that we should now pay attention to the associated learning outcomes. Furthermore, university policy should be geared toward encouraging employers to notify universities of their expectations. On this basis, universities can change their programmes to help engineers make the right financial decisions. This study conducted among the students at the Gdansk University of Technology has allowed us to take a comprehensive look at many issues which could also be the subjects of study in other socioeconomic groups. On the basis of this study we are able to indicate some proposals for desirable changes of direction in the field of research concerning the financial knowledge, skills and awareness of students, and also the possibility of developing them in educational programmes.