Stimulating students' thinking and improving their knowledge with CIRANO's financial and economic education tools

MONTREAL, Sept. 21, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - For the back-to-school season, CIRANO is offering teachers in high schools, CEGEPs and community colleges across Canada exciting financial education activities that have been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of students over the years.

FinÉcoLab educational games: a fun way to learn financial and economic concepts!

Teachers can use the FinÉcoLab educational game kit to introduce students to economic concepts related to markets and prices, individual preferences, and collective and individual choices. A FinÉcoLab game transforms the classroom into an experimental laboratory by involving students in a situation that reflects the interactions in which financial and economic choices are made. The learning of financial and economic concepts is done in an effective and fun way. FinÉcoLab games are available online for free (www.finecolab.com/). The Autorité des marchés financiers is CIRANO's main partner for the FinÉcoLab games.

Stock Market Investing 101 with the Bourstad Program!

CIRANO also invites high schools, CEGEPs and community colleges across Canada to register for the 2022-2023 Bourstad Program, which consists of a set of learning activities and stock market simulations. This educational program fosters new knowledge about responsible investing and portfolio management.

Schools enrolled in the program can hold private simulations for their students at any time during the school year and can also register their students for the 36^th Bourstad Challenge, which will be held from February 13 to April 14, 2023. Information on how schools can register for the 2022-2023 Bourstad program can be found at www.bourstad.ca/.

Bourstad simulations are conducted entirely online on a platform that offers state-of-the-art functionality. In a Bourstad simulation, the participant acts as an investment advisor to a fictitious investor, following the real markets. The application includes coaching features for teachers and managers of private simulations and the Bourstad Challenge in schools. Teachers and students participating in the simulations benefit from a rich and varied support.

"Strengthening economic and financial literacy must be a priority for Quebec, especially among young people and students. Data from the Baromètre CIRANO 2022 shows that those who do not know how to assess the level of risk for household debt are almost 7 times more likely to be concerned about economic and financial risks. This result and other perceptions of the Baromètre related to economic issues point to a need to improve the economic literacy of Quebecers and the FinÉcoLab games and Bourstad financial education program are the perfect tools to address this need. These initiatives are directly linked to CIRANO's mission to transfer knowledge from the world of theory to the world of practice."
Ms. Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin, President and CEO of CIRANO

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Bourstad Challenge!

Following the 2022 Bourstad Challenge, a virtual ceremony, under the honorary presidency of Mr. Éric Jacob, Superintendent of Client Services and Distribution Oversight at the Autorité des marchés financiers, was held on May 24 to honour the winners. This ceremony was also an opportunity to announce the 6 winners of the Autorité des marchés financiers' Special Financial Education Awards; a $500 scholarship was awarded to each of these winners. Candidates for these special awards were invited to testify about good or bad decisions made throughout the simulation and experiences that they believe will represent lasting learnings.

Prior to the awards ceremony, the jury, chaired by Ms. Fanie Dubuc of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), deliberated and approved the list of the 103 winners of awards and mentions  at the 2022 Bourstad Challenge. These awards and mentions come with a total of nearly $32,000 in prize money.

Here are the names of the winners who were awarded a 1^st Grand Prize in the 2022 Bourstad Challenge, as well as the winners of the Financial Education Special Awards from the Autorité des marchés financiers.

Portfolio management

Thomas Boyer (University of Montreal)
Farzin Brian Haghighat (Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, college sector)
Éloïse Hétu (Collège Regina Assumpta)
Naomie Rioux (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Nicolas Rivard (Collège de L'Assomption)
Elodie Thiboutot (Université de Montréal)

Responsible investing

Arafat Adjiali Boukar (Université du Québec à Montréal)
Rosalie Roberge (Montreal International High School)
Ariane Tremblay (Bois-de-Boulogne College)

Financial performance

Riyad Argoub (University of Montreal)
Emmanuel Azzam (Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, secondary sector)
Alixe Gauthier (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Andrei Hulubas-Barnia (Chateauguay QC)
Élizabeth Lemay (Laval University)
Steve Lionel (Bois-de-Boulogne College)
Adam Qacha (École Polytechnique)
Eliott Rabasa-Lhoret (Jean-de-Brébeuf College, secondary sector)

Overall performance

Thomas Boyer (University of Montreal)
Jennie Chen (University of Waterloo )
Adam Moumen (Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry High School)
Arielle Tessier (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Elodie Thiboutot (Université de Montréal)
Ariane Tremblay (Bois-de-Boulogne College)
Amy Wang (Montreal International High School)

Autorité des marchés financiers Special Awards for Financial Education

Theresa Hanna (Collège Regina Assumpta)
William Larivée (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Raymond Nguyen (Marcellin-Champagnat High School)
Noémie Rioux (Bois-de-Boulogne College)
Nicolas Rivard (Collège de L'Assomption)
Anna Xiao (Saint-Nom-de-Marie Residential School)

Congratulations to all the winners of prizes and mentions in the 35^e edition of the Bourstad contest!

For more information

Visit the Bourstad website www.bourstad.ca

About CIRANO

The Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations (CIRANO) is a multidisciplinary research, liaison and transfer center whose mission is to accelerate the transfer of knowledge between the research and practice communities (www.cirano.qc.ca). The Bourstad program is a CIRANO activity that receives support from many partners for this financial education project: the Autorité des marchés financiers, its main partner, TD Bank, CFA Montréal, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), Finance Montréal, Croesus, the TMX Group, Hyprasoft, Groupe Investissement responsable and QuoteMedia. The FinÉcoLab games were developed with the support of the Autorité des marchés financiers, the main partner, and 14 other partners brought together by Finance Montréal.

SOURCE Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations (CIRANO)

Paul Bourget, Director of Financial Education Projects, CIRANO, [email protected] or 514 985-4000, ext. 3006