The turmoil in the financial world and the associated economic downturn are having a significant impact on job prospects in the financial services industry and beyond. Yet business schools and universities are experiencing an almost unprecedented surge in applications for specialist masters programmes in finance and business-related MSc degrees. There is no better time to take a masters, it seems, than in the face of an economic slump.

“We have noticed an increase in applications recently across all our programmes and, on some courses, this is as high as 60 per cent,” says Richard Gillingwater, dean of Cass Business School in the City of London. “We partly attribute this increase to the financial crisis as many City professionals are taking the opportunity to improve their skills, either through a specialist masters degree or an MBA.”

The phenomenon is not confined to the UK. “We have anecdotal evidence of increasing interest in our specialised masters programmes, particularly the masters in finance,” says Marie-Odile Taillard, an assistant professor at the ESCP-EAP European School of Management, which has five campuses across Europe.

“The evidence seems to suggest that interest is coming from junior managers whose jobs are in jeopardy, and who feel the need to add a strong qualification to their early career experience, as well as from recent graduates who would rather delay their entry into the job market by another year or 18 months and improve their CVs in the meantime.”

The message from Taillard is that now is a particularly good time to do an MSc course. Anybody joining a management programme when the job market is less than stable is not forgoing as many career opportunities, she says. “Also, participants who improve their profiles by adding skills and qualifications will be better positioned to join a recovering market.”

The same is equally true for other subject areas, where the knock-on effects of the financial crisis are likely to cause short-term job insecurity and a possible slowdown in hiring.

Of course, while some graduates seek to weather the economic storm by taking an MSc, others are turning to masters programmes in subjects that may benefit from these turbulent times. For example, with a sharper focus on the way banks do business, especially on the investment side, there is likely to be increased demand from commercial banks for individuals with an MSc in risk management.

Alternatively an MSc in organisational psychology could be a good choice in the event of a recession. After all, there are likely to be plenty of organisations that want to improve employee motivation and morale.