Planning checklist

Goals

• Before knocking down walls or plugging in computers, spend time clarifying the purpose of your Bloomberg Finance Lab.
• Answer the following questions to help determine your lab’s size, location, look and more:
  • Who will use the lab? Business school students headed for jobs on Wall Street? Or a wider audience?
  • How will the lab be used? Will it mostly function as a classroom or serve as collaborative workspace for independent projects?
  • What are your university’s values and strategic priorities? To prepare students for financial careers? Or to encourage entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary collaboration?
  • Will your lab be used for non-educational purposes? These could include recruitment, alumni engagement or community initiatives.

Size

• Decide on the number of Bloomberg Terminals® (See the “Cost” section of this guide for Bloomberg’s discounted pricing for three or more university-based Terminals.)
• Plan for two people per workstation (50 inches or 125 centimeters wide).
• Include wall space, surfaces and storage for additional equipment lab users will use, like whiteboards, projectors and printers.

Location & visibility

• Pick a location based on your goals for the lab. If the lab’s primary visibility purpose is to give business students a head-start on their careers, place it in your business school. If it’s designed to be a resource to inspire a wider range of students, choose a central location such as the campus library.
• Bloomberg can feature prominently in a university’s fund-raising efforts. If alumni engagement is a priority, locate the lab near space that can be used for fund-raising receptions and development events.
• Consider adding glass walls if you want to make the Bloomberg Finance Lab part of your student recruitment efforts, such as campus tours.

Accessibility

• Establish hours of operation. Will the lab be accessible after regular working hours so students can work on assignments after class?

• Incorporate accommodations and make decisions that ensure that the lab is accessible and convenient for a diverse group of students and faculty, such as wheelchair users or commuter students.

​​​​​​​Staffing

• Director
  Role: Strategy, fundraising, communications.
  Level: Professor, Dean
• Finance Lab Manager
  Role: Lab performance — works with professors to help them use the full range of Bloomberg Terminal resources in courses, projects and programs.
  Level: Pre/Post Doc, Adjunct, Practitioner or Lecturer
• Finance Lab Teaching Assistant
  Role: Lab support — assists during classes, answers questions during off-hours. A great resume-builder or work-study job for a tech-savvy student who is passionate about the markets.
  Level: Undergraduate students

“An investor without a Bloomberg Terminal is like an astronomer without a telescope.”

Chris Mattaei, Partner at Elevation Securities, on why he donated a Bloomberg Terminal to his alma mater, Gettysburg College

The Bloomberg Financial Markets Lab at Kaunas University of Technology in Kaunas, Lithuania