15 Finance Programs Abroad for High School Students
If you are a high school student interested in business and finance, it is often hard to know what those fields really involve beyond what you see in textbooks or news headlines. One of the best ways to understand how finance works is through finance programs.
What are finance programs abroad?
Finance programs abroad give you the opportunity to explore how money, markets, and businesses operate in a global environment, giving you an idea of how finance works on a larger scale. These programs offer a clear picture of what careers in finance, business, and entrepreneurship look like in practice.
How can finance programs abroad be helpful?
Learning in an international environment also builds independence, global awareness, and confidence by placing you in a new cultural environment. These programs help you apply classroom learning to real-world financial problems while developing the skills you can use for your own ventures. From a college admissions standpoint, participating in finance programs abroad shows initiative, curiosity, and a serious interest on your part in business-related fields, along with a willingness to challenge yourself academically.
For adjacent opportunities, you can check out economics programs abroad or leadership programs abroad for high school students.
Below is a curated list of 15 finance programs abroad for high school students that provide hands-on learning experiences outside the U.S.
15 Finance Programs Abroad for High School Students
1. London School of Economics (LSE) Summer School – Finance Courses
Location: London, United Kingdom
Cost: Varies by course
Program Dates: Specific session dates vary by course
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions while courses remain open
Eligibility: High school students who meet course-specific academic and age requirements
The London School of Economics and Political Science Summer School offers a selection of finance-focused courses that let high school students explore how modern financial systems operate in real-world settings. You can choose from topics such as sustainable finance and impact investing, financial risk management, fixed income markets, alternative investments, corporate finance, and many more. Each course is taught in a summer format, allowing you to focus on a single area of finance rather than covering topics at a surface level. You engage with real financial frameworks and case-based thinking that mirror how finance is studied at the undergraduate level, giving you early experience of university-style academics.
2. Young Founders Lab (YFL)
Location: Online
Cost: Varies by program
Program Dates: Vary by cohort
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12
Young Founders Lab is designed for high school students who want to experience what it actually takes to launch a startup, not just learn about it in theory. You work through the full startup lifecycle, from shaping an idea to refining execution, using a structure inspired by leading startup accelerators. The program emphasizes doing the work yourself, with guided support and feedback rather than simulated exercises.
You spend time building your venture through workshops, practical assignments, team collaboration, and conversations with founders and operators. You learn financial concepts such as managing finances for a business, funding a business, and accounting. Along the way, you connect with a global group of peers who are also serious about entrepreneurship, giving you both accountability and long-term networking value.
3. IESCP Business School’s International Summer School for High School Students
Location: Turin, Italy
Cost: €2,000/week
Program Dates: July 6 – 17
Application Deadline: Applications will open soon; selections are first-come, first-served.
Eligibility: High school students aged 16–18 with at least B1-level English
The International Summer School at ESCP Business School lets high school students explore finance and core business topics in a truly international environment. You study at ESCP’s Turin campus for one or two weeks, learning topics such as Finance, Marketing, Strategy, and People Management. You'll learn through hands-on sessions while working alongside peers from around the world. You apply business frameworks to situations through case studies, team projects, and company visits, which helps you understand how financial and strategic decisions are made in practice. Along the way, you build communication skills in Business English and public speaking workshops. You earn a certificate of achievement upon completion of the program.
4. Ladder Internship Program
Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world
Cost: Varies by program
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Application Deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week, for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates, and gap year students!
Ladder Internships is a selective start-up internship program for high school students interested in working with early-stage and fast-growing startups. Start-ups that offer internships span a variety of industries, including finance, accounting, tech/deep tech, AI/ML, health tech, marketing, journalism, and consulting. Ladder’s start-ups are high-growth companies that have raised over a million dollars on average. Past founders have included YCombinator alums, founders who have raised over 30 million dollars, or founders who previously worked at Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. By interning at a finance company, you’ll get an idea of what finance in a professional setting looks like. As an intern, you'll work closely with your manager and a Ladder Coach on real-world projects and present your work to the company.
5. Bocconi Summer School for High School Students – Finance Lab
Location: Milan, Italy
Cost: €2,700
Program Dates: July 6 – 17
Application Deadline: Dates to be announced; apply early, as spots fill quickly
Eligibility: High school students who are at least 15 years old by the start of the program and are in their third-to-last or second-to-last year of school
The Bocconi Summer School for High School Students is a finance abroad program for high school students that gives you an opportunity to study finance at one of Europe’s leading business universities, while experiencing academic life in Milan. During the program, you choose two subjects from a wide range of labs, completing one lab per week. In the Finance lab, you focus on how modern financial systems work and how newer peer-to-peer and digital financial platforms fit into today’s economy. You examine real-world financial business models and evaluate the sustainability of an existing digital financial platform. The lab concludes with you presenting your analysis to a representative from the financial community, giving you insights into how financial ideas are discussed and assessed in professional settings.
6. Financial Literacy Summer School – HEC Paris
Location: Paris, France
Cost: €990 + €30 non-refundable application fee
Program Dates: July 6 – 8
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Students aged 15–18 with strong English proficiency- C1 level or equivalent
The Financial Literacy Summer School at HEC Paris is a short program that helps high school students to understand how finance works in the real world. Over three full days on HEC Paris’s campus, you move beyond theory and focus on practical financial decision-making through hands-on activities and real-world case studies. You learn core concepts such as budgeting, saving, compound interest, investing, risk management, and portfolio construction. The program also introduces you to different asset classes, including stocks, bonds, real estate, and cryptocurrencies, and teaches you how to analyze companies using financial statements and valuation methods. By the end of the course, you earn an official HEC Paris Certificate recognizing your participation and coursework.
7. UBC Future Global Leaders (On-Campus)
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Cost: International students: CAD 2,620 for the course and CAD 2,855 for the mini school
Program Dates: Session 1: July 6 – 17 | Session 2: July 20 – 31 | Session 3: August 3 – 14
Application Deadline: Registration opens February 3; first-come, first-served
Eligibility: High school students aged 15–18
The UBC Future Global Leaders program gives high school students the opportunity to spend two weeks on campus at the University of British Columbia, taking first-year–level university courses. While the program covers many disciplines, it includes business and finance-relevant options such as Introduction to Business Foundations, Introduction to Global Political Economy, and Introduction to Marketing. You’ll attend small classes taught by UBC professors and affiliated instructors, combining morning academics with afternoon university preparation sessions and student life activities. You'll explore how markets work, how organizations make decisions, and how economic systems operate in a global context. This gives you early exposure to finance-related thinking in an international university environment. You can choose to live in a UBC residence or commute daily, and the program includes structured social and recreational activities that help you connect with peers from around the world.
8. School of Accounting and Finance’s Financial Literacy Competition
Location: Canada
Cost: Not specified
Program Dates: Held twice a year, in May and December
Application Deadline: Varies by cycle
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–11
The Financial Literacy Competition is an enrichment initiative run by the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo to strengthen your understanding of real-world financial decision-making. The program focuses on core topics such as saving and investing, budgeting, borrowing responsibly, and understanding broader economic trends in Canada and globally. You build practical financial knowledge by applying concepts rather than memorizing theory, and the competition format gives you a structured way to test your understanding in a goal-oriented setting.
9. Economics Summer Schools
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom or Online
Cost: £1,955
Program Dates: September 7–11
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Open to students and early-career participants interested in economics and finance-related fields
The Oxford University Economics Summer School is a one-week program that helps high school students build finance-relevant skills through the lens of economics. You’ll study applied microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics in small-group classes led by Oxford faculty. Each course combines lectures with tutorials and workshops, allowing you to apply economic theory to real-world economic and financial questions using data and evidence-based analysis. Through collaborative problem-solving and discussion, you’ll strengthen skills such as interpreting economic data, evaluating policy impact, and understanding global economic trends that shape financial markets. You’ll also join a global cohort of students and professionals, giving you exposure to diverse perspectives and the opportunity to build an international academic network.
10. Youth Programme: International Economics and Finance
Location: Singapore
Cost: To be announced
Program Dates: Varies by cohort
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: High school and pre-university students aged 15–18 with a basic understanding of economics terminology
The Youth Programme: International Economics and Finance is an on-campus academic program offered by the National University of Singapore (NUS). This program introduces high school students to international economics and finance through case studies and examples drawn from developing economies in ASEAN and East Asia. The course looks at actual-world economic and financial challenges, such as development gaps, policy implementation, international trade, and financial crises, using a non-technical and accessible way designed for high school learners. You examine how governments and institutions respond to economic challenges by working with data and empirical evidence, while also gaining insights into Singapore’s own development model. The program emphasizes applying what you learn by analyzing issues, proposing policy solutions, and reflecting on how global economic forces shape markets and careers.
11. University of Warwick Pre-University Summer School – Business, Economics and Finance Track
Location: Coventry, United Kingdom
Cost: £5,250
Program Dates: July 14 – 24
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: High school students aged 16–17
The Pre-University Summer School at the University of Warwick offers an introduction to business, economics, and finance in an international academic setting outside the United States. The A Taste of Business, Economics and Finance course explores key ideas in economics, accounting, business, and management, and how finance operates in the modern global economy. You learn through university-style lectures, seminars, and skill workshops taught by Warwick faculty, gaining exposure to how finance and economics are taught at a top UK university. Alongside academics, the program includes personal development sessions, guidance on applying to universities in the UK, and collaborative group work that helps you build confidence in presenting ideas and working in teams.
12. ESADE International Business Experience
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Cost: €3,080 program fee
Program Dates: June 30 – July 18
Application Deadline: Typically January–May
Eligibility: Pre-university students aged 15–17
The ESADE International Business Experience is a pre-university summer program that introduces high school students to how business schools approach real-world problem-solving. Based at ESADE’s Barcelona Sant Cugat Campus, the program focuses on building a business project from the ground up while training you in core disciplines that underpin finance, management, and entrepreneurship. While the program is not a pure finance course, it introduces you to foundational business concepts and decision-making frameworks that are directly relevant for future studies in finance, economics, or business. By living and learning on a European business school campus, you gain firsthand experience of how business education works outside the United States.
13. Entrepreneurship & Innovation: Transforming Ideas into Ventures
Location: Hong Kong
Cost: HKD 8,000
Program Dates: July 20 – 24
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: High school students in Grades 10–11
Entrepreneurship & Innovation: Transforming Ideas into Ventures is a short pre-university program for high school students who want hands-on experience with building a real business or social venture. Over five days, you work through the full venture creation process, from shaping an idea to validating and pitching it to others. You explore topics such as business model development, market research, go-to-market strategies, and financial modeling, giving you exposure to how financial decisions support new ventures. Throughout the program, you focus on your own venture idea, learning how to assess feasibility, analyze opportunities, and communicate value to stakeholders. The experience concludes with student team pitches and a certificate of completion, offering structured exposure to entrepreneurship and finance before college.
14. Wharton Global Youth – Cambridge, UK: Public Finance and Society
Location: Cambridge, UK
Cost: $9,599 (includes tuition, housing, two meals per weekday, excursions, and activities)
Program Dates: July 18–31
Application Deadline: Priority deadline: January 28; final deadline: March 18
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, international students are welcome.
This intensive two-week program immerses you in the study of public finance and its role in shaping societies. You'll engage in small group discussions, analyze policy solutions from various countries, and develop your own proposals reflecting your values and ideals. The curriculum emphasizes critical thinking, collaboration, and practical application, culminating in a final presentation where you'll pitch your policy system for a vote. Beyond the classroom, you'll experience Cambridge's rich academic environment and connect with peers from around the world. Upon completion, you'll earn a Wharton Global Youth Certificate of Completion, enhancing your academic profile.
15. Pre-University Honours Programme: Business Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Cost: €1,675
Program Dates: Cohort 1: June 30 – July 9 | Cohort 2: July 14 – 23
Application Deadline: February 15
Eligibility: High school students aged 16+
The Pre-University Honours Programme: Business Innovation & Entrepreneurship is a two-week, on-campus summer program hosted by the University of Amsterdam. It is designed for high school students who want early exposure to university-level business thinking in an international setting. During the program, you explore how companies formulate strategy, respond to innovation-driven markets, and turn ideas into viable ventures. While the curriculum is centered on business innovation and entrepreneurship, you gain insights into how economic and strategic decisions shape organizations. You also spend time developing your own startup concept, working through idea formulation and strategic direction before presenting a final pitch.