MSc

A one-year MSc programme, designed to prepare students for a wide range of careers in quantitative finance and risk management.

Mathematical finance is a subject that is both mathematically challenging and deployed every day by sophisticated practitioners in the financial markets. Our objective is to provide you with everything you need to get into this area at a level where you can understand–and contribute to–industry practice and the latest research. To do so, the courses we offer are oriented in different ways: some give the necessary finance and economics background; others provide instruction in fundamental mathematics (stochastic analysis, partial differential equations,...), and scientific computing (object-oriented programming in C++) is an integral part of the programme.

A supervised thesis project takes place towards the end of the programme during the summer months. Most of our students are given an industry-based placement in banks, consultancies, hedge funds, insurance companies, rating agencies, or financial software companies. The project is allocated from February onwards and it commences during the summer term, after the theoretical modules have been completed. Each project is normally based on new areas of possible interest to the sponsor, or extensions to existing lines of work. An academic supervisor and the sponsor work with the student to scope out the project at the start; supervision is a joint activity between the former two. Undertaking the project on site gives students a genuine insight into the reality of the financial marketplace. Only students who have achieved an acceptable level of academic competence will be offered as a candidate to an external sponsor.

Our intake consists mainly of recent graduates in mathematical sciences and engineering seeking positions in the financial services sector. However, we welcome applications from candidates already in employment in that area who want to upgrade various aspects of their mathematical and financial expertise and expand their portfolio of skills and we usually recruit a small number of students each year from this category who fulfil our academic requirements.