Quantitative Finance - Risk Management: The University of Manchester

Course description

Manchester Business School and the School of Mathematics have combined their academic strength and practical expertise to deliver the MSc Quantitative Finance  course which has two distinct pathways:

• Financial Engineering
• Risk Management

Ensuring that the mathematics element is accessible, the course offers a good balance between mathematics and finance, covering a range of skill sets in quantitative finance, financial econometrics, mathematics and statistic, and several specialist topics in risk management. It is particularly suitable for students with a degree that is strong in quantitative training, as well as relevant practical experience (non-compulsory) via employment. It is suited to those wishing to gain salary enhancements, or students wishing to pursue further and advanced studies in quantitative finance and risk management.

The course provides an advanced knowledge and understanding of the main theoretical and applied concepts in quantitative finance and risk management, delivered from a genuinely international and multicultural perspective, and with a 'current issues' approach to teaching. The course is particularly useful for careers that involve risk management and risk regulation in financial markets and financial institutions.

Module details

Typical compulsory and optional course units will include:

• Foundations of Finance Theory
• Stochastic Calculus
• Martingales with Applications to Finance
• Portfolio Investment
• Financial Econometrics
• Credit Risk Management
• Survival Analysis
• Decision Analysis and Performance Measurements
• Simulation and Risk Analysis
• Monetary Economics
• Interest Rate Derivatives

For the dissertation, you will carry out an original piece of research on a subject relating to the programme. Their MSc dissertation topics are aligned with the research interests of leading financial institutions from the City of London and internationally. A number of the dissertation topics are proposed by these organisations and supervised by their academic staff. Students who want to work on the industry linked topics for their dissertations are subject to certain strict selection criteria. Other dissertation topics are proposed by academic staff focusing on cutting edge research issues in these industries.

Career opportunities

This course offers constructive education for careers that involve financial risk management in the market place and financial institutions. Such a role has now become indispensible in all situations and especially in the private and public financial sectors. The course also provides research skills for those who wish to pursue an academic career by studying at doctoral level.