Programme Overview:

Aims and Objectives

The aims of the programme are: 

• To open up new career opportunities to graduates of traditional mathematics courses. 
• To give specialists in other numerate disciplines (e.g. engineers, scientists or economists) the opportunity to deepen their understanding of mathematics and to master powerful modern mathematical techniques.

To achieve these aims it is intended: 

• To introduce relevant problems and to explain the context in which they arise. 
• To formulate these problems in mathematical terms. 
• To instruct students in modern mathematical methods powerful enough to deal with these problems. 
• To develop the student’s ability to solve problems through a series of steps in which the problems are reformulated and the methods are adapted and refined.

On completion of the progrmame, students will be competent: 

• To recognise, through discussion with the practicioner in that field, the essential features of a given industrial process or economic situation. 
• To assign variables and to formulate relationships between them in the form of mathematical equations. 
• To solve these equations by appropriate analytical, numerical or approximate methods. 
• To interpret the mathematical solution in the idealised situation based on the essential features recognised above. 
• To validate the model in the real situation. 
• To make necessary adjustments to the model in the event that it does not validate. 
• To communicate the implications of the model to the practitioner in the field, and advise on its implementation.

 

Programme Description:

This programme is about high-level mathematics applied to practical problems in finance and industry. It is designed for holders of an honours BA or B.Sc. in Mathematics (or a closely-related field) who want to gain a working knowledge of up-to-date financial and industrial modelling, thereby opening up new career opportunities for themselves.

This programme is based on the idea that high academic content and relevance to the real world are not mutually exclusive; indeed the full power of a mathematical theory is revealed only when it is put to use to solve practical problems. In this course, abstract theories are never presented for their own sake; equally we avoid fruitless lists of disconnected case studies. We believe that an integrated presentation of the theory and its use in practice is the optimal approach.

For the student, the resulting blend of sophisticated mathematics and significant applications is intellectually satisfying: the motivation to explore general concepts springs from their potential practical applications; these serve in turn to illustrate general methods. The student learns that the potential inherent in general concepts, extends far beyond the specific applications covered in any given course.

For the employer, graduates who have at their command a wide spectrum of general methods and the ability to adapt them to new situations are infinitely more valuable than ones who are merely equipped with specific and thus limited skills.

The recent explosion of the derivative security market has created an unprecedented need for highly-sophisticated mathematics within the banking sector. With new exotic options appearing on the market every year, it is essential for the financial analyst to understand in-depth the random nature of the stock market. This requires a high degree of proficiency in the techniques of stochastic analysis. No other programme addresses these demands in Ireland at present. DCU is in a unique position to fill this gap because of its long-standing commitment to the field of financial mathematics, as testified by our B.Sc. in Financial Mathematics and the Edgeworth Centre for Financial Mathematics located in the School of Mathematical Sciences.

Programme Structure:

The programme is a twelve month full-time programme with eight 36-hour modules of lectures given over two semesters. Projects relevant to industry and business are assigned in December. Students are encouraged to take up any projects from industry which become available during their year, provided these are at an appropriate level of difficulty. It is expected that students commence work on the project in February and the submission date is in August.

 

View the subjects currently taught on this course (2009 - 2010)

Entry Requirements:

The normal entry requirement is a II.1 grade in a traditional Honours degree in Mathematics or a closely related subject. Candidates with other backgrounds(including Mathematical Studies degrees) will be assessed on an individual basis. For this purpose, theymust supply a full transcript showing their performance in each module throughout the course.

International Applications
International candidates are expected to have educational qualifications of a standard equivalent to those outlined above. In addition, where such candidates are non-native speakers of the English language they must satisfy the university of their competency in the English language. For further information on international applications click here.

Dates for Submission of Applications 2010

EU Applicants
Apply online through the Postgraduate Applications Centre (www.pac.ie/dcu) by 17th September 2010.

Non-EU Applicants

Apply online through the Postgraduate Applications Centre (http://www.pac.ie/dcu) by  15th July 2010. Applicants who require a study visa for the purposes of gaining entry into Ireland are advised to apply as early as possible.

Study Visas - Important Information

Applicants who require a student visa for entry to Ireland are encouraged to
seek clarification from the relevant Irish embassy regarding the closing date for application for such a visa.  Applicants who do not secure a study visa in time will be unable to take up their offer of a place on any DCU programme.

Applying through the Postgraduate Applications Centre (www.pac.ie/dcu)
When applying for this programme use the PAC code DC704

Queries on completed applications should be made to registry.pac@dcu.ie

Career Prospects:

The course prepares graduates for the position of risk analyst with investment banks or other financial institutions. The employment record for our graduates is excellent.

See what past graduates did

Additional Features:

Additional Feature

This programme is the only one of its type in Ireland, and one of the longest established in the field in Europe (1996).

Fees Reduction

The fees for 2009/2010 will be posted on the University website at www.dcu.ie/finance/fees/schedule.shtml as soon as they are available.

We expect that a reduction of €2,000 will be available to a limited number of EU students who agree to attend a tutor-training course and deliver up to four hours of tutorials per week to undergraduate students during semester time.

What Our Employers Say

“We have recruited students of the Masters in Financial and Industrial Maths and these have worked out very well (there are three on our team at present).” Portfolio Management Unit, AIB.

What Our Graduates Say

“The M.Sc. in Financial and Industrial Mathematics provides a great foundation for anybody looking to begin a career in the Financial Services industry. The theoretical and practical courses taught in Financial Mathematics, Modelling and Financial Engineering are enhanced and complimented with project work and a dissertation. The course equips students with many of the skills necessary for a career in Trading, Quantitative Finance, Risk Management or Research.” Thomas Conlon, Portfolio Manager, IIU Asset Strategies, Class of 2002/03.

“Coming from a non-finance background I found the M.Sc.in Financial and Industrial Mathematics an excellent introduction to the world of finance. The course contained some very pertinent material for my current role as a Convertible Bond Research Analyst at Barclays Capital, in particular the modules on Probability, Financial Engineering and Partial Differential Equations. In my experience the course covered a wide range of relevant topics for a career in investment banking including derivatives pricing which is a core feature of modern financial markets.” Heather Beattie, Class of 2003/04.

 

Full list of degrees >