Quant Guide 2017: University of Turin

Collegio Carlo Alberto, Moncalieri, Italy

Master in Finance, Insurance and Risk Management | metrics table at end of article

One of the newest postgraduate programmes around, this nine-month course was established last year by merging a 20-year-old finance master’s course with an insurance master’s. It is taught in English and is open to students with a four- or five-year degree in economics, business, mathematics, engineering, physics or statistics.

Students follow compulsory core modules in mathematics, probability, statistics, programming and econometrics, and one of two streams: the finance track – designed for careers in investment banking, trading and asset management – and the insurance and risk management track, focused on risk management techniques for insurers, banks and other companies. In addition, students can choose from 14 optional modules taught by academics and professionals, on subjects ranging from systemic risk and data mining, to operational risk and financial engineering for commodity markets.    

Internships are a compulsory component of the programme. They are set up by a dedicated job-placement service, which also organises career days. Students from the two master’s degrees that formed the new programme interned with Italy’s central bank and companies including BNP Paribas, Commerzbank and UniCredit, and found jobs at EY, Italian financial services firm Unipol and wealth manager Ersel among others.

After graduating, students can enrol in a PhD programme in finance at Cass Business School in London, which signed a partnership agreement with Collegio Carlo Alberto in February. All applicants with a distinction or a predicted distinction from the Italian programme will be automatically interviewed for a position on the PhD. The partnership also means graduates can be exempt from the probability and statistics, and econometrics courses on the Cass programme as they will have covered that as part of their finance, insurance and risk management degree.

The structure of the master’s will be regularly reviewed by a committee comprising academics from a number of universities and financial practitioners, such as Davide Alfonsi, the head of risk management at Intesa Sanpaolo, Giorgio Spriano, the bank’s chief risk officer, and Paolo Montiferrari, the head of market and credit risk at Axa.

The master’s is awarded by the University of Turin but taught at Collegio Carlo Alberto, a private research and education institution, established by the university and Compagnia di San Paolo, a banking foundation. Collegio Carlo Alberto also hosts events, including speeches by Nobel laureates, heads of financial companies and entrepreneurs.

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