Quant Guide 2017: University of Sydney

Sydney, Australia

Master of Commerce in Quantitative Finance | metrics table at end of article

The University of Sydney’s two-year degree programme in quantitative finance offers students 19 different specialisations, one of which is quantitative finance. Because it is a conversion degree, there are no prerequisite undergraduate studies. “We don’t require them to do mathematics of finance in their undergraduate degree. We leave the choice of specialisation to the students themselves,” says Jamie Alcock, an associate professor who teaches on the programme.

As part of the quantitative finance specialisation, students are introduced to capital markets and fundamental quantitative methods. They then proceed to primarily buy-side oriented subjects, such as time series analysis, asset pricing and portfolio theory, but also stochastic calculus and derivatives pricing models.

“The thing I really like about the degree structure we have is that it provides students with an opportunity to combine different specialisations,” says Alcock.

They can choose up to three tracks that work as a complement – for example, Quantitative Finance and Big Data in Business are frequently combined. The Big Data track is the newest component of the programme, added to the range a few years ago. Combining Quantitative Finance with Banking would also be advantageous, as the Banking track is one of the few of this kind available in Australia and it’s heavily focused on risk management.

This flexibility can help students better prepare for the changing and challenging environment of the financial sector.

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