Quant Guide 2021: Erasmus University Rotterdam

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Photo: Erasmus University Rotterdam

 

 

Erasmus University Rotterdam’s Master in Quantitative Finance returns to the Risk.net Quant Guide for the third time, with its largest student cohort yet. It’s now the second-largest European programme in the guide by size, with 140 students – up 40 on last year.

The course remains in demand with prospective students: of the 155 applicants who received offers, 140 accepted, giving the master’s a strong offer-holder acceptance rate of 90.3%. The programme was not immune from the effects of Covid: 80% of internships were conducted remotely in 2020, says programme director Dick van Dijk, a professor of financial econometrics.

As was the case in the last edition of the guide, Erasmus’s programme is comprised of seven compulsory courses, involving material on: asset and derivatives pricing; risk management; portfolio management; econometrics, a team-based applied research project that lasts for two months; and a master’s thesis.

The thesis can focus on theoretical or practical work – if the latter is chosen, it’s normally done in tandem with an internship or traineeship. Recent project efforts conducted by students have included work on: limit order book data in high-frequency algorithmic trading; hedging interest rate risk for corporate bonds; and active investment strategies for commodities.

Employment routes taken by graduates of the course have remained fairly static over the past year, with students entering banking in slightly greater numbers in 2020. Asset management and financial technology positions are still the dominant choices. Over the past four years, 25% of graduates have taken up positions in asset management, and 30% have entered fintech.

View this institution’s entry in the 2020 guide

View other universities and a guide to the metrics tables