Quant Guide 2022: University of Bologna

Bologna, Italy

Photo: Maria Montalbò

 

 

The University of Bologna’s ‘second-cycle’ degree in quantitative finance returns to the Risk.net Quant Guide this year, having made gains in a number of key areas. While the course’s average employment rate has fallen slightly – down to 91% from 93% last year – graduate salaries have climbed dramatically, now sitting at $42,000 versus $33,489 in the most recent guide. The course has also proven more popular with applicants: for the latest intake, the programme received 463 applications, an improvement of over 100 on the previous count of 343.

The master’s has also hired new staff and incorporated fresh course content, says programme director and professor of statistical sciences Silvia Romagnoli. The new instructors, she continues, will teach material on credit risk and machine learning. The new courses, some of which focus on burgeoning green finance topics, include classes in: asset management and transition risk; introductory and advanced machine learning; and credit risk and climate change. The programme’s core offering includes classes in: programming with Python; numerical methods with programming in Mathematica; financial regulation; and market microstructure.

Romagnoli says the coronavirus has had mixed impacts on her programme. Students have become more accustomed to online examinations, she says. She points out that grades have been improving over the past year, and that the master’s will continue to offer remote classes. And while the programme’s employment rate hasn’t taken a particularly dramatic hit, there have been some appreciable downsides for graduates.

“Placements have been impacted by bans on travelling,” says Romagnoli. “A high percentage of graduates used to move abroad – they’ve been constrained by pandemic restrictions to find local placements, which might not be perfectly fitted to the graduates.”

View this institution’s entry in the 2021 guide

View other universities and a guide to the metrics tables