Financial Mathematics BSc

About the Course

Mathematics is a fundamental subject that is constantly developing. Yes – it is a discipline in its own right. But it is also the thinking behind countless commercial, industrial and technological activities. Mathematical models underpin engineering, the applied sciences, computing and many aspects of management today. As a Mathematics student you will develop an outlook and high level study skills that will be hugely valuable whatever career path you follow after graduation.

Two-thirds of this course consists of the core parts of our wide-ranging Maths course and covers several application areas – finance, statistics, operational research (how Maths can be applied to commercial and industrial problems) and numerical analysis. The remaining third covers the workings of financial markets, and corporate investment and finance.

Mathematical Sciences at Brunel

Maths at Brunel means you will be working with staff internationally recognised for their state-of-the-art subject knowledge. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), nearly 60% of our research in the department was rated ‘World Leading’ or ‘Internationally Excellent’. Within London, the Department of Mathematical Sciences was ranked in the top three.

Because Mathematical Sciences has links with many other subject areas, we offer an excitingly wide choice of courses, each with a different emphasis. These include modules in pure and applied Mathematics, operational research, computer science, finance, information technology and management studies. This structure means that most individual subject modules are not unique to any particular degree.

We are also very active at postgraduate level offering Mathematics MSc courses and research opportunities in many areas. External grants and contracts with industry and government establishments support much of our research – keeping us right at the ‘cutting edge’ and actively in contact with modern uses of Mathematics. The result is that our undergraduate courses are truly up-to-date. For example, you may undertake your major final year project in one of our research areas.

 

Aims

This course is for you if you are a committed Maths student interested in a career in the fast moving world of finance or commerce. You will acquire the skills needed to develop mathematical and statistical knowledge, as well as a good awareness of financial institutions, markets and their workings.

Enquiries

Dr D Roman
Admissions Tutor

Department of Mathematical Sciences
Brunel University
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB8 3PH

Tel +44 (0)1895 265180
Fax +44 (0)1895 269732
Email maths.admissions@brunel.ac.uk

Related Courses

• Mathematics BSc
• Mathematics MMath
• Mathematics and Statistics with Management BSc

Special Features

• Academic staff with international reputation
  Learn from the best. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), nearly 60% of our research in the department was rated ‘World Leading’ or ‘Internationally Excellent’. Within London the Department of Mathematical Sciences was ranked in the top three.
  
  
• Excellent career prospects
  Past graduates have gone on to work for Accenture, Rank Xerox, IBM, Kodak, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bank of New York, Nortel, British Aerospace, Merrill Lynch, Abbey, Lloyds, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Touche, Coca Cola, Ernst and Young, Virgin Trains, Accenture, HSBC, BT, Deutsche Bank and the BBC.
  
  
• Optional placement year with top UK companies
  You do not have to decide which study mode (with or without placement) until after you have joined us. You can transfer both to and from the sandwich programme during the first year – sometimes even later. Our placement team has developed strong connections with industry. Our students have taken placements within top UK companies such as BUPA, Debenhams, HSBC, IBM, Thomson Reuters, Unilever, Virgin Trains.
  
  
• Funding for your learning
  Apply for scholarships worth £1000 per year (excluding placement year)
  
  
• Option to study for an integrated Master’s degree (MMaths)
  Besides the traditional Bachelor’s degree, you may also be able to enrol for an integrated Master’s degree (MMath).
  
  
• Help to bridge the school-university gap
  It is a step up. So we have carefully designed Level 1 modules to make the transition to University levelstudy as manageable as possible.
  
  
• Excellent links with business
  Our staff are involved in research programmes that are informed by modern problems in science, technology and business – often working in collaboration with companies. This means:
  - Degrees designed to meet the needs of industry and the marketplace
  - Latest commercial world developments included in your course
  - Greater choice of high quality, professional placements.
  
  
• A vibrant, friendly, safe campus in a great location near London
  All the advantages ofaffordable living costs, an international community, world-class sports and social facilities and a thriving arts and social scene. 

Facts and Figures

• Mathematical Sciences is one of the largest disciplines at Brunel and has links with many other subject areas.
• Within the School of Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics, the Department of Information Systems and Computing is ranked top in the country in its area in terms of ‘research power’, while almost 60 per cent of the research in the Mathematics Department has been rated ‘World-leading’ or ‘Internationally Excellent’.

School of Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics

Mathematics is a fundamental yet constantly developing subject. As well as being a discipline in its own right, it forms the basis of modern commercial, industrial and technological activities. Mathematical models underpin engineering, the applied sciences, computing and many aspects of management today. A student of mathematics develops an outlook and methodology that remain valuable whatever career is pursued after graduation.

Mathematical Sciences at Brunel is one of the largest disciplines in the University and has links with many other subject areas. We offer a wide choice of courses which have different emphases ranging across pure and applied mathematics, operational research, computer science, finance, information technology and management studies. The modular structure of the courses means that most of our individual subject modules are not unique to any particular degree. You may also select modules from other subjects and thus, within a certain framework, tailor your degree to suit your own evolving interests.

We are also very active at postgraduate level and offer MSc courses and research opportunities in many areas of mathematics. Much of our research is supported by external grants and contracts with industry and government establishments and this keeps us at the frontiers of the subject and in active contact with modern uses of mathematics. This in turn helps to ensure that our undergraduate courses are truly up-to-date. You may even undertake your major final year project in one of our research areas.

Course Content

Two-thirds of this course is shared with the BSc in Mathematics. This covers several application areas –finance, statistics, operational research (ie how maths can be applied to commercial industrial problems) and numerical analysis. The remaining third covers the key principles of finance. MMath students study for a further year, bringing their degree up to Master’s level.

Typical modules

Level 1

• Linear Algebra
• Calculus and Numerical Methods
• Discrete Mathematics, Probability and Statistics
• Financial Markets
• Introduction to Financial Accounting

Level 2

• Linear and Numerical Methods
• Communication Skills and Operational Research
• Statistics
• Algebra and Discrete Mathematics
• Analysis
• Corporate Finance
• Corporate Investment

Level 3 Core

• Major Project (see below for more)
• Stochastic Models and Mathematical Finance
• Risk and Optimisation in Finance
• Differential and Integral Equations
• Financial Engineering

Level 3 Options

• Statistics
• Differential and Integral Equations
• Numerical and Variational Methods for PDEs

Final year project

This is a very valuable feature of the Financial Mathematics BSc course – a substantial piece of individual, course-related work personally supervised by a staff member. Projects are often connected to staff research areas and may also be in response to industry demands. Work on the project accounts for about one-third of your final year study load.

Explore in-depth a topic of particular interest to you or work on a practical problem – the choice is yours.

Although students who undertake a work placement year can choose to focus their final year project on their work experience, they may also select from the projects offered each year by the Mathematics staff. During 2010-2011 over 150 project titles were available to final year Mathematics undergraduates. These covered a very wide range of mathematical areas and applications including, for example:

• The very famous ’travelling salesman problem’ (also known as ’the lazy waiter’!)
• The discovery and identification of clustering behaviour in financial markets
• The Mathematics of complex networks such as the web, or even Facebook
• Applications of statistics to the premier league, police complaints data and global warming
• Investigating traffic flow (are traffic lights better than roundabouts?)

In addition to all of these topic areas, our students also have opportunities to study modern theories in quantitative finance, with particular emphasis on the Mathematics and computation underlying the powerful and influential financial derivatives (e.g. options) industry. Often termed the ‘Black-Scholes theory’, this is famous for winning its discoverers a Nobel prize, as well as for its misapplication often being blamed (rightly or wrongly) for the current worldwide financial crisis.

Most of our projects can be carried out in ways that suit the student's strengths and interests. For example, it is often possible to choose to emphasise concrete applications or abstract theory, and the project can be carried out using theoretical tools only, or computational tools only, or a mixture of both.

MMath fourth year Master’s option

Study for a further year (at Level 4) and bring your BSc degree up to Master’s standard. The MMath programme offers a highly integrated, logical progression from BSc to Master’s level.

Complete the course and develop a career requiring a higher level of mathematical skill and understanding – such as in finance, commerce or industry, or in postgraduate research.

Level 4 modules include:

• Advanced Project
• Risk, Simulation and Decision Analysis
• Variational methods for partial differential equations
• Advanced mathematical finance
• Stochastic PDEs and its Calculus
• Risk Management and Regulation

Teaching and Learning

Up-to-date teaching
Mathematical Sciences is an active and dynamic research centre. Academics' work is frequently supported by external grants and contracts with leading industry and government establishments. Lecturers are consequently at the frontiers of the subject and in active contact with modern users of mathematics. This in turn helps to ensure that our undergraduate degrees are truly up-to-date.

Broad spectrum of thinking
We can offer a wide range of expertise in a variety of subjects. Many of our lecturers are widely published and highly recognised in their fields.

How will I be taught?

We use a range of approaches to help you engage effectively with the subject both through your tutors and working with fellow students:

• Lectures
  These offer a broad overview of key concepts and ideas – a useful framework from which you can pursue more in-depth study.
  
  
• Tutorials
  Smaller tutorial groups enable you to work on mathematics-related problems with guidance from a staff member.
  
  
• One-to-one
  In your final year you will normally have one-to-one supervision for your major project. We will also allocate you a personal tutor each year who’s available to discuss personal or academic problems. If you go on placement, your personal tutor will help you set objectives and monitor your progress – and provide further support if you need it.

Assessment

The ‘exams to coursework’ ratio is around 50:50 in Level 1, increasing to 70:30 in Level 3.

We base your final degree class on your performance at Levels 2 and 3. Level 3 carries twice the weight of Level 2.

Employability

The recent combination of financial deregulation, increased globalisation and technological advance has led to a huge increase in the nature and volume of financial derivatives contracts traded around the world. Together with the fundamental mathematical work of Markowitz, Black and Scholes and by Merton (Nobel Prize in Economics in 1997) on the application of stochastic analysis to option pricing, this has led to a massive demand within financial institutions for mathematically trained graduates with an awareness of markets and their workings.

So as a Brunel Financial Maths graduate you will enjoy excellent employment prospects. Our combination of work experience and up-to-date teaching means that you will be well-equipped to follow the career you want after graduation.

Careers

What kind of careers?

The sky’s the limit – career prospects for mathematicians are excellent. Maybe you want to pursue a career that specifically uses your mathematical or statistical skills? Or perhaps you’d prefer a more general career – such as management or consultancy?

Either way you will possess key skills that are highly sought after by business – in fact any industry that uses modelling, simulation, cryptography, forecasting, statistics, risk analysis and probability.

These are some of the areas where a Maths degree is valued highly:

Finance: banking, accountancy, actuarial, tax, underwriter, pensions, insurance

Medicine: medical statistics, medical and epidemiological research, pharmaceutical research

Design: engineering design, computer games

Science: biotechnology, meteorology, oceanography, pure and applied research and development

Civil Service: scientists (‘Fast Stream’, DSTL, DESG), GCHQ, security service, statisticians

Business: logistics, financial analysis, marketing, market research, sales oil industry, management consultancy, operational research

IT: Systems analysis, research

Engineering: aerospace, building design, transport planning, telecommunications, surveying

Placements

We know just how much experience counts in the job market. You will have the opportunity to gain invaluable work experience alongside experts in industry, the public sector and commerce – both in the UK or overseas. In fact if you undertake a four year professional placement programme, you are likely to earn some £4,400 more than your three-year course colleagues from ‘Day One’ in your job. (Source: The Brunel report on Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education 2009/10)

Fees for 2013/14 entry

UK/EU students: £9,000 full-time; £1,000 placement year

International students: £13,500 full-time

We are introducing over 700 scholarships for 2013, meaning that one in five applicants who join Brunel next year will receive financial support from the University. See our fees and funding page for full details

Fees quoted are per annum and are subject to an annual increase.

Entry Requirements for 2013 Entry

• GCE A-level ABB, including grade A in Mathematics or Further Mathematics. General Studies/Critical Thinking accepted.
  
• Irish Leaving Certificate AABBB, including Grade A in Mathematics.
  
• Scottish Advanced Highers ABB, including Grade A in Mathematics.
  
• Advanced Diploma Progression Diploma Grade A in Engineering, IT or Business, Administration and Finance, plus A-level Mathematics at Grade A for Additional and Specialist Learning.
  
• BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma/Diploma D*DD plus A-level Mathematics at Grade A.
  
• IBDP 33 points, including 6 points in Higher Mathematics.
  
• Access Complete and pass relevant Access course with 45 credits at Level 3, of which 30 credits must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit or higher. Must have 15 Maths level 3 Maths units at Distinction.
  

For all of the above, 5 GCSEs or equivalent at Grade C or above are also required, to include English and Maths (please note that these must have been gained by the time you submit your UCAS application).

English Language Requirements

Brunel also offers our own BrunELT English Test and accept a range of other language courses. We also have a range of Pre-sessional English language courses, for students who do not meet these requirements, or who wish to improve their English.