Actuarial Science and Risk Management

Bachelor's degree

In Belfast City

£ 9,250 + VAT

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    Belfast city (Northern Ireland)

  • Duration

    4 Years

  • Start date

    Different dates available

Overview Studying Actuarial Science looks at how organisations make financial sense of the future, assess risk and protect themselves from loss. The BSc Actuarial Science and Risk Management programme has been designed by qualified actuaries with a large emphasis placed on the development of practical and business skills to ensure students have the very best chance of obtaining high level employment at the end of their degree. 100% of actuary students from Queen’s are in full-time employment and/or studying within six months of graduation, with 100% of those in employment in a professional or managerial position. Take our quiz to see if this programme is for you! Why Queen's?Placement year During the third year of the degree, students complete a 9 to 12 month placement with an actuarial firm. These placements are usually in Belfast, Dublin, London or the Isle of Man. Example placements include Aviva, Irish Life, Axa and Allianz.  There are three dedicated placement officers in the Management School who will help you to prepare for placement, and obtain positions of the highest quality.  Visit the Placement Office City Scholarships The Placement Office also helps in the recruitment of first-year students for the popular City Scholarship Programme - a summer internship with a company in New York, Dublin, London, Liverpool or Edinburgh. Students can also apply to take part in the City of London Study Tour, which allows participants to meet senior employees from leading financial institutions. Placements and internships mean invaluable work experience and increased confidence and drive. They give a major boost to the CV and help our students make informed career decisions. Guest speakers Students have the opportunity to hear from industry professionals who regularly deliver guest lectures. Students have the opportunity to network afterwards....

Facilities

Location

Start date

Belfast City (County Antrim)
See map
University Road, BT7 1NN

Start date

Different dates availableEnrolment now open

About this course

Entry Requirements   Selection Criteria In addition to the entrance requirements below, it is essential that you read the How We Choose Our Students pdf prior to submitting your UCAS application. Entrance Requirements A-level: A*AA including Mathematics OR AAA + A (AS) including A-level Mathematics Irish Leaving Certificate: H1H1H1H1H2H2 including Higher Level grade H1 in Mathematics  International Students For information on international qualification equivalents, please click on Your Country in the International Students website. If you...

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Reviews

Subjects

  • Actuarial Science
  • Risk
  • IT risk
  • Risk Management
  • Staff
  • School
  • Teaching
  • Financial Training
  • Financial
  • Quality
  • Quality Training
  • Ms Office
  • Office IT
  • Industry
  • University
  • Induction
  • Learning Teaching
  • Full Time

Course programme

Course Content (including module information)

The duration of the BSc Actuarial Science and Risk Management degree is four years, with Year 3 spent in a salaried placement in an actuarial or risk management environment.

In each of Years 1, 2 and 4, the following modules are studied:

Year 1

  • Actuarial Mathematics 1
  • Financial Reporting and Analysis
  • Introduction to Statistics and Operational Research
  • Price Theory
  • Principles of Economics
  • Intoduction to Statistics and Operational Research Methods

Year 2

  • Actuarial Mathematics 2
  • Actuarial Methods in General Insurance
  • Behavioural Finance
  • Investment Analysis
  • Excel and VBA
  • Principles of Actuarial Modelling

Year 3

  • Placement Year*

Year 4

  • Actuarial Modelling
  • Capital Markets
  • Financial Econometrics
  • Financial Engineering
  • Actuarial Applications
  • Stochastic Processes for Finance

*Placement Year
Students undertake a nine-month, minimum-salaried work placement. Placement allows students to develop highly-valued practical skills, as well as gaining exemption from many of the early professional exams, and on successful completion, students are eligible for a Licentiateship award (a vocational qualification provided through the City and Guilds of London Institute). Recent placement providers have included Scor, Pramerica, Spence and Partners, Milliman and the Government Actuaries Department (GAD).

Assessment & Feedback

Assessment (general): The way in which students are assessed will vary according to the learning objectives of each module. Details of how each module is assessed are shown in the Student Handbook which is provided to all students during their first year induction. Actuarial Science modules are typically assessed by a combination of continuous assessment and a final written unseen examination. Continuous assessment consists of tutorial submissions, short class tests, individual project work, small group projects and presentations – this involves three/four students per group working on a specific task, for example, a solution to an actuarial problem.

Feedback (general): As students progress through their course at Queen’s they will receive general and specific feedback about their work from a variety of sources including lecturers, module co-ordinators, placement supervisors, personal tutors, advisers of study and peers. University students are expected to engage with reflective practice and to use this approach to improve the quality of their work. Feedback may be provided in a variety of forms including:

  • Feedback provided via formal written comments and marks relating to work that you, as an individual or as part of a group, have submitted.
  • Face to face comment. This may include occasions when you make use of the lecturers’ advertised “office hours” to help you to address a specific query.
  • Placement employer comments or references.
  • Online or emailed comment.
  • General comments or question and answer opportunities at the end of a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
  • Pre-submission advice regarding the standards you should aim for and common pitfalls to avoid. In some instances, this may be provided in the form of model answers or exemplars which you can review in your own time.
  • Feedback and outcomes from practical classes.
  • Comment and guidance provided by staff from specialist support services such as, Careers, Employability and Skills or the Learning Development Service.

Once you have reviewed your feedback, you will be encouraged to identify and implement further improvements to the quality of your work.

Learning and Teaching

Queen’s Management School is one of the largest Schools in the University with more than 1300 full-time undergraduate students and 300 plus postgraduate students. The School has been delivering high quality programmes for more than 40 years and was one of the first schools in the UK to introduce undergraduate management education. Since then, QMS has been developing and enhancing its teaching portfolio for both local and international students and boasts students from more than 20 different nationalities.

In recent years, the School has benefited from significant investment resulting in many new academic appointments and state-of-the-art facilities including computer teaching labs with specilaised software and a Trading Room in Riddel Hall. In addition, the new McClay library houses an excellent selection of Management and related texts and there are extensive IT facilities throughout the campus.

At Queen’s, we aim to deliver a high quality learning environment that embeds intellectual curiosity, innovation and best practice in learning, teaching and student support to enable student to achieve their full academic potential. In line with this, one of QMS’ primary objectives is to deliver innovative learning and teaching programmes that provide students with the competences and skills to make a positive contribution to business, economic and civic life.

On the BSc Actuarial Science and Risk Management programme we achieve these goals by providing a range of learning environments which enable our students to engage with subject experts both academic staff and industry guest speakers, develop skills and attributes and perspectives that will equip them for life and work in a global society and make use of innovative technologies and a world-class library that enhances their development as independent, lifelong learners. Examples of the opportunities provided for learning on this degree programme are:

  • Lectures: these introduce foundation information about new topics as a starting point for further self-directed private study/reading. As the module progresses this information becomes more complex. Lectures, which are normally delivered in large groups to all year-group peers, also provide opportunities to ask questions and seek clarification on key issues as well as gain feedback and advice on assessments. Additional lectures are also delivered by employer representatives and staff from a number of actuarial firms are involved in the delivery of workshops. In addition to the academic content of the lectures and workshops, this enables employers to impart their valuable experience to QUMS Actuarial Science students, introduces important local employers to our students and allows ourstudents to meet and engage with potential future employers.
  • Seminars/tutorials: a significant amount of teaching is carried out in small groups (typically 15-20 students). These sessions are designed to explore, in more depth, the information that has been presented in the lectures. This provides students with the opportunity to engage closely with academic staff who have specialist knowledge of the topic, to ask questions of them and to assess their own progress and understanding with the support of their peers. During these classes, students will be expected to present their work to academic staff and their peers.
  • Practicals: Actuarial Science is a very theoretical yet vocational subject and as such we facilitate opportunities for students to engage in the application of theory. You will have opportunities to develop technical skills and apply theoretical principles to real-life or practical contexts through the modules you study and through industry presentations and workshops that we host.
  • E-Learning technologies:information associated with lectures and assignments is often communicated via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Queen’s Online. A range of e-learning experiences are also embedded in the degree programme through the use of, for example, interactive support materials, podcasts and web-based learning activities. There are also opportunities to develop skills in the use of industry software associated with actuarial practice.
  • Self-directed study: this is an essential part of life as a Queen’s student when important private reading, engagement with e-learning resources, reflection on feedback to date and assignment research and preparation work is carried out.
  • Work placements: The BSc Actuarial Science and Risk Management programme has a compulsory placement year with an actuarial organisation. This begins after all Level 2 modules have been successfully completed. The dedicated Placement Office within the School facilitates students in sourcing and securing appropriate placements and provides appropriate support whilst the student is with the host organisation. This is a significant learning and employability enhancement opportunity and will ensure that the theory being understood in the lecture theatre is complemented by the development of practical, transferrable skills.
  • Supervised projects: As part of the continual assessment on a range of modules, you will be expected to carry out projects. You will receive support from the module coordinators who will guide you in terms of how to carry out your projects and will provide feedback to you during the write up stage.
  • Student Support Systems: QUMS has an active and co-ordinated student support system to assist students in making the transition from school to university.
    This includes:
    • assigning each student an Adviser of Studies to assist with the choice of modules at the beginning of each academic year;
    • assigning each student a Personal Tutor (an academic member of staff) when they begin the degree programme. The Personal Tutoring System includes individual scheduled appointments with personal tutors, small group tutor meetings (4-5 students) and e-mail contact to discuss academic matters, academic performance, skills development, careers and/or prospective placements and issues related to University policies and practices. Students meet their Personal Tutor at induction and during the first and second year of study they are expected to meet with their Personal Tutor at least once per semester.
    • A Peer Mentoring Scheme whereby students in second and third year of their degree programme volunteer to mentor Level 1 students. Developing the programme themselves, with support from academic staff in QUMS, the mentors organise informal meetings, regular contact and a series of events ranging from ice-breaker type events to employer-led sessions with the Level 1 students.
    • a formalised induction for all undergraduate students. For Level 1 students, this includes several half-day sessions the week before the programme begins to allow students to familiarise themselves with the campus and the degree programme. During Level 1 there are a number of follow-up sessions throughout the year. Topics such as academic writing, referencing, plagiarism, communication skills, examination preparation and managing time effectively are all covered in these practical sessions.
    • Personal Development Planning to encourage students to engage in independent learning.

Additional information

Career Prospects The underlying cornerstone of the Actuarial Science and Risk Management degree programme is the application of financial and statistical theories to help solve real business problems. Actuarial Science and Risk Management combines courses/modules in actuarial modelling, financial reporting, economics, finance, insurance, pensions, mathematics and statistics to develop techniques and skills to assess, evaluate and manage future financial risk and thereby address a wide range of practical problems in long-term financial planning and...

Actuarial Science and Risk Management

£ 9,250 + VAT