Quant Guide 2021: Technical University of Munich

Munich, Germany

Photo: Mattes

 

 

The MSc in Mathematical Finance and Actuarial Science at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has shrunk in some ways over the past year, probably at least in part due to the coronavirus. It received 100 applications for the current academic year versus the previous year’s 200 and enrolled 25 full-time students, compared with 40 previously.

But that does not mean the university has scaled back its ambitions for the course. While most quant finance programmes have a single director, this master’s has three. Since the 2020 edition of the Quant Guide, programme leaders Rudi Zagst and Nina Gantert – chairs of mathematical finance and probability theory respectively – have been joined by Mathias Drton, a professor of mathematical statistics.

Two new modules have also been incorporated into the four-term programme, taught in both English and German: a class in high-dimensional statistics and a class in fundamental mathematical statistics.

A high proportion of the course’s graduates move on to further study, with 35% of students tackling PhD programmes or another master’s-level course after graduation. For those who enter the job market, TUM reports a 100% employment rate, with average starting salaries of $50,874.

Aleksey Min, a mathematics professor, says teaching has been delivered largely online in the last 12 months, and some classes have proven particularly popular: discrete- and continuous-time finance; portfolio analysis; computational statistics; and quantitative risk management. Still, students regret the loss of on-site lectures and face-to-face discussions, he says.

And, as have some other courses, the TUM programme has experienced some foul play in the new environment. Staff have identified several cases of cheating on take-home assessments, Min says: “Those students failed the corresponding exams.”

View this institution’s entry in the 2020 guide

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