Quant Guide 2022: University of St Gallen

St Gallen, Switzerland

Photo: University of St Gallen, Hannes Thalmann

 

 

The University of St Gallen’s Master’s in Quantitative Economics and Finance (MiQEF) is a Risk.net Quant Guide regular, with this edition’s appearance marking its fourth consecutive year of participation. The programme tends to be among the smallest in the guide – last year’s cohort, numbering 32 students, was the highest intake the MiQEF has ever reported. For 2022, that figure is back down to 29.

While St Gallen was again unable to report in several key categories this year – teaching staff, employment routes and average graduate salaries among them – one of the programme’s clear attributes remains its popularity among offer-holders. For the latest intake, 41 offers were extended to 60 applicants: 29 of those offers were accepted, giving the programme a strong offer-holder acceptance rate of 71%. That figure has fallen from 91% last year, one of the highest ever recorded in the guide.

Over 2021, the course has hired several newcomers, including: professor of macroeconomics Dominik Sachs, formerly of the University of Munich; associate professor of econometrics David Preinerstorfer, formerly of the Université libre de Bruxelles; and assistant professor of quantitative economics Ola Mahmoud. New classes have also been incorporated, focusing on programming in Python and R.

Remote learning did not produce appreciable impacts on student attainment, says executive director of economic programmes Jennifer Aepli. The MiQEF is now largely conducted in person once again, with 20% of teaching delivered online.

“What we saw is that students really appreciate being back on campus and meeting lecturers in person,” she tells Risk.net. “Lectures will remain on campus as long as possible, but we have to see how the pandemic continues.”

The university requires students attending campus to produce evidence of one of the following: vaccination; a negative test; or virus recovery.

View this institution’s entry in the 2021 guide

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