An Epidemic of financial mathematics BSc across the Uk

Quant physician · 4/25/16

Daniel Duffy · 4/25/16

All these mathematicians teaching finance

To be honest, I don't see the point. It takes 4 years at least to become any way decent with maths, let alone mixing it with other subjects.

My guess is as good as anyone else's but what about supply and demand?
Just couldn't resist this one

bigbadwolf · 4/26/16

With the exception of Manchester, these are all second- and third-tier schools. My guess would be that in the environment of British neoliberalism, with tuition fees of around 10,000 pounds a year, these universities have to flog anything they think will sell.

I took a cursory glance at Brunel's program, which I suspect is typical. I note in passing that they can't even spell "independent" correctly. It's a mix of basic OR, basic calc and linear algebra, basic stats, a rudimentary "computing for finance" module in the 2nd year, and some finance modules. Some of the third year options look interesting. I don't mean to damn the program with faint praise; I'm confident the other programs have similar content. Given that these are not top-tier universities, they'll probably not be attracting the strongest students -- probably a mix of local students with not good "A" level results and foreign students in even worse shape (but anxious for a British qualification).

Daniel Duffy · 4/26/16

bigbadwolf said:
With the exception of Manchester, these are all second- and third-tier schools. My guess would be that in the environment of British neoliberalism, with tuition fees of around 10,000 pounds a year, these universities have to flog anything they think will sell.

The Manchester 4 year course looks very good from the topics mentioned.

bigbadwolf · 4/26/16

On a general note, the deteriorating quality of math programs (not just fin math) is not the fault of the universities. "A" level standards have gone down -- probably fair to say "been dumbed down" -- so that even students with A grades are not in a position to handle what used to be first-year material in decades gone by.

PGP · 5/3/16

How do these programs compare to the financial engineering BSc programs that have been popping up at top-tier American universities?

An Epidemic of financial mathematics BSc across the Uk

Quant physician

Daniel Duffy

C++ author, trainer

bigbadwolf

Daniel Duffy

C++ author, trainer

bigbadwolf

PGP

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