MSc in Actuarial Science with Business Analytics

Your Master’s in Actuarial Science with Business Analytics prepares you to tackle roles in actuarial and risk analysis, consultancy, and underwriting for leading banking, insurance, and financial services firms. As more technology and analytics are introduced across the actuarial industry, your skills become invaluable to the increasing number of companies seeking actuarial students who have knowledge of business analytics.

Over the past 12 months, our Actuarial Science with Business students have had the opportunity to attend sessions such as an introduction to the IFoA and the actuarial industry, along with a panel on business analytics in the actuarial field. Various alumni panels provided insights into typical career paths followed by our graduates, while Sector Overviews covering areas such as insurance and consultancy, offered further industry exploration. Students are also encouraged to engage with professionals through our annual careers fair and many corporate events throughout the year.

Recent graduates have secured positions such as:

• Actuarial Analyst
• Trainee Actuary
• Model Management and Development Analyst
• Junior Specialist
• Auditor.

Dedicated to your success

From the moment you accept your offer, you'll have access to our dedicated Postgraduate Careers Service, tailored to support your career journey. Our Career Accelerator module, launched over the summer, provides early access to valuable resources, employer insights, and career planning tools to prepare you for the job market.

Our expert Postgraduate Careers Team, made up of experienced recruiters and career coaches offers personalised one-to-one guidance, covering everything from networking and CV building to job offer management and mock interviews.

Whether you’re pursuing a new career path, seeking an entry-level role, or launching your own business, you'll receive support to develop the skills and knowledge needed to succeed.

You'll also benefit from exclusive events such as Careers Fairs, panel discussions, and networking opportunities with industry professionals and alumni, helping you explore career options and make valuable connections.

Workshops led by our Careers Team and industry experts cover essential professional skills, including presentation techniques, personal branding, and assessment centre success, ensuring you stand out in the job market.

Additionally, Bayes Careers Online (BCO) offers career planning tools, guidance leaflets, access to job postings directly from employers and key career events, helping you stay on track with your career goals.

Continuing study

The MSc in Actuarial Management serves as a continuation of the MSc in Actuarial Science with Business Analytics, allowing successful candidates to focus on the application of concepts learned, study the key areas of actuarial practice, choose from the various actuarial specialist subjects and attain further technical knowledge.

Students taking that MSc get an opportunity to obtain further exemptions from the later professional subjects of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, enabling them to reach the highest possible level of professional qualification.

On the MSc Actuarial Science with Business Analytics, you will:

• Summarise and critically assess fundamental concepts in actuarial science, insurance, economics, finance, investment, financial reporting and business
• Make use of analytical skills to evaluate and solve complex problems within the organisation’s strategic perspective
• Demonstrate critical awareness of current analytical methods in order to transform information into knowledge
• Increase your understanding and knowledge of how current analytical methods could be applied in practice
• Analyse the breadth of machine learning techniques and their applications
• Frame analytics problems from a machine learning perspective and suggest practical solutions to them
• Carry out modelling and effectively communicate the results to a defined audience.

Course objectives

This postgraduate programme, with a choice of study options, will ensure that you learn the right tools and cultivate the new skillset for actuaries and become competent and ready to harness these in an ever-changing global business environment.

Like our MSc in Actuarial Science, this pathway will offer you the choice of the Core Principles of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ curriculum, enabling you to gain exemptions from Subjects CM1, CM2, CS1, CS2, CB1, CB2. Also recognising the importance of modelling and communication practices in a business environment, you will be given the opportunity to gain exemptions from Subjects CP2 and CP3.

Add further value to your course by studying four compulsory Business Analytics modules. You will learn how data analysis is performed in the real world and study machine learning techniques and their use in analysing complex data and designing predictive analytics methods.

If you succeed in the MSc in Actuarial Science with Business Analytics or MSc Actuarial Science you can also proceed to the MSc in Actuarial Management.

Programme content is subject to change. We regularly review our module offering and amend it to keep it up-to-date and relevant.

Induction weeks

All our MSc courses start with two compulsory induction weeks which include relevant refresher courses, pre-study programming modules, an introduction to the careers services and the annual careers fair.

Pre-Study Modules

• Introduction to R Programming
• Introduction to Python Programming

Both programming modules are designed to provide a fundamental understanding of R and Python. You are encouraged to undertake these modules so that you can get the most out of your degree. Completing these two modules will also help you with the computer-based elements of the CM and CS subjects.

Term 1

Compulsory Modules

• Analytics Methods for Business (non-exemption module)
• Financial Mathematics (CM1(1))

Elective Modules

• Probability and Mathematical Statistics (CS1)
• Finance and Financial Reporting (CB1)
• Business Economics (CB2)

Students with a prior exemption from CM1 may also be exempted from Bayes CM1(1) and CM1(2), subject to the provision of evidence of the prior exemption. However, they will be required to replace these with other term 1 and 2 modules.

Term 2

Compulsory Modules

• Machine Learning (non-exemption module)
• Contingencies (CM1(2))

Elective Modules

• Financial Economics (CM2)
• Insurance Risk Modelling (CS2)

Students with a prior exemption from CM1 may also be exempted from Bayes CM1(1) and CM1(2), subject to the provision of evidence of the prior exemption. However, they will be required to replace these with other term 1 and 2 modules.

Term 3

To complete the MSc in Actuarial Science with Business Analytics, you have several options in your third term:

• Five electives plus Career Management Skills and Research Methods
• Three electives and a General Research Project
• Modelling Practice (CP2), Professional Communication (CP3), Career Management Skills and Research Methods and two elective modules.

For each option, at least two electives should be chosen from:

• Applied Machine Learning
• Applied Natural Language Processing
• Data Management Systems
• Modelling Practice (CP2)
• Professional Communication (CP3)
• General Research Project
• Career Management Skills and Research Methods.

Subject to availability, you can also choose projects designed by our industry partners that aim to develop students’ consulting skills, including various analytics consulting companies, companies from the finance and insurance sectors, well-known retailers, etc., and some examples are Bank of England, Ekimetrics, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Government Actuary’s Department, Velador Associates and Vodafone UK. Most of these projects are directly supervised by the industry partner representatives together with our academic staff.

Short electives offered in 2023

The short electives aim to offer a breadth of subject matter in actuarial science, insurance, business analytics, finance and investment.

• Applied Machine Learning
• Applied Natural Language Processing
• Data Management Systems
• Emerging Global Risks
• Topics in Quantitative Risk Management
• Advanced Predictive Analytics
• Ethics, Society and the Finance Sector
• Financial Crime
• Financial Risk: The Future of Finance (jointly with USS)
• Valuation of Financial Institutions.

International electives

• FinTech (taught in Italy)
• International Real Estate Markets (Dubai).

Please note that electives are subject to change and availability.