B6014 Master of Actuarial Studies

The course is structured in three parts: Part A. Advanced preparatory, Part B. Mastery knowledge and Part C. Application studies.

Part A. Advanced preparatory

These units will provide you with a review of the knowledge base required for advanced studies in the actuarial discipline.

Part B. Mastery knowledge

These units will develop your understanding of econometric methods and will enable you to provide discipline based solutions within a business, professional or public policy community.

Part C. Application studies

The focus of these studies is professional or scholarly work that can contribute to a portfolio of professional development. This will be achieved by selecting complementary units offered across the university.

Master's entry points

Depending on prior qualifications you may receive entry level credit (a form of block credit) which determines your point of entry to the course:

If you are admitted at entry level 1 you complete 96 credit points, comprising Part A, Part B and Part C.
If you are admitted at entry level 2 you complete 72 credit points, comprising Part B and Part C.
If you are admitted at entry level 3 you complete 60 credit points, comprising Part B.

Note: if you are eligible for credit for prior studies you may elect not to receive the credit and complete one of the higher credit-point options.

Course progression map

The course progression map provides guidance on unit enrolment for each semester of study.

The course comprises 96 credit points structured into three parts: Part A. Advanced preparatory (24 credit points), Part B. Mastery knowledge (60 credit points) and Part C. Application studies (12 credit points).


Part A. Advanced preparatory (24 credit points)

a. You must complete four units from the following (24 credit points):

• ACF5950 Introduction to financial accounting
• BFC2140 Corporate finance 
• ETC2410 Introductory econometrics
• ETC2430 Actuarial cash flow modelling
• ECX5953 Economics

Part B. Mastery knowledge (60 credit points)

You must complete the following three units (18 credit points):

• ETC4110 Actuarial practice 1
• ETC4120 Actuarial practice 2
• ETC5250 Introduction to machine learning

b. Additional actuarial studies units (42 credit points)

You must complete seven units from the following list (42 credit points):

• ETC5252 Probability and statistical inference for economics and business*
• ETC5256 Statistical modelling for actuarial studies*
• ETC5342 Applied insurance methods*
• ETC5343 Financial mathematics under uncertainty*
• ETC5346 Financial econometrics*
• ETC5352 Foundations of quantitative finance*
• ETC5353 Life insurance mathematics*
• ETC5550 Applied forecasting* or ETC5345 Applied time series econometrics*
• ETC5512 Wild-caught data
• ETC5521 Exploratory data analysis
• ETC5523 Communicating with data
• ETC5860 Honours research project
• BFF5520 Advanced foundations of finance
• BFF5525 Quantitative and data analysis in Python
• BFF5926 Financial institutions and markets
• MKF5231 Establishing and building strong brands
• MKF5601 Social media marketing
• MKF5741 Using marketing analytics for better decision making
• MGF5800 Global business

If you are considering ETC5550 or ETC5345, you may only choose to complete one of the two units, to be included in your 42 credit points.

* These units are specifically allocated for actuarial exemption / accreditation purposes.

Part C. Application studies (12 credit points)

You must complete two units (12 credit points) at either level 4 or 5. Elective units may be chosen from the Faculty of Business and Economics or across the University so long as you have the prerequisites and there are no restrictions on enrolling in the units.

You can enrich your degree by honing your academic and professional skills through the Monash Innovation Guarantee (MIG). The MIG is your unique opportunity to collaborate with renowned industry leaders and design innovative solutions that result in real social change. MIG will give you the leadership skills you will need to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world and is your chance to make connections before you graduate. The MIG unit may be credited in place of a free elective as a 6 credit point unit option. For information on eligibility please see FREE.