B6060 Bachelor of Actuarial Science and Master of Actuarial Studies

Double degree courses include the core features of the component degree courses.

Stage 1. Bachelor of Actuarial Science

The course develops through the four themes of foundation commerce knowledge, foundation and advanced discipline knowledge, and application studies.  In the double degree course you complete: 

Part A. Foundation commerce knowledge

These units will provide you with a comprehensive study of economics and econometrics disciplines and the impact they have on multi-discipline decision-making in organisations. The units consider the impact on the business, professional and public policy communities.

Part B. Foundation discipline knowledge and Part C Advanced discipline knowledge

These units will develop your capacity as a critical and creative professional who is able to apply your knowledge of actuarial science to provide discipline based solutions to commerce. Units contained within this part may meet the requirements for professional accreditation bodies.

Part D. Application Studies

This will enable you to further develop your knowledge of actuarial science, or commerce more broadly, or to select any units from across the University in which you are eligible to enrol including to complete a major or minor from another course.

You can enrich your degree to hone your academic and professional skills with a range of flagship rich experiences, including the Research, Experimentation and Discovery, Monash Innovation Guarantee and Global Immersion Guarantee. These flagship rich experience units may be credited in place of your free electives if approved by the faculty. There are both 6 and 12 credit point unit options available.

Stage 2. Master of Actuarial Studies

The course is structured in three parts: Part A. Advanced preparatory, Part B. Mastery knowledge and Part C. Application studies.  In the double degree course you complete: 

Part B. Mastery knowledge

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

Course progression map

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

Stage 1. Bachelor of Actuarial Science 

You must complete units as specified in Parts A, B, C and D (144 credit points):

In choosing your units, you must ensure that you complete no more than 10 units (60 credit points) at level 1 and at least six units (36 credit points) at level 3, including four units (24 credit points) at level 3 offered by the Faculty of Business and Economics.

Units are 6 points each unless otherwise specified.

Part A. Foundation commerce knowledge (24 credit points)

You must complete:

• ACC1100 Introduction to financial accounting
• ECC1000 Principles of microeconomics
• ECC1100 Principles of macroeconomics
• ETC1000 Business and economic statistics 

Part B. Foundation discipline knowledge (36 credit points)

You must complete the following six units. 

• ETC2410 Introductory econometrics
• ETC2430 Actuarial Cash Flow Modelling
• ETC2440 Mathematics for economics and business 
• ETC2520 Probability and statistical inference for economics and business
• ETC2560 Statistical modelling for actuarial studies
• ETC3550 Applied forecasting

Part C. Advanced discipline knowledge  (36 credit points)

You must complete one specialisation

Actuarial Studies specialisation

• BFC2140 Corporate finance 
• ETC3420 Applied Insurance methods 
• ETC3430 Financial mathematics under uncertainty
• ETC3460 Financial econometrics
• ETC3520 Foundations of quantitative finance
• ETC3530 Life insurance mathematics*

Actuarial Analytics specialisation

• ETC1010 Introduction to data analysis
• ETC2420 Statistical thinking
• ETC3250 Introduction to machine learning
• ETC3555 Statistical machine learning
• ETF3500 High dimensional data analysis
• ETC3580 Advanced statistical modelling*

*Capstone unit

Part D. Application Studies (48 credit points)

Free Electives (24 credit points)

You must complete 24 credit points of units at Level 2 or 3. You must complete at least six units (36 credit points) at level 3 in this course. If you take less than six level 3 units in total under Part B and Part C, you must take additional level 3 units in Part D. Electives can also be chosen from across the University, including to complete a major or minor from another course if you have met the required prerequisites and there are no restrictions on enrolling in the units. Enrolment in Faculty of Business and Economics units at campuses other than the campus of enrolment is subject to there being capacity after students from that campus have enrolled. You should also be aware of travel and timetabling limitations.

No more than two units can contribute towards two majors, or a major and a minor, in the same course (including a double degree course). The same unit is not credited towards two minors.

Electives can be identified using the [[http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/units/search][browse units]] tool and [[http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/units/][indexes of units]] in the current edition of the Handbook. [[http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/aos/index-bydomain_type-major.html][Majors]] and [[http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/aos/index-bydomain_type-minor.html][minors]] can also be identified using the Handbook indexes. The level of the unit is indicated by the first number in the unit code; undergraduate units are those that commence with the numbers 1-3. 

For students in a double degree course, some units required for the other degree are credited as electives towards this Actuarial Science degree.

You can enrich your degree to hone your academic and professional skills with a range of flagship rich experiences, including the Research, Experimentation and Discovery, Monash Immersion Guarantee and Global Immersion Guarantee. These flagship rich experience units may be credited in place of your free electives if approved by the faculty. There are both 6 and 12 credit point unit options available.

Additional actuarial studies units (24 credit points)

You must complete four units from the following:

• BFF5520 Advanced foundations of finance
• BFF5525 Quantitative and data analysis in Python
• BFC5926 Financial institutions and markets
• ETC5345 Applied time series econometrics
• ETC5512 Wild-caught data
• ETC5521 Exploratory data analysis
• ETC5523 Communicating with data
• MKF5231 Establishing and building strong brands
• MKF5601 Social media marketing
• MKF5741 Using marketing analytics for better decision making
• MGF5800 Global business

Stage 2. Master of Actuarial Studies

Part B. Mastery knowledge (48 credit points)

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

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

*if you have already completed ETC3250 you must complete an extra 6cp from Part B.b, Stage 2.

b. Additional actuarial studies units (30 credit points)

You must complete five units from the following not already completed in stage 1: 

• BFF5520 Advanced foundations of finance
• BFF5525 Quantitative and data analysis in Python
• BFC5926 Financial institutions and markets
• ETC5345 Applied time series econometrics^
• ETC5512 Wild-caught data
• ETC5521 Exploratory data analysis
• ETC5523 Communicating with data
• ETC5860 Honours research project (12 credit points)
• ETC5342 Applied insurance methods^
• ETC5343 Financial mathematics under uncertainty^
• ETC5346 Financial econometrics^
• ETC5352 Foundations of quantitative finance^
• ETC5353 Life insurance mathematics^
• MKF5231 Establishing and building strong brands
• MKF5601 Social media marketing
• MKF5741 Using marketing analytics for better decision making
• MGF5800 Global business

^ These units are only available for students who completed the Actuarial analytics specialisation in Stage 1.