S6001 Master of Financial Mathematics

The course is structured in three parts: Part A. Orientation studies, Part B. Specialist studies, Part C. Applied professional practice.

Part A. Advanced preparatory studies

These studies provide an orientation to the field of financial mathematics. You will choose studies that complement your current knowledge relevant to financial mathematics, including principles of econometrics, mathematical methods and stochastic processes.

Part B. Discipline studies

These studies will provide you with advanced knowledge and skills relevant to thoughtful, innovative and evidence-based practice in financial modelling and analysis. You will acquire core knowledge of and skills in stochastic calculus, quantitative risk management, interest rate modelling and computational methods in finance. You will complement these with study in areas of your choice, including financial econometrics, Markov processes, statistical learning in finance, and machine learning.

Part C. Professional practice

These studies will provide you with the opportunity to apply your knowledge skills developed in Part A and B to 'real life' problems. For those who achieve a distinction average (70%) in Part B, you can complete a major industry project or industry internship. For those who do not meet this requirement, you can complete a minor industry project or industry internship, as well as taking additional units from mathematics, business/economics and IT, to further supplement your studies. If you are admitted to the course with a recognised honours or equivalent in mathematics or statistics, you will receive credit for this part. However, should you wish to complete a 24 credit point research project you should consult with the course coordinator.

Masters 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 48 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. Orientation studies (24 credit points), Part B. Specialist studies (48 credit points) and Part C. Applied professional practice (24 credit points).

Units are 6 credit points unless otherwise stated.

Part A: Advanced preparatory studies (24 credit points)

You must complete MTH3251 and one unit from either MTH3241 or MTH3260

• MTH3251 Financial mathematics

• MTH3241 Random processes in the sciences and engineering

• MTH3260 Statistics of stochastic processes

Additional preparatory studies

You must complete 12 credit points from the following units OR 6 credit points from the following units and 6 credit points from the Advanced preparatory studies above, excluding units previously completed.

• ETC3400 Principles of econometrics

• ETC3460 Financial econometrics

• MTH2051 Introduction to computational mathematics

• MTH2232 Mathematical statistics 

• MTH3140 Real analysis

• MTH3320 Computational linear algebra

• MTH3330 Optimisation and operations research

• MTH3160 Metric spaces, Banach spaces, Hilbert spaces

• MTH3230 Time series and random processes in linear systems

Part B: Discipline studies (48 credit points)

You must complete MTH5210, MTH5510 and:
- 18 credit points from the list of Specified elective studies,
- 18 credit points from the list of Discipline elective studies.

• MTH5210 Stochastic calculus and mathematical finance

• MTH5510 Quantitative risk management

Specified elective studies

You must complete 18 credit points from the following units:

• MTH5520 Interest rate modelling

• MTH5530 Computational methods in finance

• MTH5550 Quantitative trading and market microstructure

• MTH5560 Partial differential equations for finance

Discipline elective studies

You must complete 18 credit points from the following units OR 12 credit points from the following units and 6 credit points from the Specified elective studies above, excluding units previously completed:

• BFF5270 Funds management

• BFX5260 Treasury and financial markets

• BEX5131 Fundamentals of investment strategy

• BEX5260 Understanding megatrends: The big forces shaping your future

• BFF5525 Quantitative and data analysis in Python

• BFF5555 Financial machine learning

• ETX5460 Advanced financial econometrics

• MTH5010 Special topics in advanced mathematics 1

• MTH5020 Special topics in advanced mathematics 2

• MTH5099 Measure theory

• MTH5220 The theory of martingales in discrete time

• MTH5230 Markov chains and random walks

• MTH5331 Nonlinear optimisation

• MTH5540 Statistical learning in finance

Part C: Professional practice (24 credit points)

You must complete one of the following options:

1. Either MTH5840 (12 credit points) OR MTH5820 (12 credit points), plus 12 credit points from the Discipline elective studies above, excluding units previously completed, OR

2. MTH5830 Industry Placement (24 credit points), OR

3. MTH5810 Industry Research Project (24 credit points).

• MTH5840 Minor industry placement (12 credit points)

• MTH5820 Minor industry research project (12 credit points)

• MTH5830 Industry placement (24 credit points)

• MTH5810 Industry research project (24 credit points)