Mathematical Foundations of Quantitative Finance (online)
Year of entry: 2024/25
Take a flexible, online distance-learning course to prepare for your Masters or develop your professional skills.
Brush up on your maths skills and prepare for your Masters course, supported by academics from the Department of Mathematics.
Why take a pre-sessional course in Mathematics?
Our flexible, online pre-sessional course is suitable for students who are planning to study the MSc in Mathematical Finance or the MSc in Financial Engineering but need to revise and consolidate their maths skills and knowledge before studying one of our MSc programmes.
Related links
Top 20 UK research department
according to the Times Higher Education ranking of the Research Excellence Framework (2021).
Impactful research
100% of our departmental research outputs received the highest rating (3* and 4*) in the Times Higher Education's ranking of the latest REF results (2021).
The course
It takes between one and two months to complete the course, and you can start at any time of the year. It is delivered by online distance learning. Presence on campus or in the UK is not required but a stable internet connection is essential.
This pre-sessional programme operates under the University's Continuing Professional Development provisions. It is a non-credit-bearing course intended to help candidates meet the entry requirements for the MSc in Mathematical Finance or the MSc in Financial Engineering.
What you'll study
You’ll study a range of topics including:
- Sets and functions (sets, functions, relations)
- Convergence (sequences of numbers, sequences of functions, uniform convergence, pointwise convergence)
- Calculus (continuity, uniform continuity, derivatives and partial derivatives, Taylor expansion, differential equations, integration)
- Probability (finite sample spaces, probability on [0,1], conditional probability, independence, random variables, probability distribution, expectation and variance, covariance, densities)
Completing your course
At the end of the pre-sessional programme you'll complete a piece of open-book, take-home assessed coursework. To secure an unconditional offer for the MSc in Mathematical Finance or the MSc in Financial Engineering you'll need to achieve a mark of 60% or higher (subject to any remaining admission criteria such as English language).
Resources for students
You’ll complete your course using the University’s Virtual Learning Environment. Throughout your course you'll have access to resources, materials and support including:
- lecture notes
- exercises
- feedback on submitted work
- worked solutions to the exercises
- Virtual Learning Environment support
- email support by a personal tutor
- assessed open-book assignment at the end of the course
- online induction session
- eight, 30-minute one-to-one online tutorials
- final online session following the assessed assignment
Fees
The tuition fee for this course for 2024/25 is £2,120. This fee will apply to those enrolling on the pre-sessional course on or after the 1 August 2024.
English language requirements
If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence of your ability. While there are no formal requirements, if necessary you may be invited to an interview to assess your English language ability before being given an offer to join this pre-sessional course.
If you go on to study an MSc with us you will still have to meet the University's standard English language requirements.
Applying
MSc offer holders
You might need to complete this course to meet your offer for our MSc in Mathematical Finance or MSc in Financial Engineering. Register for this course by logging into our applicant portal, using the log-in details you received from Postgraduate Admissions.
Direct applicants
You may also apply directly to Mathematics for Quantitative Finance as a standalone course.
Enrolment
You'll be enrolled on the pre-sessional course as soon as your tuition fee is received by the University. The starting date is 14 days following enrolment.