Heriot-Watt University is the only Centre of Actuarial Excellence (as recognised by the society of actuaries (SOA) – North America) in Europe. Actuaries are professionals with expertise in risk management and this is usually applied in the world of insurance. This MSc in Actuarial Science and Management takes students through the required exams almost to the point of qualification with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) in the UK.
The degree is two years long and covers mathematical subjects in the first year and application of those mathematical subjects in the second year. In addition, in the second year it is also possible to take courses in machine learning.
Actuaries work in the areas of life insurance, general insurance, pensions, investment and banking mostly, but also more widely in fund management companies, hedge funds, consultancies, software vendors and regulatory authorities.
The career is fun in that students are regularly applying their mathematical skills to solve problems and predict the future. Salaries are typically high (a newly qualified actuary in the UK usually earns between £50,000 and £60,000 each year) and the work-life balance is excellent.
The MSc in Actuarial Science and Management is fully accredited with the IFoA which means that the subjects students study on this program lead to exemptions from the corresponding subjects with the IFoA.
| Level | Masters |
| Discipline | Sciences |
| Duration | 24 months |
| Intakes | Sep |
| Application Fees | GBP 0 |
| Tuition Fees | GBP 19568 |
| Campus | Edinburgh |
| Language proficiency (minimum) | |
| IELTS | 6.5 |
|---|---|
| TOEFL | 85 |
| PTE | 68 |
| Duolingo | Not Required / Waiver |
| Exam proficiency (minimum) | |
| SAT | Not Required / Waiver |
|---|---|
| ACT | Not Required / Waiver |
| GRE | Not Required / Waiver |
| GMAT | Not Required / Waiver |
Minimum GPA - 73.0%
256
351-400
801-900
513
QS Quacquarelli Symonds is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector, whose mission is to enable motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility, and career development.
THE (Times Higher Education) has been providing trusted performance data on universities for students and their families, academics, university leaders, governments and industry, since 2004. We create university rankings to assess university performance on the global stage and to provide a resource for readers to understand the different missions and successes of higher education institutions.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) was first published in June 2003 by the Center for World-Class Universities (CWCU), Graduate School of Education (formerly the Institute of Higher Education) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and updated on an annual basis
The "Webometrics Ranking of World Universities" is an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain. CSIC is among the first basic research organizations in Europe. The CSIC consisted in 2006 of 126 centers and institutes distributed throughout Spain.
