20 Years Quantitative Finance UZH ETH
Twenty years ago, the Master of Science UZH ETH in Quantitative Finance was launched. This international degree programme combines economic theory and finance with mathematical methods such as probability theory, statistics and econometrics as well as numerical analysis for finance and insurance.
The launch of the programme was a by-product of the collaboration between the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Banking and Finance of the University of Zurich within the NCCF Financial Valuation and Risk Management under the leadership of Rajna Gibson. At the Department of Mathematics, Freddy Delbaen led the launch of the programme, supported by Paul Embrechts, Hans-Jakob Lüthi and Christoph Schwab, who were also involved in the development of the programme. From 2003, Martin Schweizer joined the programme and took on a leading role.
Originally, the impetus for launching the programme came from the financial industry, which was looking for experts and found that while university graduates were experts in economics and finance, they lacked a certain depth in statistics and programming. ETH graduates, on the other hand, were familiar with probability and statistics and knew how to handle data, but not how a financial market works. This realisation led to the development of a new degree course whose graduates would be familiar with both worlds and would therefore be in high demand on the job market.
At the beginning, when Bologna had not yet been fully implemented, the programme started as a Master of Advanced Studies in 2003 and was then converted into a Specialised Master of Science degree on 1 September 2009. Since then, the Master's programme has developed very well and is now highly recognised internationally. In 2023, it was ranked first in Europe and seventh worldwide (external page Quant Finance Master’s Guide 2023).
Since its launch, 444 graduates have completed the programme. Most of them are currently working in banks and financial services companies.
Twentieth anniversary celebrations
The twentieth anniversary of the programme was celebrated on 3 November 2023. Walter Farkas, Director of the Master's programme, Harald Gall, Dean of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics at the University of Zurich, and Josef Teichmann, Head of the Department of Mathematics, welcomed over hundred alumni and twenty invited guests.
Freddy Delbaen gave an insight into the beginnings of the programme and the alumni Kinga Kaczmarek, Antonio Del Favero, Isabelle Kuksin and Urban Ulrych, who graduated between 2006 and 2011, spoke about how the Quantitative Finance programme has influenced their careers.
The keynote speaker, Christian Bluhm, Group CRO of UBS, concluded the event with an overview of the current challenges in the financial markets and the associated opportunities and possibilities for graduates.
Award for best Master's thesis
Martin K. Weber, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Robeco Switzerland, announced a new prize for the best Master's thesis in Quantitative Finance. This initiative is the result of a new collaboration between the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich and Robeco to promote research in the field of sustainable investing.
