Programme at a Glance
Intake and Application
Overview
The National University of Singapore (NUS) Master of Science in Financial Engineering (MFE) is a graduate degree programme offered by the Risk Management Institute (RMI).
Launched in 1999 by the Centre for Financial Engineering at NUS, the predecessor to RMI, MFE is a multi-disciplinary programme that combines finance, mathematics and computing with a practical orientation to solve problems in finance. The combination of competencies that learners will develop over the course of the programme — an understanding of complex financial strategies, financial modelling ability, and computational proficiency — is in high demand, and is difficult for employers to find in graduates of traditional Master of Business Administration (MBA) or quantitative (e.g. engineering, physics, mathematics) degree programmes.
MFE strives to shape students into "doers" — people with the theoretical background necessary to approach complex financial problems and the practical know-how to solve these problems. Towards this end, it aims to equip finance and banking industry professionals and fresh graduates with current knowledge and skills in financial innovations and technology.
Drawing from the established strengths of various NUS faculties and departments — including the Departments of Finance, Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Probability — as well as practitioners from the financial industry, MFE aims to impart domain knowledge to learners in such areas as financial product development, modelling of prices, hedging, investment technology, risk analyses and computational methods.
Some courses in the programme are co-taught by senior bankers and industrialists in relevant fields. There are also intensive, one-week-long elective courses conducted overseas; previous runs were hosted by well-regarded institutions including the University of Oxford, Princeton University and the University of Waterloo.
Upon completion of the programme, NUS MFE graduates may find career opportunities in commercial and investment banks, brokerage and securities firms, treasury and financial planning departments of non-financial corporations, insurance companies, consulting, investment advisories, accounting firms, government financial agencies, hedge funds, pension funds as well as financial software and technology businesses.
Why This Programme?
Be assured of a quality education from an established programme offered by RMI, a world leader in advancing innovative solutions to risk management challenges.
Hone practical skills and contribute towards building a critical part of the world financial infrastructure in an environment where new ideas are created and innovative solutions are put to real practice.
Study on-campus (part-time or full-time) or via distance learning (same syllabus, materials, assessments and degree as a student who studies on-campus; all students undertaking distance learning are required to attend the first semester in-person in Singapore).
Application Period
An Academic Year (AY) at NUS* consists of two semesters and a special term (which occurs during the Semester 2 Vacation, and is divided into two parts of six weeks duration each):
For the NUS MFE programme, there is one application period for each AY:
| Programme | Intake | Application Dates |
|---|---|---|
| MFE | Semester 1 (Aug Intake) | 1 Oct of preceding year to 15 Feb of intake year |
Admission to the NUS MFE programme is granted on a competitive basis as places in the programme are limited. Applicants should possess the following minimum requirements:
| Academic | Bachelor's Degree (four-year degree, or with Honours) |
| Skill/Experience | Relevant work experience advantageous |
| English Language | International applicants whose medium of university instruction is not completely in English: Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 85 (Internet-based), or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic score of 6.0 Note: TOEFL / IELTS scores are valid for two years from the test date and should not have expired at point of application. Expired scores will not be considered for the application. |
| Other | Optional: Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), or Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) Note: GRE scores are valid for five years from the test date and should not have expired at point of application. Expired scores will not be considered for the application. |
Candidates may visit the official Educational Testing Service (ETS) website for scheduling of TOEFL/GRE tests.
Note: All credentials will be weighted based on the quality of applicants applying for the NUS MFE programme each year, meaning that each component has no minimum cut-off.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that application information and all supporting documents are truthful and correct. NUS reserves the right to verify information provided as part of an application. False or misleading information in an application (including but not limited to test scores, resumes, certificates, transcripts, etc.) is grounds for admission rejection, revocation and/or dismissal from the University.
The NUS MFE programme is offered on the following basis (with estimated time to complete the programme indicated below):
| Full-time | 12–24 months |
| Part-time | 18–48 months |
Note: International applicants must be accepted into an approved full-time course in Singapore to apply for a Student’s Pass. For more information, refer to the Singapore Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) website.
The NUS MFE is a 40-Unit coursework-based Master’s Degree programme comprising:
Core/essential courses (20 Units), with a core financial engineering project (4 Units), and
Elective courses (at least 16 Units).
Core/Essential Courses
Students are required to complete five core courses and a core financial engineering project. The core financial engineering project is only open to students who have either i) completed the five core courses, or ii) are completing the remaining core courses in the same semester in which they are enrolling for the core financial engineering project.
| Course Code | Course Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| FE5101 | Derivatives and Fixed Income | 4 |
| FE5107 | Risk Analyses and Management | 4 |
| FE5110 | Financial Engineering Project | 4 |
| FE5112 | Stochastic Calculus and Quantitative Methods | 4 |
| FE5116 | Programming and Advanced Numerical Methods | 4 |
| FE5209 | Financial Econometrics | 4 |
Elective Courses
In addition to core courses, students are required to take at least four elective courses from the list below. Note that some electives may not be offered every year.
| Course Code | Course Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| FE5103 | Equity Products and Exotics | 4 |
| FE5105 | Corporate Financing and Risk | 4 |
| FE5108 | Portfolio Theory and Investments | 4 |
| FE5111 | Graduate Internship in Financial Engineering | 4 |
| FE5208 | Term Structure and Interest Rate Derivatives | 4 |
| FE5210 | Research Methods in Finance | 4 |
| FE5211 | Seminar in Financial Engineering | 4 |
| FE5212 | Sustainable Finance Risk Management (SFRM) | 2 |
| FE5213 | Quantitative Macroeconomics and Finance with Python | 4 |
| FE5214 | Introduction to Quantitative Investing | 4 |
| FE5215 | Seminar in Financial Product Innovations | 4 |
| FE5216 | Financial Technology Innovations Seminar | 4 |
| FE5217 | Seminar in Risk Management and Alternative Investment | 4 |
| FE5218 | Credit Risk | 4 |
| FE5219 | Credit Analytics Practicum | 6 |
| FE5221 | Trading Principles & Fundamentals | 2 |
| FE5222 | Advanced Derivatives Pricing | 4 |
| FE5223 | Introduction to Electronic Financial Market | 2 |
| FE5224 | Current Topics in Applied Risk Management | 2 |
| FE5225 | Machine Learning and FinTech | 4 |
| FE5226 | C++ in Financial Engineering | 4 |
| FE5227 | Commodities: Fundamentals and Modelling | 2 |
Note: For more information about the courses listed above (as well as other courses offered in the current academic year), please visit NUSMODS.
To graduate from the NUS MFE programme, students must meet the following requirements:
| Programme and/or Specialisation | Read and pass a total of 40 Units, comprising: 20 Units of core/essential courses, 4 Units of core financial engineering project, and At least 16 Units of elective courses |
| Course and/or Qualification | Not applicable |
| Grade Point Average (GPA) | Minimum 3.0 (out of maximum 5.0)
Please see also the University’s minimum standards for Continuation and Graduation Requirements. Specific programmes may implement stricter or additional requirements. |
| Other | Not applicable |
The University reserves all rights to review fees as necessary and adjust accordingly without prior notice.
| Tuition | S$58,715.60
(excluding GST) /
Note: The tuition fees for this programme as stated above is for 40 Units. Students who wish to take additional courses or who need to repeat a course will be subject to fees of $6,400.00 per course. |
| Application | S$100.00 (including 9% GST) Non-refundable and non-transferable |
| Acceptance | S$12,000.00 (including 9% GST) Payable upon acceptance of offer Non-refundable and non-transferable Will be credited towards tuition fees |
| Miscellaneous Student Fees | As published by Office of the University Registrar
Payable every regular semester |
Scholarships & Financial Assistance
The scholarships and financial assistance schemes presented here are examples of the kinds of funding from the University as well as third-party sponsors that might be available to eligible NUS Master's Degree (Coursework) programme students and applicants.
The information provided is subject to change, and warranties cannot be provided as to its completeness or accuracy. Students and applicants are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research, and refer to the relevant sponsors and/or websites for more detailed and up-to-date information.
ASEAN Scholarship (Master of Science in Financial Engineering)
Risk Management Institute Scholarships
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