MSc Applied Actuarial Science
Canterbury, United Kingdom
MSc
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2027
TUITION FEES
GBP 24,700 *
STUDY FORMAT
* for International| UK: £15,000
Key Summary
About: The MSc in Applied Actuarial Science at Kent is fully accredited by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and offers fast-track to qualification. Chosen modules may yield you exemptions from CP1 CP2 CP3 SP2 SP5 SP7 SP8 and SP9. Teaching mixes theory and practice; staff include practicing actuaries and specialized researchers. It covers probability, statistics, mathematical and risk modeling, and financial mathematics.
Career Outcomes: Graduates enter actuarial roles in insurance, consultancy, pensions, risk management and quantitative finance. Employability support includes seminars, CV and interview advice. The UK actuarial profession's well paid: average trainee salary £36,842 and Chief Actuary £209,292.
Accreditation
Our MSc in Actuarial Science, MSc in Applied Actuarial Science and International Master’s are all fully accredited by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries; they also provide a fast-track route to qualifying as an actuary, because students who achieve a high enough overall mark in these programmes can obtain exemptions from the professional examinations included within their studies.
Depending on the modules chosen, MSc in Applied Actuarial Science students may be eligible for exemptions from CP1, CP2, CP3, SP2, SP5, SP7, SP8 and SP9 of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. As one of the few universities to offer actuarial science in the UK, Kent’s programme is recognised for its strong mix of theoretical and practical expertise. The teaching staff include many actuaries drawn from professional practice, along with specialised researchers.
Stage 1
Compulsory modules currently include the following
- Core Actuarial Practice 1
- Core Actuarial Practice 2
- Specialist Actuarial Practice
- Introduction to PROPHET Modelling
- Professional Skills
- Modelling Practice
Optional modules may include the following
- Life Insurance
- Investment and Finance
- General Insurance Reserving and Capital Modelling
- General Insurance Pricing
- Enterprise Risk Management
Please visit the university website for information about further studies.
Scholarship value
The award covers tuition fees, return airfares and living costs for a one-year taught Master's programme.
Deadline
Deadline for Commonwealth application: - 12 December 2024.
Hold an unconditional offer (with the only outstanding condition, international fee deposit) of a programme of study from the University of Kent - 31 January 2025
Criteria
To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, candidates must:
- Hold an undergraduate degree at UK first-class level equivalent.
- Be a citizen of or have been granted refugee status by one of the eligible Commonwealth countries listed or be a British Protected Person.
- Be a permanent resident in one of the eligible Commonwealth countries listed above.
- To be committed to the University of Kent, you can apply for more than one course and/or to more than one University, but you may only accept one offer of a Shared Scholarship.
- Not have studied or worked for one (academic) year or more in a high-income country.
- Be unable to afford to study in the UK without this scholarship.
- Return to their home country as soon as their period of study is complete. In some circumstances, a student may be permitted to remain in the UK if seeing doctoral study and satisfy certain strict conditions.
- Hold an offer by the deadline for a full-time postgraduate taught degree on one of the eligible courses at the University of Kent:
- MSc Artificial Intelligence
- MSc Infectious Diseases
- MSc Cyber Security
- MA International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
- MSc Applied Actuarial Science
- MSc Conservation Science
- MA English and American Literature
Further details
Commonwealth Shared Scholarships, set up by DFID in 1986, represent a unique partnership between the United Kingdom government and UK Universities.
Funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), Commonwealth Shared Scholarships enable talented and motivated individuals to gain the knowledge and skills required for sustainable development. They are aimed at those who could not otherwise afford to study in the UK.
These scholarships are offered under six themes:
- Science and technology for development
- Strengthening health systems and capacity
- Promoting global prosperity
- Strengthening global peace, security and governance
- Strengthening resilience and response to crises - Access, inclusion and opportunity.
How to apply
To be considered for the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship you must:
- Make a formal application for a postgraduate degree at the University of Kent commencing September 2025/26. This can be done online here.
- Complete the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) online application process. For information on how to do that and full details of the application process please go directly to the Commonwealth Scholarships webpages.
- Applications will be considered based on Academic Excellence and a completed application.
- The Commonwealth will accept applications until 12th December 2024 (closing at 16:00 GMT).
The UK Actuarial Profession is small, but influential and well rewarded. There are more than 6,500 actuaries currently employed in the UK, the majority of whom work in insurance companies and consultancy practices.
Survey results published by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries suggest that the average basic salary for a student actuary is £36,842 with pay and bonuses increasingly sharply as you become more experienced. The average basic salary of a Chief Actuary is £209,292.
As an actuary, your work is extremely varied and can include: advising companies on the amount of funds to set aside for employee pension payments; designing new insurance policies and setting premium rates; pricing financial derivatives and working in fund management and quantitative investment research; advising life insurance companies on he distribution of surplus funds; and estimating the effects of possible major disasters, such as earthquakes or hurricanes, and setting premium rates for insurance against such disasters. For more information about the actuarial profession, see www.actuaries.org.uk
Employability support
Helping our students to develop strong employability skills is a key objective within the School and the University. We provide a wide range of services and support to equip you with transferable vocational skills that enable you to secure appropriate professional positions within industry. Within the School we run specialist seminars and provide advice on creating a strong CV, making job applications and successfully attending interviews and assessment centres.
Our graduates have gone on to successful careers in the actuarial, finance, insurance and risk sectors.
Professional recognition
Professional accreditation by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
for postgraduate updates
Teaching and assessment
Assessment is usually by a mixture of coursework and examination; exact weightings vary from module to module.
Accreditation
Students who are considered to have performed sufficiently well in the programme (both in examinations and coursework), as determined by an examiner appointed by the UK Actuarial Profession will receive exemptions.
If you fail to achieve a suitable overall standard, you might still be awarded individual module exemptions as recommended by the Profession’s examiner. Please note that individual exemptions are granted based on the final written examinations only.
Study support
Postgraduate resources
The University’s Templeman Library houses a comprehensive collection of books and research periodicals. The University of Kent has entered into an exclusive arrangement with SunGard, a global leader in integrated software and processing solutions primarily for financial services, who market the industry’s leading actuarial software package PROPHET. As a result, our taught postgraduate courses include optional modules on the uses and applications of PROPHET.
Links with industry
The Centre for Actuarial Science, Risk and Investment maintains close relationships with industry actuaries through the Invicta Actuarial Society, a regional actuarial society which holds its meetings at the Canterbury campus and is organised by University of Kent students and academic staff. The Society hosts an annual lecture in conjunction with the Worshipful Company of Actuaries, featuring prestigious speakers from industry and the profession. The Society also arranges talks from external speakers including practitioners, careers advisers and recruiters from the UK and overseas.
Dynamic publishing culture
Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books. Among others, they have recently contributed to: British Actuarial Journal; Actuary Australia; Annals of Actuarial Science; Journal of Pension Economics and Finance. Details of recently published books can be found under staff research interests.