MPhil in Finance and Economics

The MPhil in Finance and Economics is a one-year master's degree that runs from mid-September to late July. It is an intensive course combining advanced study and research, tailored for people with one year or less of work experience who intend to go on to work for the industry. It places particular emphasis on economic coverage of financial themes, beginning from the institutional background, moving on to careful consideration of how observed institutions should be modelled, and ending by relating existing models to data and discussing how these models should be improved when they do not fit the data.

On completion of the MPhil degree students should have:

• acquired advanced technical training in microeconomics, and econometrics;
• acquired, a solid grounding in the principles and practice of financial markets and developed the understanding of the tools necessary to make good financial decisions.
• begun to acquire independent research skills and experience of putting them into practice;
• acquired experience and guidance in formulating a realistic research topic and prepared written work to a strict timetable; and
• acquired sufficient knowledge and understanding of advanced economics to proceed to a career as a professional economist in industry or to a research degree.

Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK High 2.1 Honours Degree. They need at least a good 2.1 (av of 68/69) undergraduate degree in economics (a business studies, accountancy or management degree or qualification does not provide an adequate background). Applicants from North American institutions: a GPA of at least 3.8 out of 4 or the equivalent. Applicants from other educational systems: within the top ten per cent of their reference group.