Master of Science in Mathematics

  Admission requirements | Study programme | Assets | Career prospects| Registration fee | More information | Application

Fact sheet

The Master's

The Master of Mathematics programme aims to train highly qualified mathematicians, who can not only communicate with fellow mathematicians, but also with other scientists and people less familiar with mathematics. Accuracy and an aptitude for analysis, modelling, and abstraction are important assets providing graduates with considerable professional versatility. Upon the successful completion of this programme, you will have acquired:

• general knowledge of mathematics in all its aspects as well as more in-depth knowledge of a specialised area
• basic knowledge of other sciences where mathematics can be applied
• the ability to keep abreast of relevant developments in your field
• the ability to analyse mathematical and quantitative problems, devise solutions, and supervise your implementation
• the ability to communicate findings and insights in both written reports and oral presentations and using ICT resources
• the ability to understand and enhance the role of mathematics in society

Admission requirements

To the definitive admission requirements
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Study programme

Besides a solid, all-round education in mathematics, the programme offers you the possibility to focus on either pure or applied mathematics. This allows you to acquire both breadth of knowledge and depth in your own areas of interest. Pure and applied mathematics courses are firmly grounded in the core research activities of the Department of Mathematics. Gradually, you will gain experience and autonomy in learning how to cope with new concepts, higher levels of abstraction, new techniques, new applications, and new results. This culminates in the Master’s thesis, where you become actively involved in the research performed in the various mathematical research groups of the Departments of Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy and Computer Sciences.

To a detailed overview of the programme

Assets

Mathematics is essential to all the natural sciences. The academic staff at the Department of Mathematics not only includes researchers in pure mathematics with international expertise in algebraic geometry, number theory, differential geometry, functional analysis, and real/ complex analysis, but also mathematical statisticians dealing with extreme values, robust statistics, and non-parametric statistics as well as applied mathematicians working in plasma astrophysics and computational fluid dynamics. Members of the department are involved in the threeyear Bachelor of Mathematics programme, which is followed by the two-year Master of Mathematics programme.

Career prospects

Many mathematicians will find employment in industry or in the banking, insurance or IT sectors. Others pursue a career in research and undertake a PhD in mathematics, mathematical physics, astrophysics, engineering, or related fields.

I am responsible for managing passive funds and mixed retail mandates (shares, obligations, property, and cash). In total, my group manages around EUR 4 billion in assets and aims to maximize these assets using multiple quantitative techniques. A good example is the use of different mathematical optimization techniques in minimizing risk and maximizing client benefit, which is defined as the trade-off between return and risk. Thorough mathematical knowledge is also indispensable in the area of derivative valuation. These derivatives are quite new to the market and, because of their provisional character, price determination is quite complex. Within asset management, the quantitative approach is gaining importance. To give clients the best possible return on investment, financial expertise is no longer sufficient. Financial analysts tend to focus on individual effects, whereas it is preferable to make decisions at the portfolio level and protect customers’ assets through a balanced mix. Unsurprisingly, we find mathematicians abundant in various levels of management: financial engineering (product development), management, risk control, and systems programming (IT).
- A graduate of the Master of Mathematics programme, Jürgen is now a financial analyst

Registration fee

To the definitive registration fees

Motivated and talented international students, interested in participating in an international master programme of the Faculty of Science of the KU Leuven are invited to apply for a scholarship.

More information

If you have other questions, contact:

Faculty of Science
Administrative Office
tel. + 32 16 32 14 01

Application