MS Programs in Singapore

[Ken Abbott]

I've seen references to degree programs in Singapore, but haven't come across any candidates in my travels. What can anyone tell me about these programs?

 

[bullion]

As far as prestige go, the most mentioned ones are

National University of Singapore (NUS) (1-2 years, FT)
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) (1 years, FT)
Singapore Management University (SMU) (12 months, FT)

Here, here, and here are your usual bickering of which is better. General college rankings can be found here.

Unlike schools in the US, however, rankings in Asia are somewhat fixed/predetermined because most good schools are public and historically served various governmental agenda. Therefore, government will sort of decide which is "better" and provide the most grants (or marketing). For the MFE, however, comparing the curricula themselves will give you a better idea of the quality of the students

Some things worth noting
NUS
- Stochastic Calculus is an elective
- Seems to do most of their projects in MATLAB and VBA
- Course descriptions can be found here

NTU
- 1 year programme is divided into 3 trimester + 1 mini session at CMU in Pittsburgh
- completion of the CMU module also yields the Certificate in Computational Finance by CMU (also require to take at least one C++ course at CMU)
- As far as standardized exams and w/e go, NTU students are comparable to those from top US programs
- As a result of the prestige of the school itself (and the MFE program), the placement seems quite good

SMU
- offered jointly with City University of London (Cass Business School)
- has zero placement statistics on website.... in fact, refer to quantfinancejobs.com instead

 

[KB]

SMU
- offered jointly with City University of London (Cass Business School)
- has zero placement statistics on website.... in fact, refer to quantfinancejobs.com instead

Bullion sums it up well. If I may add, SMU has zero placement statistics because it's takes in its first batch this fall.

Also, ChicagoU offers MSc Financial Mathematics at the Singapore campus. You can check it out here.

 

[Scott]

ESSEC business school offers the Advanced Master's degree in Financial Techniques in its Singapore campus with a four-month stint in France. This program has a Financial Engineering Asia track.

You can find more info here.

 

[remylebeau]

As far as prestige go, the most mentioned ones are

National University of Singapore (NUS) (1-2 years, FT)
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) (1 years, FT)
Singapore Management University (SMU) (12 months, FT)

Here, here, and here are your usual bickering of which is better. General college rankings can be found here.

Unlike schools in the US, however, rankings in Asia are somewhat fixed/predetermined because most good schools are public and historically served various governmental agenda. Therefore, government will sort of decide which is "better" and provide the most grants (or marketing). For the MFE, however, comparing the curricula themselves will give you a better idea of the quality of the students

Some things worth noting
NUS
- Stochastic Calculus is an elective
- Seems to do most of their projects in MATLAB and VBA
- Course descriptions can be found here

NTU
- 1 year programme is divided into 3 trimester + 1 mini session at CMU in Pittsburgh
- completion of the CMU module also yields the Certificate in Computational Finance by CMU (also require to take at least one C++ course at CMU)
- As far as standardized exams and w/e go, NTU students are comparable to those from top US programs
- As a result of the prestige of the school itself (and the MFE program), the placement seems quite good

SMU
- offered jointly with City University of London (Cass Business School)
- has zero placement statistics on website.... in fact, refer to quantfinancejobs.com instead

I'm from NUS. Though I'm not from the MFE program, I've taken some of the MFE courses as an undergrad. In addition, I've a number of colleagues who have done/are doing the MFE programs at both NUS and NTU.

- The NTU program is known to be more rigorous among local employers. A comparison of the homework from both programs reveals this to be true.
- The NUS program recognizes that it may not be the most wise to have Stochastic Calculus as an elective. That is set to change this year.
- Where the NTU program ties up with CMU, students in the NUS program are headed to Princeton & University of Waterloo this year.
- NUS MFE is offered under its Risk Management Institute (RMI), which yes, gets government grants explicitly or implicitly. But that's really not an indication that it's the better program.
- NUS is a more highly-ranked university than NTU, but that again does not indicate which university offers the better MFE program.

bullion, you certainly know the local situation well! Are you Singaporean?

 

[jackcoke]

remylebeau

What's the Princeton portion for NUS about? Is that for the seminar module?

 

[remylebeau]

remylebeau

What's the Princeton portion for NUS about? Is that for the seminar module?

The Princeton module takes the place of FE5216 Financial Technology Innovations Seminar while the University of Waterloo module takes the place of FE5215 Seminar in Financial Product Innovations. I'm not entirely sure what classes the students will be reading at Princeton and University of Waterloo precisely. Let me check with my colleagues who are attending the program and get back to you next week. (Am currently on vacation!)

 

[jackcoke]

Oh thanks, no hurry. I'm just curious.

 

[remylebeau]

Okay, here's a direct quote from a current student of NUS MFE:
Princeton - Financial Technology Innovations Seminar (more conceptual)
U of Waterloo - Seminar in Financial Product Innovations (more quant & technical where numerical methods is covered)
There's limited capacity for both and the applicants need to register and provide a short write-up to be selected. Takes a month to finish both seminars.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

- Where the NTU program ties up with CMU, students in the NUS program are headed to Princeton & University of Waterloo this year.

How does this work exactly? Is this optional or all students in the program at NUS required to spend a last (third,etc) semester at Princeton? Who will then go to Waterloo? Are the extra tuition/room and board cost passed down to students?

I notice a lot of tie-in projects are done between US and Singaporean universities as the SGP govt seems to invest a lot of money in scholarships and other educational endeavors.

 

[jackcoke]

How does this work exactly? Is this optional or all students in the program at NUS required to spend a last (third,etc) semester at Princeton? Who will then go to Waterloo? Are the extra tuition/room and board cost passed down to students?

I notice a lot of tie-in projects are done between US and Singaporean universities as the SGP govt seems to invest a lot of money in scholarships and other educational endeavors.

The latest being the Yale-NUS College that generated some controversies within Yale's faculty.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Can anyone link me to the Singaporean Govt Scholarship that allows many students full tuition to the US programs with the stipulation that they come back and work in Singapore for x minimum of years.
These students are very attractive to many top MFE programs since they are in effect guaranteed a job after the program so it will help boost the placement rate.

 

[jackcoke]

http://www.mas.gov.sg/fin_development/Finance_Scholarship_Programme.html

http://www.nbs.ntu.edu.sg/SiteCollectionDocuments/FSPBrochure Jan2011-1.pdf

 

[remylebeau]

How does this work exactly? Is this optional or all students in the program at NUS required to spend a last (third,etc) semester at Princeton? Who will then go to Waterloo? Are the extra tuition/room and board cost passed down to students?

The overseas trip is optional. I know students who have graduated from the NUS and NTU programs without having attended the overseas segment. Since students effectively take modules from Princeton/Waterloo/CMU to replace modules that are offered by NUS/NTU, one can just as well read the equivalent modules in NUS/NTU to fulfill program requirements. It seems the Princeton+Waterloo segment in the NUS MFE program comes as a package - it's not either Princeton or Waterloo; it's both. Students won't be spending a whole semester there. I believe it's an intensive course of sorts, because they'll only be spending 3-4 weeks at both universities in total.

I notice a lot of tie-in projects are done between US and Singaporean universities as the SGP govt seems to invest a lot of money in scholarships and other educational endeavors.

I'm not sure the government has a direct hand in the tie-ups between the US and local universities. I'm not sure the government has a direct hand in how the universities are run at all, to be honest. The government offers scholarships to pursue the MFE program in NUS (and elsewhere), but my impression is that the government's interest is more in developing the local financial sector than in promoting the universities.

 

[Scott]

The CMU mini-term is compulsory for all NTU full-time students. Part-time students may opt out of this.

According to NUS website, the overseas modules are conducted at an intensive pace over one week. These are elective modules so I believe the students can choose to go either university. By the way, the NUS MFE program has changed the core modules starting this year.

• FE5101/ FE5101D Derivatives and Fixed Income
• FE5107/ FE5107D Risk Analyses and Management
• FE5110 Financial Engineering Project
• FE5112/ FE5112D Stochastic Calculus and Quantitative Methods
• FE5116/ FE5116D Programming and Advanced Numerical Methods
• FE5209/ FE5209D Financial Econometrics

 

[kshitij]

can anyone tell me about U chicago MSFM at Singapore, its reputation and job opportunities.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

NUS has a M.Sc. in Quantitative Finance by Coursework which I don't see many people discuss about
http://ww1.math.nus.edu.sg/GPMQF.aspx

Feel free to update any info from our list of programs in Pacific Rim here
https://docs.google.com/a/quantnet....XA8dDDHWdDd3QXpaRUVvOUVqckhJYjhrZXoxSGc#gid=3

 

[KB]

I did research on NUS MQF and it looks like they slapped together a bunch of undergraduate modules from the faculties of economics, mathematics and computer science. The lower course fee, normally a good selling point, seems to suggest that. Also, candidates are NOT required to submit their GRE or GMAT scores. That was the deal breaker for me.

These are harsh words but I'm happy to hear other perspectives on my personal opinion.

 

[JoeyKbra]

I've noticed the QF and MFE program of NUS and once confused how they differ with each other. According to my classmates who have been rolled by these two programs, it seems that the QF has a lower standard since it does not require GRE or GMAT, and the MFE seems to be a little harder to get into.
Another difference is that no government scholarship is offered in QF, while in MFE there is. I don't know why...

 

[Harjinder Singh]

Where can i get the placement statistics for MFE programs in Singapore ? None of the universities(NUS, NTU, SMU) have any information available on their sites.