Actuarial Science

The BSc (Hons) Actuarial Science degree is delivered by Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), one of Europe’s leading business schools. Part of City St George's, University of London, Bayes is ranked amongst the top 6 business schools in the UK*.

As England’s longest established Actuarial Science degree, this course offers students a sound education in actuarial and financial studies, mathematics and statistics. You will develop your ability to make reasoned judgements, frame appropriate questions and draw independent conclusions and gain highly prized financial risk management skills.

Actuarial science involves the application of quantitative skills to problems in finance that normally involve risk or uncertainty, such as insurance. If you enjoy mathematics, statistics, probability and economics you will find this course ideal. For the duration of your degree, you’ll delve deeper into these course subjects, as well as stochastic models, finance and financial reporting, business and, naturally, actuarial science itself. You’ll also produce a self-researched final-year project on an area that interests and reflects your ambitions.

The degree provides students with the skills to start their actuarial career, with the added flexibility of allowing students to alternatively use these skills to enter risk management, investment management or financial analysis upon graduation. This degree can provide exemptions from subjects CM1, CM2, CS1, CS2, CB1 and CB2 of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ examinations.

In each year of your degree, you will study a core set of modules that will allow you to focus on actuarial science, alongside modules that will broaden your studies into other areas of economics and business. In fact, the Actuarial Science degree at Bayes contains more credits than the majority of all other actuarial science degrees in the UK. By studying for 450 credits rather than the standard 360 credits during your degree, you are able to obtain in depth understanding in specialisms such as business management, real estate finance, financial derivatives and extreme value theory.

Many of our lecturers are qualified actuaries and have worked in industry and continue to consult for corporate organisations, so you will benefit from their first-hand knowledge and business experience. As we place a high value on teaching both theory and application, you will emerge from your degree with a good understanding of how to use your newly acquired knowledge in the workplace, whether this concerns a career as an actuary or an alternative direction (such as, for example, risk manager).

Ethics are an essential and unavoidable aspect of an actuary’s career and the ethical aspects of risk management are considered throughout the course. We are committed to developing responsible and socially aware actuaries, as many of the decisions that you will make in your career will affect numerous stakeholders all of whose views and situations must be taken into account.

A key part of this degree is the opportunity to gain professional work experience or a period of study abroad. Students are eligible to apply for a one-year paid work placement during the third year of a four-year sandwich degree course. Students enjoy a wide range of opportunities in business areas such as insurance and risk management, actuarial investment pricing and capital management. Recent placements include: the Association of British Insurers, Aviva/Friends Life, Prudential and Legal & General.

Students can alternatively apply to spend one year studying abroad during the third year of a four-year sandwich degree course. Students can apply to study at a business school at one of our prestigious partner universities, including the University of Waterloo, Canada; and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

*Financial Times European Business School Ranking 2022

​​You can find extensive information about the modules you can expect to study on this course on our website:
https://www.bayes.city.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/actuarial-science

You will be assessed using a variety of methods, depending on module choices including:

• Coursework
• Unseen written examinations, taking place at the end of each term (or at the end of a year, if a module is taught over two terms)
• Class tests
• Online quizzes and tests, using the Virtual Learning Environment
• Presentation
• Group projects, individual projects.

Percentage of the course assessed by coursework:

The balance of assessment by examination, practical examination and assessment by coursework will to some extent depend on the optional modules you choose. The approximate percentage of the course assessment,is as follows:

Year 1
67% written, 4% practical, 29% coursework

Year 2
73% written, 27% coursework

Year 3
65% written, 2% practical, 33% coursework.

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• Actuaries, Institute and Faculty of