Ideas with Impact
UNB Faculty of Management

What happens when you combine innovative finance courses with cutting-edge tools in applied mathematics, statistics and computer programming? You’re ready to launch a career in quantitative investing, one of the fastest-growing and most in-demand fields in the investment landscape today. Starting in August 2018, the faculty of business administration at the University of New Brunswick’s Fredericton campus is ready to offer the opportunity to acquire these high value quantitative investment skills with the new Master in Quantitative Investment Management (MQIM) program – the first of its kind in Canada. Today, quantitative investment strategies are increasingly employed to solve problems in derivative securities valuation, dynamic investment strategies and risk management. Professionals with these credentials are sought after for positions in the buy-side like portfolio manager or risk manager with investment and commercial banks, trading companies, hedge funds, insurance companies and regulatory agencies. Graduates of UNB’s MQIM program will be highly qualified for careers in derivatives trading and valuation and risk management with banks, investment firms, brokerage houses, and other financial institutions and consulting firms. Here in Canada, most pension funds are adopting a quantitative approach, which requires a unique set of specialized skills. “MQIM grads would be well placed to succeed in quantitative investment and risk management roles at firms such as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (in addition to other large Canadian pension plans and asset managers), which generally have large and sophisticated investment teams that recruit quite heavily from such quantitative Masters programs,” said Jon Spinney, MQIM instructor and Chief Investment Officer with Vestcor Investment Management Corporation (formerly the New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation), the organization that manages several of the province’s pension funds. Support for the program also comes from TMX Group. "As a key player in the Canadian capital markets, TMX Group sees strong potential for the MQIM program at UNB. The program will enable its students to best apply quantitative and analytic skills in a technology and innovation driven work environment." Said Sherri Kinch, TMX Managing Director, Talent Development and Business Effectiveness. Dr. Donglei Du, professor of quantitative methods and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research first championed the MQIM program to UNB and the faculty. “While a few other programs in Canada combine quantitative investment courses with their finance programs,” he said, “UNB’s program will be the only one we know of that focuses on this niche area of finance and combines them with applied mathematics, computer coding, professional development modules and an experiential exercise at the graduate level.” Students enrolled in this one-year program will start the school year in August with a required boot camp that will equip them with basic knowledge of coding in high-level computer language, financial databases, quantitative methods, financial markets, corporate finance and accounting. They will complete all of the required courses and electives, along with the professional development modules during the fall and winter terms, finishing the program with a capstone project in the spring. This will include a research project or internship, both of which will give students a chance to apply their learning to a real world quantitative investment challenge. Known as the rocket scientists of the finance world, quantitative analysts or “quants” are in high demand and earn top salaries. Everything they need to get started will be available at UNB starting in August 2018. Interested, or know someone who would be a perfect fit? Contact us to learn more about our MQIM program.