GRA 6558 Consultancy Project for MSc in Quantitative Finance
GRA 6558 Consultancy Project for MSc in Quantitative Finance
This course, Consultancy Project for MSc in Quantitative Finance, is part of the +1 Model for MSc in Quantitative Finance.
This course intends to give students to recommend a solution to a real quantitative finance problem for a company or public entity. Students will experience first-hand how to solve a concrete business problem and present the solution to the organization.
The course is divided into two parts, where no part requires the student to be physically present at the Oslo campus.
After having completed this course, students should be familiar with applying one or several methods/digital tools learned in the programme to address a specific business or public domain problem. The problem can have a national and/or international application. In doing so, the students will also acquire industry specific knowledge of real life challenges and problems and what kind of tools are being used.
Students will obtain specific digital skills within the area of data management, modeling, and data analysis. In addition, the students will learn how to apply their knowledge to real-life problems, communicate their results both verbally, through a presentation, and in writing, through preparing the consultancy report.
Students learn how to evaluate a business problem from several angles and will experience firsthand the importance of reflecting on how the suggested solution will add value to the organization and/or sustainability to the public sector through the suggested solutions. The students have to be critical to any data provided and also need to critically evaluate their suggested solution and understand its limitations and applicability.
Part 1
The students are presented with data and a real problem from a company or public entity. The data will be of a structured/semi-structured format, and the inherent business problem will be roughly outlined. The students will then spend 5 to 6 weeks understanding the problem, and researching possible approaches and solutions by reviewing the relevant literature and developing (further) their knowledge of related theories and methods. The students will provide a written preliminary report with a detailed problem statement and explaining the suggested course of action in terms of the research design or methodology to be applied. The report will be presented to the company’s decision-makers.
Part 2
In part two the students implement the suggested course of action, carry out the analysis, and provide recommendations. This involves gathering the data, structuring and cleaning the data, and applying specific methods/tools to analyze the problem at hand and/or develop and implement the proposed model/method. The students will provide a written report with the complete analysis and recommendations. Key decision-makers in the company will be able to interact with the student group.
All student groups are assigned an academic and business supervisor to assist in the development of their solution.
There is no instruction, while the project is supervised throughout the semester by a faculty member, whether the Associate Dean, the course responsible, or a faculty member related to the project at hand.
Each student/group is entitled to a maximum of six hours of supervision.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Covid-19
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.
Teaching
Information about what is taught on campus and other digital forms will be presented with the lecture plan before the start of the course each semester.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 20 Grouping: Group/Individual (1 - 2) Duration: 2 Week(s) Comment: Preliminary report Exam code: GRA65581 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 60 Grouping: Group/Individual (1 - 2) Duration: 4 Week(s) Comment: Final report Exam code: GRA65581 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 20 Grouping: Group/Individual (1 - 2) Duration: 1 Hour(s) Comment: Oral presentation Exam code: GRA65581 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore acourse of 18 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 480 hours.