Well, as I am seriously considering going to UK for Actuarial Science, I try to look for information in the Study in UK thread as well as an Actuarial Science thread but they don't seem to be providing much info for Actuarial Science. Hence, I took the liberty to start a thread for Actuarial Science, and so far, exclusive to UK which is where I might head to.

Actuarial Science is the study of Mathematics, Statistics, Economics and Finance where all of the topics are inclined towards risk management. In short, Actuarial Science is all about RISK.

A book by David Promislow suggests that the job of an actuary is to turn risk into no-risk, turn uncertainty into certainty.
I'll come up with an easy example - insurance.
We estimate that one person die will cause a financial loss of 100,000 and 1 out of 50 will die.
So, the company insures 500 people, where 10 of them shall die. So, 10 of them dying will causes financial losses of 1,000,000.
In order to reduce the risk, every of the 500 people pay 2,000.
In the end, everyone eliminates the risk just by paying 2,000.
But of course, this is very ideal. There's a lot of things that would factor in. That's why we must study for it!

Alright, now the lists of universities in UK providing such courses.

1. LSE
2. Heriot-Watt (HW)
3. City
4. Southampton (Soton)
5. Kent
6. Manchester
7. UEA
8. Keele
9. Swansea
10. Queen's Belfast (QBU)
11. Warwick
12. Kingston

Universities that grant 8 CT exemptions are..
HW, City, Soton, Kent, QBU.
Yes, as far as I am concerned, LSE doesn't get full exemptions.

http://www.actuaries.org.uk/students/tuiti...tuarial_courses

Brief description of each university.

1. LSE
- in London, higher living cost.
- tuition fee >12k.
- not sure about scholarship.
- Exempt all CT except CT2.

2. HW
- in Edinburgh, moderate living cost.
- tuition fee 9k+,
- possible 15% scholarship for international students.
- Exempt all 8 CTs.
- Do well in the National Student Survey.
- One of the most established AS course in UK I suppose.
- about 20% Malaysians there, I wonder if JPA sends them to there.
- 4 years degree, but not too hard to get 2nd year entry.
- option for 'a year in industry' or study abroad in Waterloo, Canada or Melbourne, Australia.

3. City
- in London, higher living cost.
- tuition fee ~11k.
- possible 25% reduction.
- Exempt 8 CTs.
- Established course I suppose.
- JPA students do go there.
- option for 'a year in industry'.

4. Soton
- in Southampton, a port, moderately low living cost.
- tuition fee 9k+
- 2 streams. One Maths, one Econs stream.
- Generous scholarship. 1 A of A-Level gets 1,000GBP discount - apply for Maths stream only.
- Exempts 8 CTs.
- Not specialised enough, IMHO, as they are called "Mathematics with Actuarial Science" or "Economics and Actuarial Science". Joint Honours if not mistaken.

5. Kent
- in Canterbury, small town, low living cost.
- tuition fee 10k+
- possible 5k scholarship but need to write an essay.
- Exempts 8 CTs.
- Established course I suppose.
- Do very well in the National Student Survey.
- Most number of Fellows in the teaching staffs.
- option for 'a year in industry'.

6. Manchester
- in Machester, moderately high living cost.
- tuition fee ~14k
- not sure about scholarship as I don't care when saw the sky-high tuition fee.
- Exempts some of the papers. Detail please check the link above.
- Not a very old course.
- Not much info as I don't research much.
- Manchester United and Manchester City are based in Manchester.

7. UEA
- in Norwich, moderate living cost.
- tuition fee ~10k
- possible 50% scholarship, for either being a Faculty of Science student, or international student.
- Not sure about exemptions. Reason see below.
- Relatively new course.
- compulsory 'a year in industry'.

8. Keele
- don't know where.
- Relatively new.
- not much info.

9. Swansea
- in Swansea, Wales, moderately low living cost.
- not sure about tuition fee but comes around 9k I suppose.
- not sure about scholarship, too.
- Exempts a few, not all. Check link above.
- Course has been there for some time already. Not sure why still can't get full exemptions.

10. QBU
- in Northern Ireland, moderate living cost.
- ~10k tuition fee.
- No scholarship as far as I am concerned. Got also 1,000GBP like that only I think.
- Exempt 8 CTs.
- Quite established.

11. Warwick
- in Warwick, moderate living cost.
- ~10k tuition fee.
- No generous scholarship.
- Course name is called MMORSE, Master of Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics, I think.
- 4 years undergraduate Master.
- Option for specialism in Actuarial Mathematics for the last two years.
- MORSE is Warwick's flagship course.
- Doesn't get full exemptions. Miss 1 or 2. Check link.
- Should be quite established due to Warwick's strength in social sciences and mathematics.

12. Kingston
- don't know where.
- don't bother to know much.
- not worth checking out I guess.

That's the brief discussions for each of the university.
Basically, the places worth going are..
HW, City, Southampton, Kent and perhaps LSE IMHO.

I am sorry that I don't have much info about some of the universities. But, info upon request. I will go and search them up.

Just in case you all do not know.
Exempting the 8 CTs do not make you a qualified actuary. Recently, the IA/FA adds in a CT9 that can only be passed by attending seminars.
Completing CTs, you become an 'actuarial trainee'.
You need to complete 3 papers of CA only you can become a qualified actuary. By that time, you are called as Associate of Institute of Actuaries (England) or Associate of Faculty of Actuaries (Scotland).
If you further up, you took 2 ST papers and 1 SA paper. Then, you become Fellow - Fellow of Institute of Actuaries, Fellow of Faculty of Actuaries.
You can use the title, AIA, AFA, FIA, FFA when you reach the stage. For instance, Tan Ah Kow FFA, Lee Ah Chao AIA.
So far, Malaysia has only about 50 Fellows, be it from IA, FA (UK), SOA, CAS (US), IAA (Aus) or CIA (Canada).

Hope this helps.


A short note regarding Master course. (from later post in this thread.)
For Actuarial Science, there are two type of Master/postgraduate course.
First type is the continuation of Bachelor degree, giving you exemptions in CA, ST, SA papers.
Examples include MSc Actuarial Finance by Imperial, MSc course in Cass (I think it's called Actuarial Risk Managment) etc.
For such courses, you need either a Bachelor in Actuarial Science, Maths, Economics or Finance I believe.

The other type of Master is for non-actuarial graduates.
This sort of degree gives exemptions on CT1-8.
These courses are offered by Southampton, HW, Leicester etc.
To get into this course, you need to have 'high mathematical component' in your degree, or having a mathematics, statistics, economics and finance degree. By the definition of 'high mathematical component', I am not sure if courses like Engineering and Natural Sciences that utilise Mathematics are eligible or not. My *guess* is yes.

This post has been edited by tanjinjack: May 6 2009, 06:03 PM

after 8 papers of exemption you only need to take 7 right?

8 CTs is what you can get the most from a Bachelor degree. (Some degree claims that they prepare you for CA la, but no exemption.)
Then you need to complete 1 CT9, by attending seminar.

------finish CT stage-----------

CA got 3 papers, must clear all. CA2 is seminar, CA3 will be seminar also.
CA1 is written paper.
You become Associate - qualified actuary already.

-----finish CA stage------

ST got 6 papers, but you just need to complete 2.

-----finish ST stage------

SA got 5 or 6 papers, but need to complete 1 only.
Then you become Fellow.

-----finish ALL----------

So, if you take in seminar as well, you have 1+3+2+1, total 7 papers to complete lo.

if i'm nt wrong there is a CT9...its better if u do pstgrad cos u can get more exemptions...

So by attending seminars it certifies you for papers? Cool.
How much do you think they Pay is when you become an Associate.(In Malaysia Or UK)

By then you have 6 papers right? 3 papers +3 seminars=6

Btw do you happen to know for UTAR actuarial science(SOA)

This post has been edited by Angel01: May 5 2009, 06:21 PM

Indeed.
For Actuarial Science, there are two type of Master/postgraduate course.
First type is the continuation of Bachelor degree, giving you exemptions in CA, ST, SA papers.
Examples include MSc Actuarial Finance by Imperial, MSc course in Cass (I think it's called Actuarial Risk Managment) etc.

The other type of Master is for non-actuarial graduates.
This sort of degree gives exemptions on CT1-8.
These courses are offered by Southampton, HW, Leicester etc.
To get into this course, you need to have 'high mathematical component' in your degree, or having a mathematics, statistics, economics and finance degree.

wow you seriously know a lot, can i have your msn? I already pmed you. Would like to ask you some questions

Still got CT9, a seminar. Can't be exempted as far as I know. (Sorry for missing it out in the first post.)

Not so easy la.
Attend seminars, then have to present something, impress the panels, only they pass you on it.

Not sure about the pay.
But starting pay for trainee in UK is said to be 25k GBP. Increase as you pass more papers and getting more experienced.

thx for the info cleared some things up for me

but u already in mech enginering?

Hahaha..
Ya, I am in Mech Eng.
But as my starting of my 1st thread says, I am strongly considering Actuarial Science!

LSE is not very open for international student as i know

LSE is open to all with big pockets from what I know, as long as you've got the cash, their doors are open, loads of my friends who're doing A levels got offers from there. All law though.

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Added on May 6, 2009, 12:41 amIsn't changing majors difficult in the UK system? How do you go about changing from Mech Eng. to Actuarial Sc.?

This post has been edited by Jyou: May 6 2009, 12:41 AM

I have just started my 1st sem, so it's still possible that I can change course, restarting from Year 1 though.
(Now thinking if I finish my degree, and do a Master instead.)

they only accept pre-u that is recognise(means not m'sia foundation or any other) and the student they offer each year have limited space as i made enquiry before
my enquiry is actuarial sc
so not sure for law
hehe

Lol if you wanted to go to UK you should have taken A Levels mah, see now its so troublesome, at least Southampton accepted you de.
And also you were looking for scholarship, LSE is very stingy from what I heard.

---

Added on May 6, 2009, 1:11 amI think an engineering degree and a masters in actuarial science would work nicely, nowadays companies do value diversity and there are more and more engineers getting into the financial sector, I think it's a wise move.

This post has been edited by Jyou: May 6 2009, 01:11 AM

i dont think all preu are acceptable ..its easier to get in with preu like IB n a level other than tat it will be consider on case by case basis if they do accept other kind of preu...
i think uni like warwick n lse r difficult to get in without IB or a level cos for a level 'furher maths r higly desireable' ...warwick r better they gic u a choice: STEP or fm... but STEP is harder...

This post has been edited by vanPersieXX: May 6 2009, 01:17 AM

yes!you are right!
and it's not very much open for international student

Well AUP/ADP isn't a pre-U you know ...

yes i know
tat's y i said they only accept some pre-u
i made enquiry and they asked me do international foundation program
start from 0
haha