Operational Research and Finance (MSc)

Award
Master of Science
Typical Offer
2:1 degree View full entry requirements
Duration
1 year
Course Type
Full-time
Campus
Highfield
Next course starts
September 2025

About this course

MSc Operational Research and Finance will give you expert skills in revenue management, credit scoring, and financial risk management. A summer dissertation provides an opportunity to develop your research skills, often in a commercial setting. You’ll graduate with the applied analytics and financial modelling skills highly sought after by financial institutions. 

World Top 50 and 9th in the UK for Statistics and Operational Research (QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2024).

The study of operational research is the application of scientific methods to the study of complex organisational problems. We’ll train you in key techniques, methods and approaches, and you’ll apply them to practical problems. You’ll also learn about the role of operational research in financial markets and corporate finance. 
 
This operational research master’s at the University of Southampton will give you in-depth knowledge of: 

  • revenue management 
  • credit scoring 
  • financial risk management 

You’ll get a specialist understanding of applied analytics and financial modelling that’s applicable across financial institutions and in financial operations. 
 
The summer dissertation gives you an opportunity to develop your research skills, often in a commercial setting, and our industrial liaison team will work with you to find a project that suits your skills and ambitions.  

All MSc students have the opportunity to compete for a 3-month summer project with an external organisation, which will form the basis of their dissertation. Alternatively, students have the option of working on an internal project linked to cutting-edge research led by one of our academics. 

Flexible study

If you prefer, you can apply to study this course as:

  • a part-time master's - study the same course content over 2 or more years

Your modules and fees may vary if you choose a different study option.

We regularly review our courses to ensure and improve quality. This course may be revised as a result of this. Any revision will be balanced against the requirement that the student should receive the educational service expected. Find out why, when, and how we might make changes.

Our courses are regulated in England by the Office for Students (OfS).

Course lead

The leader for this course is Dr Hou-Duo Qi, who’s current research interest is on matrix optimisation with applications in finance and statistics. Examples include the (low-rank) nearest correlation matrix problem from finance and convex quadratic semidefinite programming in multidimensional scaling.

Find out more on Dr Hou-Duo Qi’s staff profile page.

Course location

This course is based at Highfield.

Awarding body

This qualification is awarded by the University of Southampton.

Download the Course Description Document

The Course Description Document details your course overview, your course structure and how your course is taught and assessed.