City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and University of Paris Dauphine signed an agreement, launching a joint masters program Thursday.

To respond to news trends in the global financial and insurance industries, the two universities jointly designed a new program, Master of Science (MSc) in Mathematics for Finance and Actuarial Science.

It is the first postgraduate program in Hong Kong covering state-of-the-art knowledge in both Mathematics Finance and Actuarial Science. The program will be launched in September this year and the award will be jointly conferred by both universities.

Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony, President of CityU HK Chang said, the demand of actuaries grew as China was developing rapidly, and Hong Kong should make use of its privileged position as being the bridge between Chinese Mainland and the overseas market in this area.

The program strongly emphasizes real-world applications. Its course structure has been designed with input from leading professionals and practitioners from quantitative finance and actuarial science, to ensure the theoretical background, case studies and applications are of utmost relevance to the current needs and future development trends of the global financial and insurance industries.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2004)