Villanova School of Business Announces Applied Quantitative Finance Concentration

Villanova, Pa., September 20, 2017 - Villanova School of Business (VSB) is pleased to announce that a revolutionary Applied Quantitative Finance (AQF) Concentration is now available to select and qualifying students. This novel concentration will focus on the quantitative side of financial markets, targeting the practical application of quantitative techniques, in addition to utilizing financial theory.

This in-depth set of courses is aimed to attract top students, and provides a valuable opportunity to partner with the Villanova College of Liberal Arts & Sciences to create an interdisciplinary curriculum, utilizing previously-offered courses supplemented with new quantitative finance-specific seminars and case studies.

“The new quantitative finance concentration will offer numerous benefits, most importantly helping to better prepare finance majors to contribute to the dynamic financial landscape,” said Steve Padovano, Executive in Residence and Faculty Advisor for the AQF program at VSB. “Several other prestigious higher education institutions offer Masters in Financial Engineering, which similarly targets this area of finance. However, there are few programs aimed at undergraduates, giving VSB a competitive advantage,” he added.

The curriculum will combine a degree in finance with a curated set of classes in advanced mathematics, statistics, computer programming and data science. Padovano notes that "as technology reinvents the financial markets, this curriculum is designed to change in accordance. We plan on being at the forefront." Additionally, a capstone class in the students’ senior year will pull together all of these disciplines via specific testing, hands-on projects and real-world applications and will be evaluated by the professor with added input from VSB faculty and industry experts.

“The Villanova School of Business is thrilled to be at the forefront of implementing a concentration in quantitative finance,” said Joyce E. A. Russell, PhD, The Helen and William O’Toole Dean of the Villanova School of Business. “This concentration will allow our students to get ahead in the ever-changing world of finance.”

In order to be admitted to the Quantitative Finance Concentration, students must submit a statement of interest, as well as a copy of their resumé and transcript. This highly selective program is designed to be completed in four years and is limited to approximately 20 to 30 students per graduating class. Please visit the website for more information.

The Villanova School of Business (VSB) undergraduate program is ranked #1 in the nation by Bloomberg Businessweek and has been at the forefront of business education since it was founded in 1922. Serving over 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students, VSB is home to five Centers of Excellence (the Daniel M. DiLella Center for Real Estate, the Center for Business Analytics, the Center for Global Leadership, the Center for Marketing & Consumer Insights and the Center for Church Management) with each designed to foster innovative, cross-disciplinary research and teaching opportunities for business faculty. VSB is known for academic rigor; creativity and innovation; hands-on and service learning opportunities; a firm grounding in ethics; and an applied education that prepares students to become outstanding leaders and global citizens within the ever-changing, complex, and fast-paced world of business. For more, visit business.villanova.edu.