Major structure
Overview
You will learn about actuarial techniques and life insurance modelling, through to the mathematics of finance and insurance risk models. This major will provide you with a firm grounding in the traditional actuarial skill set of mathematics, statistics, demography, finance and economics.
Major Structure
In your first year, you will complete a compulsory core alongside 4 to 6 foundation subjects to build your fundamentals. You will also commence a sequence of breadth subjects to fulfill the quantitative requirement. Your second and third year are comprised of almost entirely major subjects, in addition to the rest of your mathematics breadth sequence and the option to fill the remaining credits with commerce electives and/or another breadth subject.
Professional Accreditation
You will need to start taking actuarial subjects in your first year to fulfil professional accreditation requirements.
Breadth studies
The Melbourne curriculum allows you to incorporate breadth subjects into your degree. This gives you the chance to explore subjects or disciplines outside of commerce and actuarial studies.
Use breadth to explore creative interests or topics you have always been curious about; or complement your accounting major and career development with a language, communication skills or technological expertise.
If you have a professional graduate program in mind, such as the Juris Doctor (Law) or Master of Engineering, you can use your breadth subjects to develop your knowledge and meet prerequisites from day one. Breadth subjects can give you the flexibility to qualify for graduate studies or explore interests in a field that’s very different from your major.
Specialisations
From 2026, you can deepen your knowledge by focusing 25 credit points of your level 3 elective study toward a specialisation within your major. The two specialisations currently available to the Actuarial Studies major are:
- Actuarial Risk Management
- Ethics and Sustainability
Sample course plan
View some sample course plans to help you select subjects that will meet the requirements for this major.
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 1100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 2100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 3100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
Students with at least 29 in VCE Specialist Mathematics 3, 4 or equivalent
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 1100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 2100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 3100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
Students with at least 38 in VCE Specialist Mathematics 3, 4 or equivalent
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 1100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 2100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 3100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
null
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 1100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 2100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts | |
| Semester 2 · 50 pts | |
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
Year 3100 pts |
|
| Semester 1 · 50 pts |
|
| Semester 2 · 50 pts |
|
Explore this major
Explore the subjects you could choose as part of this major.
ACTL10001 is not compulsory and is not a prerequisite to any subsequent subject. However, completing this subject will give you a clearer view of actuarial work.
Recommended
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
| Introduction to Actuarial Studies · 12.5 pts |
This subject aims to provide insights into the actuarial profession through two different lenses. A technical lens covers the basic techniques used by actuaries (with particular end goal to be able to price basic life insurance covers at the end of the subject): pooling and the principle of insurance, time value of money (compound interest functions and operations; valuation of annuities, bonds and loans); demography (and factors affecting population growth and size); mortality models (construction and use of the life table); application (combination) of these in life insurance. An actuarial practice lens discusses professionalism and the main areas of actuarial work (main products, actuarial role, recent issues): data and predictive analytics; risk management; life insurance and wealth management; superannuation; health insurance; general insurance. |
Breadth - Option 1
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
| Accelerated Mathematics 1 · 12.5 pts |
This subject develops the concepts of vectors, matrices and the methods of linear algebra and introduces students to differentiation and integration of functions of two variables. Students will be exposed to methods of mathematical proof. Little of the material here has been seen at school and the level of understanding required represents an advance on previous studies. Underlying concepts developed in lectures will be reinforced in computer laboratory classes. Topics covered include systems of linear equations, matrices and determinants, vector geometry, lines and planes, vector spaces, subspaces, linear independence, bases, dimension, inner products, linear transformations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, complex eigenvalues and exponentials as well as techniques of proof, partial derivatives, chain rule for partial derivatives, directional derivatives, tangent planes, extrema for functions of several variables and double integrals. |
| Accelerated Mathematics 2 · 12.5 pts |
This subject develops fundamental concepts and principles in mathematical analysis. Students should gain skills in the practical techniques of differential calculus, integral calculus and infinite series, and study selected applications of these techniques in mathematical modelling. Topics covered rigorous discussion of limits of sequences and of real-valued functions, continuity and differentiability; Mean Value Theorem and applications; Taylor polynomials; Riemann integration, techniques of integration and applications, improper integrals; infinite series, with applications to power series representations of elementary functions and their generation by Taylor series and to the representation of periodic functions by Fourier series; first order differential equations, second order linear differential equations with constant coefficients and selected applications. |
Breadth - Option 2
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
| Calculus 2 · 12.5 pts |
MAST10006 Calculus 2 is a core mathematics subject providing the foundation for further studies in mathematics, statistics and other quantitative fields. Calculus 2 extends knowledge from secondary school mathematics and MAST10005 Calculus 1, and develops logical thinking and the ability understand and communicate mathematical arguments. Students also learn how to use mathematical concepts in applications and how to interpret the results of mathematical models in context. Topics include: limits and continuity of functions of one variable; sequences; series; Taylor series and polynomials; hyperbolic functions and their inverses; complex exponential; techniques of integration including hyperbolic and trigonometric substitutions; first order ordinary differential equations including separation of variables method, integrating factor method for linear ODEs, and qualitative analysis; applications of first order differential equations such as population models and mixing problems; second order ordinary differential equations including constant coefficient linear homogeneous and inhomogeneous; applications of second order ordinary differential equations such as springs; functions of two variables including sketching surfaces, limits and continuity, partial derivatives and directional derivatives, tangent planes, chain rule for partial derivatives, stationary points and their classification using the Hessian, and double integrals over rectangular regions. |
| Linear Algebra · 12.5 pts |
This subject gives a solid grounding in key areas of modern mathematics needed in science and technology. It develops the concepts of vectors, matrices and the methods of linear algebra. Students should develop the ability to use the methods of linear algebra and gain an appreciation of mathematical proof. Little of the material here has been seen at school and the level of understanding required represents an advance on previous studies. Systems of linear equations, matrices and determinants; vectors in real n-space, cross product, scalar triple product, lines and planes; vector spaces, linear independence, basis, dimension; linear transformations, eigenvalues, eigenvectors; inner products, least squares estimation, symmetric and orthogonal matrices. |
ACTL10001 is not compulsory and is not a prerequisite to any subsequent subject. However, completing this subject will give you a clearer view of actuarial work.
Prescribed
Students must complete the following subjects:
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
| Introductory Financial Mathematics · 12.5 pts |
This subject aims to provide students with basic training on modern financial mathematics methods, which covers an overview of data analysis, principles of actuarial modelling and financial transactions, the understanding of real and nominal interest rates, the time value of money methods, bond pricing methods, assets replication methods, the equation of value methods, and project appraisals methods. This subject focuses on applying the above methods to the mathematical modelling of financial markets. |
| Stochastic Techniques in Insurance · 12.5 pts |
This subject aims to provide a thorough grounding in stochastic techniques for actuarial studies. It covers some probability concepts including expectations, conditional expectations, joint and marginal distributions, moment generating function and probability generating function; some commonly used probability distributions in insurance and finance; mixed distributions and actuarial applications; ordinary differential equations and actuarial applications; recursive techniques and actuarial applications; actuarial applications of Laws of Large Numbers and Central Limit Theorem; generating and Laplace transforms; actuarial applications of Brownian motion, geometric Brownian motion and lognormal distribution; stochastic integrals and Ito’s formulae. |
Breadth
To obtain a major in Actuarial and seek accreditation as an actuary, students must complete:
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
| Probability · 12.5 pts |
This subject offers a thorough grounding in the basic concepts of mathematical probability and probabilistic modelling. Topics covered include random experiments and sample spaces, probability axioms and theorems, discrete and continuous random variables/distributions (including measures of location, spread and shape), expectations and generating functions, independence of random variables and measures of dependence (covariance and correlation), methods for deriving the distributions of transformations of random variables or approximations for them (including the central limit theorem). The probability distributions and models discussed in the subject arise frequently in real world applications. These include a number of widely used one- and two-dimensional (particularly the bivariate normal) distributions and also fundamental probability models such as Poisson processes and Markov chains. |
| Statistics · 12.5 pts |
This subject introduces the basic elements of statistical modelling, computation and data analysis. It is an entry point to further study of both mathematical and applied statistics, as well as broader data science. Students will develop the ability to fit statistical models to data, estimate parameters of interest and test hypotheses. Both classical and Bayesian approaches will be covered. The importance of the underlying mathematical theory of statistics and the use of modern statistical software will be emphasised. Concepts covered include: descriptive statistics, random sample, statistical inference, point estimation, interval estimation, properties of estimators, maximum likelihood, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and Bayesian inference. Applications covered include: exploratory data analysis, inference for samples from univariate distributions, simple linear regression, correlation, goodness-of-fit tests and analysis of variance. |
Major Elective subjects
To obtain a major in Actuarial and seek accreditation as an actuary, students must complete:
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
| Intermediate Financial Mathematics · 12.5 pts |
Topics include utility theory, measures of investment risk, portfolio theory, models of asset returns, asset liability modelling, equilibrium models, the efficient markets hypothesis, an introduction to ruin theory, and claim run-off triangles. |
| Survival Models · 12.5 pts |
Topics include survival models concepts; multiple state models; binomial and Poisson models of mortality; actuarial applications of discrete-time and continuous-time Markov chains; concepts of extreme value theories and copulas |
ACTL10001 is not compulsory and is not a prerequisite to any subsequent subject. However, completing this subject will give you a clearer view of actuarial work.
Capstone
Students must complete the following subject:
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
| Contingencies · 12.5 pts |
This subject introduces various insurance and annuity products, teaches fundamental knowledge of actuarial pricing and reserving, and discusses techniques used for projecting and valuing insurance and annuity cashflows which are contingent on the status of single or multiple lives. Actuarial modelling of insurance products is taught and explored using spreadsheets in realistic contexts. |
Major Elective subjects
Students must complete TWO of the following subjects:
| Accordion | |
|---|---|
| Actuarial Modelling II · 12.5 pts |
The aim of this subject is to provide students with grounding in mathematical and statistical modelling techniques that are of particular relevance to actuarial work, including methods of estimating mortality rates and assessing their adherence to data and smoothness, as well as techniques for mortality projections. Also, elementary principles of machine learning are covered, with applications to mortality modelling. |
| Actuarial Statistics · 12.5 pts |
This subject aims to provide students with grounding in advanced linear regression analysis which includes multiple linear regression, Spearman's and Kendall's measures of correlation, principal component analysis and generalised linear models. This subject also focuses on explaining the fundamental concepts of Bayesian statistics, deriving Bayesian estimators, and describing and applying the essential concepts of credibility theory. |
| Actuarial Modelling III · 12.5 pts |
This subject aims to provide a grounding in stochastic modelling techniques that are of particular relevance to actuarial work in general insurance, covering loss distribution with and without risk sharing, calculation of moments and moment generating function of aggregate claims, recursion formulae, effect of reinsurance, individual risk model involving recursion formulae and approximations, modelling dependence by copulas, extreme value theorems and applications, and time series models. |
| Advanced Financial Mathematics · 12.5 pts |
This subject aims to provide students with grounding in advanced financial mathematics, covering option pricing under the binomial model; risk-neutral pricing of derivative securities; Brownian motion; introduction to Itô΄s formula and SDEs; stochastic asset models; Black-Scholes model; arbitrage and hedging; interest-rate models; actuarial applications and simple models for credit risk. |
| Actuarial Analytics and Data I · 12.5 pts |
This subject aims to provide students with basic training on modern data analytics methods, which include linear regression, classification, resampling methods, spline-based methods, generalised additive models and support vector machines. This subject focuses on applying the above methods to modelling non-life insurance claims frequency and severity. |