Risk & actuarial studies

Help businesses, governments, not-for-profits, and individuals make critical future decisions.

UNSW Business School on campus

What is risk & actuarial studies?

Risk & actuarial studies is all about designing creative solutions to minimise business risk. In more ways than one, we live in a world of uncertainty. That means all businesses need to support to future-proof their value for stakeholders – that’s where professionals in risk management come in. You might be asking yourself, what does an actuary do? Actuaries help businesses, governments, not-for-profits, and individuals make critical future decisions.

Why study risk & actuarial studies? 

You’ll learn about risk modelling and management, evaluating the likelihood of future events, advanced analytical techniques to evaluate risks and opportunities, data analytics, and design creative ways to reduce the impact of undesirable events. In a world of uncertainty, businesses are rely on risk management experts to help them protect and create value – and that expert could be you.

Why choose UNSW?

UNSW Business School is ranked #1 worldwide in risk management, insurance, and actuarial research. Join the highest-achieving alumni and learn from world-leading academic staff and industry leaders. We are the destination to study Actuarial Studies throughout the world, with student Angelica Sutantyo coming from Indonesia to study a Bachelor of Actuarial Studies.

Studying Risk & Actuarial Studies at UNSW also means you can gain professional recognition with recognised Actuaries Institute (Australia) and the VEE credit for the Society for Actuaries (USA) when you graduate, with certain exemptions granted when you achieve the required academic standard. Similarly, some students (especially Actuarial Studies (Co-op) students and dual degree students) may also be eligible to gain exemption from the university accreditation components of the Associate Program of the Actuaries Institute professional examinations.

Your career opportunities

You could be the expert that companies turn to when they need to understand and manage risk. Banks, insurers, and consulting firms need actuarial skills and risk management expertise to survive and thrive.

Career options include:

  • Actuarial analyst
  • Actuarial consultant
  • Asset management analyst
  • Credit analyst
  • Data analyst
  • Forecasting analyst
  • Insurance analyst
  • Risk assessment
  • Statistical research analyst
  • Superannuation advisor
  • Wealth management analyst

Study with us

What our graduates say

"Being able to model and analyse data is such a diverse tool and these skills can be transferred from predicting customer behaviour all the way to modelling the movement of participants in a welfare system.” 

 Alisa Zheng, Actuarial Consultant, PwC Australia