Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) QEM

Ca’ Foscari University offers the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) QEM - Models and Methods of Quantitative Economics, a joint degree program of excellence with Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris, France), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) and Université Catholique de Louvain (Louvain la Neuve, Belgium) and Warsaw School of Economics (Warsaw, Poland).

The EMJMD Programme QEM is a two-year graduate degree program in quantitative economics, taught in English, and approved by The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) under the Erasmus+: Erasmus Mundus Master Courses (EMMCs) brand.

The joint programme is open only to students selected through the QEM procedure. Students may spend at least a semester in Ca’ Foscari University.

Joint degree website
Contacts

Local Coordinator: prof. Fabio Michelucci
Deputy Local Coordinator: prof. Pietro Dindo

Department of Economics qem-venice@unive.it 

International Office – Counseling and Welcome Unit:  jointdegree@unive.it

Applying to the programme

Applications are open on the website master-economics-qem.eu.

Students enrolled at Ca' Foscari in the Master's Degree in Economics, Finance and Sustainability are not automatically enrolled in the joint degree program. If they are interested in entering the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) QEM programme, they can access at the end of the 1st semester after passing the mid December QEM exams organized by the Consortium.

On this regard, Ca’ Foscari students should send a written request to Prof. Fabio Michelucci ( fabio.michelucci@unive.it) before September 30th.

Financial aid and scholarships

The following sources of funding are open to Quantitative Economics Master applicants.
For detailed information on each option, please click on the title:

Study programme

The EMJMD QEM at Ca' Foscari University is broken down into two years of studies: the first year where focus is on core courses, like in each partner university, with the objective of building a solid foundation in economics and quantitative methods; the second year of specialization with emphasis on two curricula, Quantitative Economics or Quantitative Finance.

First year

Objective: The first year of the programme is focused on core courses with the objective of building a solid foundation in Economics and quantitative methods on which students build during their specialisation in the second year.

60 ECTS credits are required and are allocated as follows:

  • 56 ECTS Credits of Scientific Courses: 7 x 7 Credits mandatory + 7 Credits elective
    The first year is focused on building a solid foundation in Economics and quantitative methods, thus there are seven mandatory courses and each are awarded 7 ECTS credits (7 x 7). Four of these mandatory courses are taken during the first semester and three are taken during the second semester. The remaining 7 ECTS are allocated to elective courses (which vary by institution, see below). If they wish to take additional electives, students need to be authorised by the Academic Coordinator. 
    Students wishing to specialise in Finance during their second year are advised to take one or two courses in Finance in addition to the mandatory scientific courses.
  • 4 ECTS Credits of Foreign Language Courses: 2 x 2 Credits mandatory 
    Each semester, students hosted in Venice take courses in Italian as a foreign language. These courses are mandatory and they include both language classes and cultural excursion. These courses are graded either pass or fail.

The syllabus of each course and frequency plans are available on webpage about the Study plan.

Mandatory Courses

First Semester:

  • Microeconomics I  (7 ECTS credits)
  • Macroeconomics I (7 ECTS credits)
  • Optimization (7 ECTS credits)
  • Probability Theory (7 ECTS credits)
  • Italian as a foreign language 1 (2 ECTS credits)

Second Semester:

  • Microeconomics II (7 ECTS credits)
  • Macroeconomics II (7 ECTS credits)
  • Econometrics (7 ECTS credits)
  • Italian as a foreign language 2 (2 ECTS credits)
  • Behavioral Economics (6 ECTS credits)*
  • Seminars (1 ECTS credit)

* mandatory for students planning to spend their second year in Venice. If you will not spend your QEM2 year in Venice, you may choose an elective course of 6 ECTS credits from the box below.

Second year

The objective of the second year in Venezia is to educate students in advanced methodologies and models in economics and finance, with the goals of both research orientation for further studies and practical applications.

Areas of specialization are in Quantitative Economics or Quantitative Finance. More precisely: Microeconomics, Game Theory, Finance, Insurance, Public Finance, International Economics, Industrial Economics, Behavioral Economics and Experimental Economics, Mathematical Economics, Quantitative Finance, Econometrics and Financial Econometrics .

For the selection of the specialization courses students should interact with Prof. Fabio Michelucci ( fabio.michelucci@unive.it) that will help them to select the courses in line with their interests and further carriers objectives.

The structure of the studies is: Specialization courses (around 40 credits, including Foreign Language) and Master dissertation (around 20 credits)

The syllabus of each course and frequency plans are available on webpage about the Study plan.

First and second semester:

  • Behavioural Finance (6 ECTS credits)
  • Law and Economics (6 ECTS credits)
  • Cluster choice: a 6 ECTS credits exam to be chosen between

    • Policy Evaluation Methods,
    • Political Economy,
    • Bayesian Econometrics

  • 3 elective courses for a total of 18 ECTS credits - please see the box below
  • Italian as Foreign Language (4 ECTS credits)
  • Seminars (1 ECTS credit)
  • Thesis (20 ECTS credits)

Elective courses

The syllabus of each course and frequency plans are available on webpage about the Study plan.

First semester

  • Statistical Methods for Risk Analysis (6 ECTS credits)
  • Stochastic Models for Finance (6 ECTS credits)
  • Commodity Markets (6 ECTS credits)
  • Computational Finance Lab (6 ECTS credits)
  • Corporate Banking and Credit Analysis (6 ECTS credits)
  • Derivatives and Insurance (12 ECTS credits)
  • Stochastic Calculus for Finance (6 ECTS credits)
  • Advanced Insurance and Actuarial Methods (6 ECTS credits)
  • Advanced Public Economics (6 ECTS credits)*
  • Empirical Economics (6 ECTS credits)*
  • Non Linear Models and Financial Econometrics (6 ECTS credits)**
  • Agent-based Modelling (6 ECTS credits)

** if not chosen in the second year’s exam cluster choice.

Second semester

  • Economics of Inequality (6 ECTS credits)
  • Risk Measurement***
  • Financial Economics (12 ECTS credits)
  • Behavioural Finance (6 ECTS credits)
  • Fintech Regulations and Financial Innovation (6 ECTS credits)
  • Fintech: Technologies for Finance and Insurance (6 ECTS credits)
  • Climate Change and Finance: Metrics to Assess Risks and Opportunities (6 ECTS credits)
  • R Coding and Finance Analytics (6 ECTS credits)
  • Professional English (6 ECTS credits)

*** if not chosen in the second year’s cluster choice.

Our students

As for the 2022/2023 academic year, Ca’ Foscari hosted 35 students from both the first and the second year.

Seventeen of them spent their first semester with us, attending core courses such as Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Optimization, Probability and Statistics, and their second semester in one of our partner Universities - Paris 1 Pantheón-Sorbonne, Université Catholique de Louvain, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, Warsaw School of Economics. The remaining eight students had already spent part of their academic career in one of the consortium Universities. They took specialization courses and defended their thesis here in Venice. All the students who graduate on time with a GPA greater than 23/30 will obtain their final joint Degree from all Universities, with a ceremony held in July in Paris.

The students hosted at Ca’ Foscari come from all continents: America (Colombia, Bolivia, U.S.A.), Europe (Italy, France, Spain, Poland), Asia (Turkey, Armenia, China, Uzbekistan), and Africa (Egypt, Ghana, South Africa). Among the students hosted by our partners – and potentially hosted by our University from next semester - many other countries are represented. Some of the students are awarded with the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, which covers fees, board and lodging; many other students are granted a Ca’ Foscari mobility grant.

About half of the students who graduate form this programme continues their career in Academia with a PhD in Europe or in the U.S.A; others begin brilliant careers in consulting companies, banks, and research institutes.

Last update: 27/02/2024