Master 2 Advanced Studies in Empirical Finance

Summary

The Master 2 Advanced Studies in Empirical Finance is designed to train the next generation of financial experts who can model, analyze and interpret financial data to support investment, financing and risk decisions. Taught entirely in English, the program combines advanced knowledge of financial markets and corporate finance with the econometric and programming tools required to process and model financial data. Graduates work in asset management, investment banking, risk management, insurance, financial consulting and finance R&D, or pursue doctoral research in universities and public or private research institutions.
 

A Word from the Program Academic Director

Welcome to the Master 2 Advanced Studies in Empirical Finance. Our goal is to train finance professionals who can turn data into rigorous, well-founded decisions. Throughout the year, you will learn by doing: working with real financial databases, estimating empirical models and presenting your findings with clarity. Through our action-oriented pedagogy and networks, we shape highly technical, intellectually agile specialists who master financial data. Joining this program means choosing to become a strategic leader in quantitative risk modeling and investment management within a global environment. You will study in an international, English-speaking classroom that reflects the global nature of financial markets. The program links academic research with market and corporate practice, through our partners in asset management and artificial intelligence. Whether you aim for a career in asset management, banking, insurance or risk management, or plan to pursue a PhD, it will give you a solid and distinctive foundation. Our Master 2 offers an unparalleled experience where the rigor of advanced scientific research directly serves the demanding standards of corporate and market practices. We look forward to welcoming you.

Radu BURLACU, Program Academic Director

Objectives

The program prepares ambitious students for positions in global asset management, investment banking, corporate treasury, risk management, consulting and research, and for admission to doctoral programs. The curriculum is meticulously structured to develop advanced quantitative proficiency and critical analytical thinking. It aims to develop:

• advanced quantitative and econometric skills to measure, price and manage financial risks;
• the ability to formulate a research question, design an empirical strategy and interpret results critically;
• the capacity to communicate findings clearly in English to professional and academic audiences. Ultimately, it fosters the global mobility and intellectual agility required to secure competitive institutional roles or gain admission into world-class doctoral programs.

Specificities

The curriculum integrates financial markets, corporate finance, banking and insurance. Taught entirely in English, it brings together a cohort in which at least half of the students come from abroad, which creates a strongly international and intercultural learning environment.

Teaching is based on learning by doing:

• Students reach a high level in financial markets and corporate finance through practical work and research activities.
• They give group presentations, take part in faculty-led research projects and write a term paper that requires a literature review, the formulation of a research question, the analysis of financial databases and the defense of their results.

The program's core edge lies in its advanced data mastery; it develops a unique ability to pair deep fundamental theories with the advanced analytical and programming tools required for the processing, treatment, and econometric modeling of complex financial data. Throughout the year, financial theory is systematically combined with the programming and econometric tools needed to process and model financial data.

Program Highlights

• A dual profile: graduates combine financial expertise with the data-processing and programming skills of a financial data scientist.
• Fluency in English within the financial domain broadens the spectrum of career opportunities. 
• Integration into the Risk Graduate School (GS@UGA), which gives access to research funding and doctoral scholarships.
• Access to professional and academic financial databases used in coursework and research projects.
• Two possible pathways after graduation: direct entry into the profession or doctoral studies at the CERAG research center (UR 7521), leading to prominent scientific, executive, or academic positions. 

Entry requirements

Students possessing M1 or M2 degrees in management, economics, mathematics, science, or engineering, and second or third-year students from Grandes Ecoles of commerce or engineering are invited to apply.

Depending on the number of available places, access to the Advanced Studies in Empirical Finance Master's program is automatically conferred to students having obtained the necessary ECTS credits in the Master 1 program of Finance at Grenoble IAE - INP, UGA.

How to apply >

More about tuition fees >

Program

Expected learning outcomes

On completion of the program, graduates will be able to:

• Extract, clean and analyze large financial databases using appropriate quantitative methods.
• Specify, estimate and back-test econometric and statistical models for asset pricing, performance evaluation and portfolio allocation.
• Measure and manage market, credit and operational risks in line with banking and insurance regulation.
• Review the scientific literature, design an empirical research strategy and present results in English to professional and academic audiences.

Careers

The quantitative, econometric and data-modeling skills developed in the program lead to the following positions:

• Asset management and market analytics: Quantitative Analyst, Investment Analyst, Quantitative Portfolio Manager, Financial Data Analyst.
• Risk management: Financial Risk Manager or Risk Modeler in banking and insurance; Economist in central banks or regulatory authorities.
• Corporate finance and consulting: Financial Consultant, Valuation Analyst (complex assets and derivatives), Financial Audit Specialist, R&D Analyst in corporate finance.
• Academia and research (after a PhD): Assistant Professor, Lecturer, Research Fellow in public or private research institutions.

Employment Statistics

• Found first employment within 6 months: 100%
• Average job search duration: Less than 1 month
• Average annual salary (excluding bonuses): €39,852 (2024 survey; 16 graduates, 6 respondents)

Testimonials

"Après avoir obtenu une licence Economie et Gestion parcours Analyse Economique et Modélisation au sein de l’Université Grenoble Alpes (anciennement l’Université Pierre Mandes France), je souhaitais poursuivre mes études dans la voie la plus mathématique possible en économie et gestion, c’est pourquoi je me suis tournée vers le Master Finance de Grenoble IAE. [...] J’ai donc intégré le Master 1 Finance à Grenoble IAE en 2013. Cette première année était générale et m’a permis d’acquérir des connaissances sur le monde de l’entreprise et plus particulièrement la finance d’entreprise, la comptabilité et la finance de marché. [...] Cette année de Master 2 a confirmé mon intérêt pour la recherche et mon souhait d’exercer un métier qui ait du sens pour la société, un métier dynamique avec des angles d’études qui varient et qui allie l’économie, la finance et les mathématiques – informatiques ! [...]

Elise Alfieri, Associate Professor at IAE Gustave Eiffel
Graduated in 2014 
 

Read Elise's testimonial (in French) >

" [...] It was an opportunity for me to return to English-language teaching and to expand and supplement the knowledge of finance I had acquired since the start of my third year. The main advantage of the program is that, as it is taught in English, the vocabulary used in financial circles is already familiar to us. It is also an international program where it is possible to discover other cultures and ways of doing things, as at least half of the students on the course are international, in line with the IAE's motto: “connecting talents.” As a result, group work promotes project management in intercultural environments: a valuable and essential skill in our globalized world. This is highly valued in financial environments, which by their very nature involve exchanges with the whole world, mirroring the flows circulating from one country to another and from one region to another. [...] "

Gaétan Garcia, PhD Student at the CERAG Research Laboratory, Adjunct Lecturer at Grenoble IAE – INP, UGA
Graduated in 2023

Read Gaétan's testimonial >
 

Further learning opportunities

As a final-year master's degree, the program primarily prepares students for professional careers. It is also designed as a pathway to doctoral studies, in particular a PhD in management sciences (finance) at the Doctoral School of Management Sciences (EDSG, no. 275), with research conducted at the CERAG research center. The term paper and the master's thesis provide solid preparation for a doctoral project, and partnerships with MIAI and other institutions fund doctoral scholarships for some graduates. Alumni include PhD students, adjunct lecturers and associate professors.