Degree Type: 

Bachelor of Science

Department: 

Department of Statistics

Programme Duration: 

4 years (Standard Entry)

Modes of Study: 

Regular

About Programme: 

The demand for actuaries is estimated to be very high both presently and for the future. A career as an actuary offers challenges and rewards. One will attain a high professional status with considerable job satisfaction. Actuaries are problem solvers, business analysts, consultants and financial risk assessors all rolled into one. Their skills are applied in the world of insurance, pensions, healthcare, banking, business management and risk assessment. This field also offers immense intellectual challenges and high incomes.

Entry Requirements: 

Applicants must Elective Mathematics and any two (2) of the following elective subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Business Management, Principles of Costing and Accounting. 

Career Opportunities: 

Actuarial Science is the discipline concerned with the study and application of mathematical, statistical, probabilistic, and financial theories to solve real life and business problems. The traditional areas in which actuaries operate are: life and general insurance, pensions, and investment. Actuaries are also increasingly moving into other fields like health insurance, solvency measurements and asset- liability management, financial risk management, mortality and morbidity investigation and so on, where their analytical skills can be employed.    Actuarial science involves the study of a number of interrelating courses and disciplines, including probability, mathematics, statistics, finance, economics, financial economics, and computer programming to define, analyse and solve the financial implications of uncertain future events. 

Programme Structure

Level 100

First Semester

CMS 107: Communicative Skills I
3 Credit(s)

Engaging in academic work at the university is challenging. This course is aimed at equipping fresh students to make the transition from pre-university level to the university level. It assists them in engaging and succeeding in complex academic tasks in speaking, listening, reading and writing. It also provides an introduction to university studies by equipping students with skills that will help them to engage in academic discourse with confidence and fluency.

ILT 101: Information Literacy
1 Credit(s)

The rationale of the course is to equip students with skills that will enable them access and retrieve information in the traditional, hybrid and digital libraries. Students will be able to use ICT efficiently and effectively when they have basic knowledge of computers. The course content include: Types of libraries, library resources and their uses, the role the library plays in the academic community, introduction to computers, the internet.

Second Semester

CMS 108: Communicative Skills II
3 Credit(s)

This is a follow-up course on the first semester one. It takes students through writing correct sentences, devoid of ambiguity, through the paragraph and its appropriate development to the fully-developed essay. The course also emphasizes the importance and the processes of editing written work.

Level 200

First Semester

ACT 212: MATHEMATICS OF INVESTMENT & CREDIT
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: MAT 102

Inflation; rates of interest [simple, compound (interest and discount), real, nominal, effective, dollar-weighted, time-weighted, spot, forward], term structure of interest rates; force of interest (constant and varying); equivalent measures of interest; yield rate; principal; equation of value; present value; future value; current value; net present value; accumulation function; discount function; annuity certain (immediate and due); perpetuity (immediate and due); stocks ( common and preferred); bonds (including zero-coupon bonds); other financial instruments such as mutual funds, and guaranteed investment contracts. Determining equivalent measures of interest; discounting; accumulating; determining yield rates; estimation the rate of return on a fund; and amortization.

 

Second Semester

ACT 214: FINANCIAL ANALYSIS & ECONOMICS
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: MAT 102

Yield curves, spot rates, forward rates, duration, convexity, and immunization. Derivatives, forwards, futures, short and long positions, cal and put options, spread, collars, hedging, arbitrage, and swaps.

 

Level 300

First Semester

ACT 301: LIFE CONTINGENCIES I
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: MAT 202 & MAT 203

Basic Mathematics of Life Contingencies, Effective and Nominal interest rates. The Future Lifetime of a Life Aged x  (T) – Model, Force of Mortality, Analytic Distribution of T,

Curtate Future Lifetime of x, Life Tables, Probabilities of Death for Fractions of a Year.

Life Insurance – Whole Life and Term Insurances, Endowment, Insurance Payable at the Moment of Death, General Type of Life Insurance and Variable Life Insurance.

Life Annuities – Elementary, Payment made more Frequently than Once a Year, Variable Life Annuities, Standard Type of Life Annuities, Payment Starting at Non-integral Ages

 

Second Semester

ACT 304: LIFE CONTINGENCIES II
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: ACT 301

Net Premiums – Whole Life and Term Insurance, Endowments, Deferred Life Annuities, Premiums Paid m Times a Year, Policies with Premium Refund.

Net Premium Reserves – The Survival Risk, Net Reserve Premium for Whole Life, Net Premiums Reserve at Fractional Duration, Allocation of the Overall Loss to Policy Years,

Technical Gain, Procedure for Endowment and The Continuous Model. Multiple Decrements – An Introduction. Multiple Life Insurance.

 

Level 400

First Semester

ACT 401: SURVIVAL MODELS
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: STA 301 & ACT 301

Tabular Survival Models – Estimates from complete data samples, Estimates from incomplete data samples (sample design, moments procedures, maximum likelihood procedures).  Parametric Survival Models.
 

ACT 402: CREDIBILITY THEORY AND LOSS DISTRIBUTIONS
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: STA 402 & ACT 302

Distributions useful for modeling insurance loss random variables. Approximations for and estimations of these loss distributions. Point and interval estimation, and test of statistical hypotheses.

Introduction to credibility theory, experience rating and claim reserving. Bayesian inferential techniques. Stochastic simulation and computational techniques.

 

ACT 403: MATHEMATICS OF DEMOGRAPHY
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: STA 301 & STA 303

Conventional and adjusted measures of mortality, measures of fertility, measures of morbidity.  Demographic characteristics and trends of selected countries. 

Evaluation of demographic data.  Projections for stable and stationary populations.  Actuarial applications of demographic characteristics and trends.

 

Second Semester

ACT 404: PENSION FUNDS AND SOCIAL SECURITY
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: ACT 304

The Structure of pension schemes and their problems – retirement benefits, invalidity and survivor’s benefits.  Pensioners and social assistance benefits.

Financing pension systems (Defined Benefits and Defined Contributions).  Valuation of the pension schemes.

 

ACT 405: GENERAL INSURANCE
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: ACT 302

Economics of Insurance. Nature of General Insurance. Legislation of Insurance Companies.Documentation and date collection.

Risk premium, expenses and office premium. Experience rating, reinsurance, technical reserves, solvency and analyses of profit.

 

ACT 406: GRADUATION
3 Credit(s)
Pre-requisite: ACT 302 & ACT 304

Preparation and testing of graduations of mortality tables; graduation by the moving-weighted average, graphic, Whittaker, Bayesian parametric and smooth-junction interpolation methods; use of statistical methods for graduation.