Whether you want to work with data or actuarial analytics, business, finance, information technology, AI, medical research or bioinformatics, an education in mathematical statistics provides you with a solid foundation of analytical skills that will earn you the esteem of future employers and colleagues. Mathematical statisticians, are in high demand on the job market across a wide range of sectors and positions, and can look forward to an excellent salary progression.
While studying
The Master's programme in Mathematical Statistics at Umeå University will help you to realize your highest professional aspirations!
We pride ourselves in taking good care of our students and offering a friendly, informal and non-hierarchical academic culture. The programme starts with a course that focuses on how to achieve your goals through advanced studies and research in Mathematical Statistics, in the course of which you will be assigned an active researcher as a personal mentor as part of our innovative mentorship scheme.
Towards the end of your studies, you will have a wide variety of thesis projects to choose from, and work on cutting-edge topics under the supervision of one of our young and highly successful researchers.
Before writing your thesis, you will build up your mathematical and computational skills by taking courses from our catalogue of advanced courses in mathematical statistics.
You may also advantageously combine your courses in mathematical statistics with courses in mathematics (especially financial mathematics), computer science, the natural or social sciences, economics and finance, or other areas of interest.
Live in a young and fast-growing city
Umeå provides a highly attractive environment for studying. It is a young and fast-growing city of around 130,000 inhabitants, of whom over 35,000 are students. This makes for a rich cultural life and a relaxed atmosphere, with many pubs, cafés, restaurants, concert venues and music festivals, including the celebrated Brännbollsyran, one of the major summer festivals in Sweden. Umeå also boasts an opera house, Norrlandsoperan, as well as a number of museums, and was the European capital of culture in 2014.
The city is small and extremely safe, and offers a comfortable and sustainable way of life. There is an extensive network of bicycle paths – making it possible to get around by bike all year round. Wherever you are in Umeå, nature is always close at hand. The Ume River flows through the city, you in the Gammlia city forest or see the northern lights on the shores of Nydala Lake – all of which are close to student accommodation. Stepping outside the city limits you will find natural reserves, wild forests, rivers and lakes. Alpine skiing resorts abound in the area, while in the Summer months you can make you way down to the Baltics sea and find sandy beaches and rocky islands within easy reach.
Student housing
The University offers student housing to exchange students, tuition fee-paying students and full-degree students that are citizens of countries outside the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland.
Students not falling under these categories have to arrange their own housing. If you start in due course, you will not find it very difficult to find housing to arrange in Umeå. Please check the advice and services provided by our housing service.
There is a lot of freedom to mix and match both statistical courses from the programme and relevant courses from mathematics, statistics and computer science: if there is an exciting course that you want to sub in for one of the programme courses listed above, there is considerable latitude to do so.
The elective courses listed below, most of which are from our sister programme in Mathematics, are alternatives you may want to consider. Your mentor will help and advise you on choosing a tailor-made set of courses from the available options.
Elective courses: There is a lot of flexibility to mix and match both statistical courses from the programme and relevant courses from mathematics and computer science. Your mentor will help and advise you on choosing a tailor-made set of courses from the available options.
Students on the programme may also replace suggested courses with courses from the sister programme in Mathematics.
In modern society, statistics and analytics play a very important role. An education in mathematical statistics is the starting point to a career in any field where statistics are used. Statisticians are sought-after in a wide range of sectors such as the tech industry, in finance and the insurance sector, in the pharmaceutical industry and in medical research. Other important employers for statisticians are governmental agencies, and in general statisticians are needed whenever there are large amounts of data to analyze.
Former graduates today work at a large range of companies, such as Klarna, Nasdaq, H&M, Cytiva, Swedbank, SCB, Volvo, Ericsson, Komatsu Forest, Vägverket, among others.
Your path to a research career
A master's degree in mathematical statistics is also a perfect preparation for a research career, with a PhD being the next step in that direction. If you are interested in going down that road, your mentor will provide you with advice and support for applications to doctoral programmes in Sweden and abroad. You can read more about doctoral studies in mathematical statistics at Umeå here:
