In fall 2020, a new graduate certificate in quantitative enterprising risk management (QERM) was added to COB’s robust offerings.
This innovative 12-hour graduate certificate is the only one of its kind in Missouri and neighboring states by a public university with an accredited four-year degree program in Risk Management and Insurance (RMI).
Enterprise risk management is an integrated framework used to evaluate and manage risks. The key is an emphasis on interrelationships among risks of a firm that can have a butterfly effect – where small changes in one condition can magnify to large changes in other areas.
QERM emphasizes quantitative evaluations of individual risks and their interrelationships.
Input from the industry
Dr. Puneet Prakash, associate professor and Baker Chair of RMI at Missouri State, played a key role in creating the program.
“We held informal discussions and interviews with RMI industry personnel,” Prakash said. “Those discussions revealed that the industry is looking for graduates with quantitative analysis skills. Most importantly, interviews with the middle market executives revealed a need for personnel who are equipped with an understanding of the high-end analytics, even if they are not developing and implementing new models.”
As the industry shifted to analyzing total firm risk and customizing solutions to meet the needs of firms, it became important to align the academic side and provide training on universal principles of risk analysis.
“It is expected that with the training received in this curriculum, students will be prepared to apply their learning to the workplace and propose customized solutions for workplace problems rooted in quantitative analysis, taking out the guesswork,” Prakash said.
A unique curriculum
The curriculum is hands-on and problem-solving based. It emphasizes learning by doing through the unique course offerings, such as RMI620 and RMI630.
- RMI 620 Risk Modeling and Analytics employs quantitative models from mathematics, statistics and econometrics to answer problems in financial and actuarial/insurance risk management.
- RMI 630 Risk Transfers emphasizes risk transfers and management beyond insurance. These non-insurance risk management strategies involve teaching students risk transfers using derivative markets, non-insurance based contractual transfers, and structured solutions like captives and securitization.
Students can complete all courses 100% online as either a standalone or add-on to an MBA.
The certificate is a product of input from alumni.
“As alumni understand, risk management is not about insurance alone,” Prakash said. “The program now provides a holistic view of risk management with emphasis on specialized skills that can be applied in the risk function across different industries. It is a cutting-edge program designed to make graduates of the program competitive, nationally and globally.”