Course content
Double Degree Data & Finance X-HEC
This program offers students a perfect balance of theory and practice in both data science and finance. The choice of elective courses on offer also enables them to customize the curriculum to their specific needs and aspirations. Students who successfully complete the Data & Finance program obtain the MSc&T degree from Ecole Polytechnique and the MIF degree from HEC Paris.
The key aim of this Double Degree is to not only equip students with state-of-the-art toolkits in both data science and finance, but to also provide them with solid field-specific foundations in each field. This dual focus enables them to develop the necessary intuition to navigate both domains effectively. As a result, our students become true experts in data science and financial economics - particularly in capital markets - empowering them to address complex challenges at the intersection of these disciplines.
Course Portfolio
The first year teaching focuses largely on the data produced by ‘real-life’ cases obtained in association with the program’s industrial partners. Students will learn how to perform a complete data analysis, from data manipulation, exploration, and visualization to analysis with powerful machine learning methods and to communicate and deploy their solution. Students can also benefit from refresher courses in probability and mathematical foundations of data science.
- Mathematical foundations of data science
- Statistics with R
- Regression
- Machine Learning I and II
- Deep Learning and Optimization
- Python for data science
- Financial markets
- Optimization / Deep Learning
- Numerical processing of financial data
- Deep learning in finance
- Languages
- Human science
- Sport
A 4-month compulsory internship within a company in a data-related sector, including investment banks (BNP-Paribas, BPCE), hedge funds and firms such as Microsoft, Facebook, Orange, Capgemini.
Learn & develop your skills in AI & Datascience
Meet other students,DataScientists and professionals from companies who will coach you
Contribute to solve real issues for companies and society
Superhands-on experience to highlighting your CV
Compete with the best students in a good spirit
Get the chance to spend a day into of the corporate donors office
The related coursework is spread over four 6-week long half semesters and additionally includes a series of seminars and workshops:
In September, prior to the start of classes, in-coming students are offered a series of in-person/face-to-face workshops on our campus explaining in detail the different aspects of finance jobs, how to navigate the job market, how to refine CVs and cover letters for internship applications, and how to improve their interview techniques. The highlight of the pre-coursework preparation is the London Study Trip when all the MIF cohort visits the City of London and its myriad of financial institutions.
During the Fall 1 term (that runs from mid-September to end of October) MIF students take their Core Courses via the Accelerated Track or the Business Track:
The Accelerated Track (AT) is designed for students who have studied economics, econometrics, engineering, mathematics, or other areas of basic or applied sciences at a top university but who don’t have what we require as the necessary academic background in finance and financial accounting. Students who follow the AT take longer classes in corporate finance, securities markets, and financial accounting that bring them to the intermediate level in these subjects so that they can successfully follow the MIF curriculum.
The Business Track (BT) is designed for students who obtained a business or management degree prior to joining the MIF, and have already had the introductory coursework in finance and financial accounting. BT students take intermediate level classes in corporate finance, securities markets, financial statement analysis, and international finance.
AT or BT courses cannot be waived. The fact that students follow their Fall 1 term core courses through either the Accelerated or Business Track has no bearing of any kind for what follows in the program or regarding the career opportunities thereafter. It’s the academic directors who decide which student needs to follow which track (and can overrule the student’s initial request).
During the Fall 2 term that takes place during November-December, MD&F students take their Capital Markets Specialization, which involves six area-specific courses (one of which is taken in the Spring). Specialization courses cannot be waived based on prior coursework.
During the Spring 1 (January-February) and Spring 2 (March-April) terms, the MD&F students need to take two Advanced Core Courses (Behavioral and Sustainable Finance and Economics of Financial Regulation). They are automatically enrolled in the four Data & Finance courses (Algorithm, Data & Trading, Blockchain, Numerical Analysis, and Data Analysis in Finance). They also have to sign up in the Fall for five Elective courses among 30+ on offer: two of these nine electives need to be in the Capital Markets area, one elective needs to be one of the “AI & Finance” courses offered by the MIF, and the remaining two are unrestricted electives (that said, certain electives may not be available due to scheduling conflicts and seat restrictions). The chosen electives cannot be dropped or waived due to prior courses taken.
Starting in the Fall semester you will work on your Research Paper (worth 20 ETCS out of the 70 ECTS needed for the year at HEC Paris) with a fellow student under the supervision of a faculty member.
Additinally, during the month of May the MD&F students have the option (but not the obligation) to attend one of the ten HEC Paris Certificates on offer. The academic director of each certificate decides who is admitted into their program given the preferences indicated by the students in the Fall.
* Please note that the coursework listed below is subject to change without prior notice at the discretion of the Academic Director.
For the Accelerated Track (AT):
- Corporate Finance 1&2
- Securities Markets 1&2
- Financial Accounting & Reporting
For the Business Track (BT):
- Corporate Finance 2
- Securities Markets 2
- Financial Statement Analysis
- International Finance
- Securities Markets 3
- Financial Engineering
- Quantitative Asset Management
- Fixed Income and Money Markets
- Bond Portfolio Management
- Empirical Methods for Capital Markets
- Economics of Financial Regulation
- Behavioral & Sustainable Finance
- Algorithm, Data & Trading
- Blockchain
- Numerical Analysis
- Data Analysis in Finance
- AI for Quantitative Trading Strategies
- Exotic products & Structuring 1 or 2
- Foreign Exchange Derivatives Trading
- ML Techniques for Finance
- Modelling Techniques for Financial Engineering
- Alternative Investments
- Energy Markets
- ESG Measurement & Reporting
- Equity Research
- Infrastructure and Real Assets Private Equity
- Sustainable & Responsible Investing
- ...
At the beginning of September, students have the opportunity to go on a study trip to London. The trip offers students plenty of networking opportunities, conferences and team building exercises. Many networking events are organized with HEC Alumni’s UK branch - one of the largest in the world, with numerous active members working in the City.
The annual London study trip includes events with companies such as:
- Amber Capital
- Bank of America
- Barclays
- Blackstone
- Bloomberg
- BNP
- CD&R
- Chenavari
- Crédit Agricole
- D'Angelin & Co
- Deutsche Bank
- HG Capital
- IK Partners
- L-GAM
- Macquarie
- Morgan Stanley
- Citibank
- Goldman Sachs
- Oaktree
- Point 72.
- Houlihan Lokey
- Natixis
- PSP Investments
- Rotschild
- SFO Capital Partners
- Société Générale
- Starwood
- Towerbrook
- The Raine Group
- UBS
- …
By the end of this program, you will be a highly skilled data scientist and a highly knowledgeable financial economist who specializes in capital markets. You will be able to tackle the most complicated challenges that are at the crossroads of data and finance for a FinTech company, a hedge fund, a PE or VC, a large bank, an asset management company, a financial regulator, …
- Master in Data & Finance students must write a research paper (that generates 20 of the 140 ECTS needed for the degree) under the supervision of an HEC Paris faculty in finance (supervisors other than those designated by the Academic Director must be approved by the latter).
- The objective of the Research Paper is to explore how the knowledge accumulated during both years of the program can be used to examine an interesting research question and generate a well-structured piece of writing to answer it.
- The research paper is written by pairs of students on a topic agreed upon by academic supervisor and the Academic Director of the program.
- The Research Paper must involve a research question, a literature review, conjecture/hypothesis formulation, data collection, empirical testing of one or more the hypotheses, and an interpretation of the findings’ economic as well as statistical significance.
- The Research Paper must be defended in front of a Finance Department faculty member.
- The Research Paper should ideally involve an original idea that was never tested before, or can replicate an existing paper at the crossroads of data & finance (in part or in full) using new data. The writing must be original (i.e., must be the student-pair authors’ own text).
- Exams, homeworks, quizzes
- Case studies
- Business and role-playing games
- Online/in-person group projects
- Presentations, pitches
- Master Research Paper
Faculty
The HEC Paris faculty consists of over 160 professors, comprising more than 25 different nationalities, with Ph.D.’s from leading universities across the world. They work in all major areas of economics and management.
Find out moreDisability Program for Learners
This program is adapted and open to people with disabilities.
Click here to find out more about the HEC Paris Disability Mission
Contact us : esh@hec.fr