Master's degree in Statistics and

Operations Research
The aim of the UPC-UB interuniversity master's degree in Statistics and Operations Research (master's degree
website) is to provide graduates with advanced knowledge of the theory and methods of current statistics and operations
research. Integrated into multidisciplinary working groups, students who successfully complete this master’s degree course will
be able to apply the skills acquired in areas such as healthcare, services, industry, business, science and government agencies.
They will also be provided with research-focused training to help them gain access to the doctoral degree.

GENERAL DETAILS

Duration and start date

1.5 academic year, 90 ECTS credits. Starting September

Timetable and delivery

Afternoons. Face-to-face

Fees and grants

Approximate fees for the master’s degree, excluding other costs (does not include non-teaching academic fees and
issuing of the degree certificate):
€2,490 (€6,225 for non-EU residents).
More information about fees and payment options
More information about grants and loans

Language of instruction

Check the language of instruction for each subject in the course guide in the curriculum.

Information on language use in the classroom and students’ language rights.

Location

School of Mathematics and Statistics (FME)

Faculty of Economics and Business (UB)

Official degree
Recorded in the Ministry of Education's degree register

ADMISSION

General requirements
Academic requirements for admission to master's degrees

Specific requirements

The content of the degree is appropriate for graduates of bachelor's degrees that include statistics or operations
research subjects. Candidates will ideally have taken a bachelor's degree and will be interested in solving problems,
have an aptitude for mathematics and be skilled communicators. The academic structure of the master's degree
includes homogenisation courses in the first semester and the possibility of taking specific pathways in accordance
with prior learning. The aim is to promote the entry of students from different academic backgrounds. Holders of the
following qualifications may be considered:

Bachelor’s degree in Statistics

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 Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics
Bachelor’s degree in Biology/Physics/Biotechnology
Bachelor’s degree in Economics/Actuarial Sciences
Bachelor’s or pre-EHEA degree in Industrial Engineering or other engineering fields
Bachelor's degree in Informatics Engineering
Bachelor's degree in Psychology/Sociology
Diploma in Statistics, taking a minimum of 30 credits in the form of bridging courses.

Admission criteria

To decide on whether students are suitable for the master’s degree in Statistics and Operations Engineering, their
curriculum vitae and prior training will be considered, together with their stated interests, in order to guarantee that
the aims of the Master’s Degree can be fulfilled in a reasonable time and with a reasonable degree of effort.

The elements that will be taken into account for this evaluation will be:

Weighting of the academic record.

Applicants should attach a scanned copy of their curriculum vitae, an official academic certificate issued by their
school of origin stating the weighted mark of their academic transcript (NPE) on a scale of 1 to 10.
If when pre-enrolment takes place the student has not yet finished their course of studies, the certificate should
refer to courses taken and passed up to the date of issue of the certificate.
If no certifying document is attached, the NPE will be taken to be 5.
Accredited education.
Applicants should specify the academic qualification they have obtained or they expect to have obtained when
enrolling.
If this qualification has already been obtained, a scanned copy of either the certificate or the receipt for payment
for this certificate should be attached to the applicant's curriculum vitae.
The original of the certificate or the receipt must be presented on formal enrolment in the course.
Aspects of the curriculum vitae related to statistics and/or operations research in the professional, teaching or
scientific spheres.
In particular, prior academic training, qualifications obtained and professional experience will be taken into account.

Knowledge of English.
This knowledge will be accredited by attaching a scanned version of the highest level qualification or certificate
obtained to the applicant's curriculum vitae.
Without this accreditation, this item will not be taken into account when evaluating the student's application.
Dedication to the course of studies and whether it is to be combined with a job.

Places
44

Pre-enrolment
Pre-enrolment closed (consult the new pre-enrolment periods in the academic calendar).

How to pre-enrol

Enrolment
How to enrol

Legalisation of foreign documents

All documents issued in non-EU countries must be legalised and bear the corresponding apostille.

PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Professional opportunities

Graduates of this master's degree will be experts who may be employed in healthcare, services, industry and business.
They will apply the theory and methods of statistics and operations research in fields such as biostatistics, data
engineering, marketing and finance, industrial statistics, optimisation in engineering and industry, and applications in
transport engineering.

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Competencies

Generic competencies

Generic competencies are the skills that graduates acquire regardless of the specific course or field of study. The
generic competencies established by the UPC are capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainability and
social commitment, knowledge of a foreign language (preferably English), teamwork and proper use of information
resources.

Basic competencies

Graduates of this degree will have acquired the knowledge that serves as a basis or opportunity for
developing and applying original ideas, often in a research context.
They will know how to apply the knowledge acquired and their problem-solving abilities in new or unfamiliar
settings within wider (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their field of study.
They will be able to integrate their knowledge and deal with the complexity of making judgements on the
basis of information that, although incomplete or limited, includes reflection on the social and ethical
responsibilities related to the application of their knowledge and judgements.
They will be able to clearly and unambiguously communicate their conclusions—and the knowledge and
reasons that support them—to specialised and non-specialised audiences.
They will have acquired learning skills that will enable them to continue studying in a largely self-directed or
autonomous manner.

Generic competencies

A capacity for carrying out activities that involve applying theoretical and methodological knowledge and
statistical and operations research techniques using teamwork and other skills expected of graduates.
A capacity for identifying the most appropriate statistical and operations research methods for analysing the
information that is available at any given moment, in order to respond to problems and dilemmas that arise
and to inform decision making.
An awareness of the need to observe professional ethics and rules on data and statistical secrecy protection.

Specific competencies

A capacity for designing and managing the gathering, coding, handling, storage and processing of
information.
A capacity for mastering the terminology belonging to a field in which statistical and operations research
models and methods are applied to solve real problems.
A capacity for formulating, analysing and validating models that are applicable to practical problems. A
capacity for selecting the most appropriate statistical and operations research method or technique for
applying models to concrete situations or problems.
A capacity for using various inference procedures to answer questions, identifying the properties of different
estimation methods and their advantages and disadvantages and adapting these methods to a concrete
situation in a specific context.
A capacity for formulating and solving real decision-making problems in various areas of application and
selecting the most appropriate method and optimisation algorithm in each case.
A capacity for choosing the most suitable software to carry out the calculations necessary to solve a
problem.
A capacity for understanding advanced statistics and operations research articles. Familiarity with research
procedures for the production and transmission of new knowledge.
A capacity for discussing the validity, scope and relevance of solutions and presenting and defending their
conclusions.
A capacity for implementing statistics and operations research algorithms.

ORGANISATION: ACADEMIC CALENDAR AND REGULATIONS

UPC school
School of Mathematics and Statistics (FME)

Participating institutions
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) - coordinating university

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 Universitat de Barcelona (UB)

Academic coordinator
Mari Paz Linares Herreros (UPC)
Helena Chuliá (UB)

Academic calendar
General academic calendar for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees courses

Academic regulations
Academic regulations for master's degree courses at the UPC

CURRICULUM

Subjects ECTS Type

credits
FIRST SEMESTER

Advanced Statistical Inference 5 Optional

Clinical Trials 5 Optional

Continuous Optimisation 5 Optional

Econometric Analysis 5 Optional

Foundations of Statistical Inference 5 Optional

Fundations of Bioinformatics 5 Optional

Lifetime Data Analysis 5 Optional

Linear and Generalized Linear Models 5 Optional

Mathematics 5 Optional

Models and Methods From Operations Research 5 Compulsory

Optimization in Data Science 5 Optional

Optimization in Energy Systems and Markets 5 Optional

Risk Quantification 5 Optional

Simulation 5 Optional

Spatial Epidemiology 5 Optional

Statistical Programming and Databases 5 Optional

Statistical Software: R and SAS 5 Compulsory

Statistics for Business Management 5 Optional

SECOND SEMESTER

Actuarial Statistics 5 Optional

Advanced Topics in Survival Analysis 5 Optional

Bayesian Analysis 5 Optional

Discrete Network Models 5 Optional

Epidemiology 5 Optional

Financial Statistics 5 Optional

Genetic Epidemiology 5 Optional

Large Scale Optimization 5 Optional

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 Subjects ECTS Type
credits
Longitudinal Data Analysis 5 Optional

Machine Learning 7.5 Optional

Multivariate Data Analysis 5 Optional

Omics Data Analysis 5 Optional

Probability and Stochastic Processes 5 Optional

Quantitative Finance 5 Optional

Quantitative Marketing Techniques 5 Optional

Simulation for Business Decision Making 5 Optional

Social Indicators 5 Optional

Statistical Learning 5 Optional

Statistical Learning with Deep Artificial Neural Networks 5 Optional

Statistical Methods in Clinical Research 5 Optional

Statistical Methods in Epidemiology 5 Optional

Stochastic Programming 5 Optional

Summer School Seminar 3 3 Optional

Time Series 5 Optional

THIRD SEMESTER

Master's Thesis 30 Project

January 2024. UPC. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech

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