Basic Information of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science

I. History and Overview

As one of the earliest institutions in China to offer insurance courses, the School of Insurance of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) has been developing and improving the discipline system over the past 20 years. 2009 saw the creation of the actuarial and risk management course under the insurance major and the admission of undergraduates nationwide. September 2012 saw the implementation of the experimental actuarial and risk management training program. In 2015, the second-level master's degree in actuarial science was approved by the university. on February 19, 2016, the new undergraduate major in actuarial science applied by the School of Insurance of the University of International Business and Economics was approved by the Ministry of Education, marking the establishment of the first undergraduate major in actuarial science in China (conferring the Bachelor of Science degree). the first batch of actuarial master students (three-year system) were enrolled in 2017. in December 2017, the The doctoral program in actuarial science was approved by the university, and the first batch of actuarial doctoral students were enrolled in 2019. in 2019, the actuarial science major was approved as a first-class undergraduate major construction point in Beijing. in 2022, the actuarial science major was approved as a national first-class undergraduate major construction point.

II. Development orientation and characteristics of the Department

The frequent emergencies and financial crises since the late twentieth century have made "high risk" a common threat to all walks of life and even to the nation in the context of the globalized economy, and a common feature of modern society, thus contributing to the leap-forward development and change of actuarial science in recent years, with its application areas expanding from traditional insurance to investment, social security, enterprise risk management, etc, The field of actuarial science has expanded from traditional insurance to investment, social security, enterprise risk management, etc. This has led actuarial science to assume an increasingly important role in finance, economics and even sociology. The establishment of this major is to respond to this background, to the national strategy and market development needs, and to actively undertake and practice the important mission of universities in the process of actuarial theory research and professional talent training in China.

Actuarial science originated in England, grew up in England and developed in the United States. Along with the increasingly prominent demand for actuarial professionals in the changing world economy, three major types of actuarial education systems have gradually formed worldwide, represented by most European and Latin American countries, North America and Canada, and the United Kingdom and Australia, respectively. However, since the 26th International Congress of Actuaries promulgated the "International Actuarial Education Guidelines" in 1998, actuarial organizations in various countries have basically agreed on the basic education part under the impetus of the education guidelines, which also makes actuarial science an "internationally standardized" profession. Benefiting from the distinctive international characteristics of the University of International Business and Economics, our school has considered how to align with the international top level when formulating the training objectives of the actuarial science major. The major aims to cultivate international, complex and high quality professionals who can meet the needs of socialist modernization, develop morally, intellectually, physically and aesthetically, have a solid theoretical foundation in economics, management, mathematics and statistics, master the basic knowledge of risk management and insurance, be familiar with the latest actuarial and risk management theories and methods, and be competent in actuarial and risk management. At the same time, since 2009, when we started to recruit undergraduates of "Insurance Major (Actuarial and Risk Management Direction)", we have signed cooperation cultivation agreements with several foreign universities such as University of Kent, University of Manchester, Cass Business School in the UK and Temple University and Michigan State University in the US for undergraduate actuarial majors. The Department has innovated various international cooperative cultivation modes such as 2+2 undergraduate and 3+2 undergraduate in actuarial science, fully consulted with the partner institutions on the cultivation program of this major, and explored an effective path to integrate the cultivation programs of actuarial science undergraduate programs at home and abroad, and the cultivation objectives have significantly reflected the international vision and foresight and leadership.

III. Faculty Profile

At present, there are 14 full-time faculty members in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, with reasonable age structure, academic structure, academic affiliation structure, title structure and gender ratio.

Table 1 Overall situation of the faculty in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science

In terms of age structure, there are 13 teachers under the age of 45 and 1 teacher over the age of 45, most of whom are young and middle-aged, and the overall team is young and strong. The young scholars have played an important role in promoting the construction of complex disciplines, research and international exchange activities.

In terms of academic structure, 100% of the faculty members of the program hold doctoral degrees, and at the same time, serving the typical composite discipline characteristics of actuarial science, all the faculty members of the program have backgrounds in the program and similar disciplines, covering various fields such as mathematics, statistics, stochastic processes, actuarial science, insurance, economics, etc. The professional level of the faculty members and the quality of research and teaching are strong.

In terms of academic affiliation structure, 5 teachers in the program have overseas doctoral degrees, and 3 teachers are jointly trained overseas, accounting for 57.1% of the total number of teachers; except for one newly introduced teacher, all teachers have overseas visiting experience (one year or more), with outstanding international education background, which provides an important guarantee for the cultivation of international talents in the program.

In addition, there are 7 male and 7 female faculty members in the program, with a balanced gender structure.

In terms of title structure, at present, there are 3 professors in the program, accounting for 21.4% of the total number of teachers; 9 associate professors, accounting for 64.3% of the total number of teachers; and 2 lecturers, accounting for 14.3% of the total number of teachers. On the other hand, the proportion of lecturers is low, so we can actively recruit young scholars, especially overseas doctoral graduates, to further supplement the research and teaching strength and improve the construction of disciplinary echelon.

IV. Curriculum construction and teaching materials

The teachers of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science have actively participated in the publication of monographs and textbooks, and regarded cultural inheritance as their own responsibility, and published 9 monographs and 9 professional textbooks; they have undertaken 19 projects of various teaching reform, high-quality textbook construction and curriculum construction projects, and cultivated a group of excellent professional teachers with both teaching and research abilities.

Table 2 Publication of teaching materials and monographs by teachers of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science

No.	Name of teacher	Name of textbook	Publisher	Publication date
1	Tan Yingping	Applied Statistics (4th edition)	People's University of China Press	May 2022
2	Tan Yingping	Risk Management and Insurance	University of International Business and Economics Press	February 2021
3	Tan Yingping	Statistics	People's Post and Telecommunications Publishing House	May 2020
4	Li Zhengxiao	Non-Life Insurance Rate Determination Models and Applications under Dependent Risks	Economic Management Press	December 2019
5	Tan Yingping	Applied Statistics (3rd edition) March 2017	People's University of China Press	March 2017
6	Sun Lijuan	Research on Insolvency and Crisis Prediction of Insurance Companies	Economic Science Press	October 2016
7	Xie Yuantao	Composite Methods and Applications of Panel Data Clustering	University of International Business and Economics Press	August 2016
8	Xie Yuantao	Foreign Exchange Trading and Management	Tsinghua University Press	Jan 2015
9	Xie Yuantao	Theory and Application of Generalized Linear Mixed Models for Generalized gamma Distribution Clusters	University of International Business and Economics Press	June 2014
10	Xie Yuantao	Statistics: Applications in the Economy	People's University of China Press	May 2014
11	Xie Yuantao	Portfolio Analysis Based on COPULA-CVaR Risk Metric	University of International Business and Economics Press	January 2014
12	Tan Yingping	Applied Statistics (2nd Edition)	People's University of China Press	March 2013
13	Xie Yuantao	Economic Mathematics and Financial Mathematics	People's University of China Press	December 2012
14	Sun Lijuan	Quantitative Analysis of Risk: Loss Models and Their Applications in Insurance and Financial Risk Management	Beijing University Press	May 2011
15	Tan Yingping	Research on Competitiveness of Chinese Industries	Economic Science Press	September 2009
16	Tan Yingping	Applied Statistics	People's University of China Press	October 2008
17	Tan Yingping	Business Statistics	Higher Education Publishing House	June 2008
18	Tan Yingping	Research on International Competitiveness of Chinese Steel Industry	China Standard Publishing House	February 2007

Table 3 Educational teaching reform achievements of teachers in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science

No.	Project name	Project number	Level	Name of the presenter	Funding (million RMB)
1	Revision of the training program based on OBE concept in the College of Insurance	2019-740-6-219122	School level	Xie Yuantao	0.5
2	Undergraduate quality teaching materials construction "Risk Management and Insurance"	74200301	School level	Tan Yingping	3
3	The construction project of high-quality courses "Interest Theory"	X18001	School level	Chen Yin	4
4	Regular Course Construction Project "Actuarial Mathematics (II)"	X17001	School level	Chen Yin	2
5	Regular Course Construction Project "Actuarial Mathematics (I)"	X16203	School level	Chen Yin	2
6	Regular Course Construction Project Life Insurance Actuarial Science (II)	X15219	School level	Bi Hongwei	2
7	Teaching Method Reform of Non-Life Actuarial Science Course	X14617	School level	Xie Yuantao	1.5
8	Key Teaching Research Project "Econometrics"	X15112	School level	Xie Yuantao	4
9	Regular Course Construction Project "Life Insurance Actuarial Science (I)"	X14213	School level	Chen Yin	1.5
10	Regular Course Construction Project "Mathematical Optimization Methods"	X14134	School level	Chen Yin	2
11	Empirical Research on Teaching Practice and Innovative Talent Cultivation	X13512	School level	Xie Yuantao	1.5
12	Regular Course Construction Project "Insurance Statistics"	X11215	School level	Tan Yingping	2
13	A Comparative Study of Actuarial Qualification Examinations in China, North America, and the United Kingdom	X10506	School level	Chen Yin	0.7
14	Civics Special Project "Actuarial Risk Modeling"	X10012	School level	Sun Lijuan	2
15	Regular Course Construction Project "Applied Stochastic Processes"	X09024	School level	Tan Yingping	2
16	Regular Course Construction Project "Actuarial Mathematics"	X08034	School level	Sun Lijuan	2
17	Regular Course Construction Project "Risk Analysis and Risk Modeling"	X06010	School level	Sun Lijuan	2
18	Curriculum Civics Demonstration Course Project "Non-Life Insurance Actuarial Science"	2019-740-3-119373	School level	Xie Yuantao	0.3
19	Curriculum Civics Demonstration Course Project "Non-Life Insurance Actuarial Experiment"	2019-740-3-119382	School level	Li Zhengxiao	0.3

V. Team Building and Awards

The faculty members of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science have made more outstanding achievements in team building and course Civics. The faculty team led by Prof. Xie Yuantao, Prof. Zhu Wei and Associate Prof. Li Zhengxiao have been approved the academic innovation team construction project of the University of International Business and Economics; the head of the department, Mr. Tan Yingping, has been awarded the title of excellent management worker at the university level for many times, and won the first prize of the university-level excellent teaching achievement award, the first prize of the eighth national statistical scientific research excellent achievement award, and the third prize of the third excellent statistical science discussion paper of Beijing; Prof. Xie Yuantao was awarded as the "Teaching Pioneer" at the university level, and the teaching method reform project at the university level was awarded an excellent prize, and the courseware of "Risk Modeling and Non-Life Actuarial Science" was awarded as the "Quality Undergraduate Courseware" in Beijing Universities in 2021. Ms. Li Jinqing and Ms. Li Zhengxian participated in the school's basic skills competition for young teachers and won the prize; Ms. Xie Yuantao and Ms. Li Zhengxian won the project of "Curriculum Civics" model course; Ms. Li Zhengxian won the excellent prize of the first Curriculum Civics teacher teaching ability competition.

VI. External Exchange and Cooperation

In order to cultivate students' innovative thinking and international vision, give them richer overseas learning experience and enhance their cross-cultural communication ability, the College of Insurance has been actively working on cooperation and cultivation projects with famous foreign universities since 2009 when it started to recruit undergraduates of "Insurance Major (Actuarial and Risk Management)" (see Table 6 for details). The School of Insurance has signed cooperation cultivation agreements with the University of Kent and the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, Temple University and Michigan State University in the United States, and has innovated various international cooperation cultivation modes such as 2+2 undergraduate degree, 3+2 undergraduate degree and student-teacher exchange, providing more channels for students to study abroad.

Table 4 International cooperative cultivation programs of actuarial science majors

Up to now, we have successfully sent more than ten batches of outstanding actuarial students to the above-mentioned partner institutions, with a total of more than 100 students, and after graduation, these students have successfully obtained the qualification to pursue master's degree in top universities in the world, including Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, etc., which is a strong proof that our major is practicing the goal of international training. Moreover, it is because of the good reputation and "quality" image of student training established by our school in the process of cooperation with many international universities that the Institute of Actuaries of the United Kingdom (IFoA) took the initiative to visit our school in 2014 and proposed multi-faceted cooperation intentions. In 2019, the department again successfully applied to join the UCAP college program of the Society of Actuaries of North America (SOA) to obtain the exemption certification of the North American Actuarial Qualification Examination (NAQE). VEE course exemption certification. The training program of the major has been "recognized by international authorities", and the foresight and leadership of the professional training has been further enhanced.

At the same time, the College has established several internship and practice bases on and off campus, and maintained good cooperation with the industry to provide long-term and effective support and guarantee for students' practical activities and innovative and entrepreneurial activities. Through the internship practice activities, students can experience the connection between theoretical knowledge and social practice, increase their understanding of practical operation, and at the same time, build up a good reputation of professionalism among employers, so as to get more employment opportunities for graduates.

Table 5 Overview of some teaching practice bases