Kent Business School (KBS) is pleased to welcome students to take part in our optional one-week refresher quantitative skills workshop in Mathematics, Statistics, Excel and programming languages. This workshop is offered to all Postgraduate students of the Kent Business school embarking on their studies this September.
Starting 22 September (just before Welcome Week), the school will be running a full week of workshops from 10:00 AM to 15:00 PM (UK time) each day. The workshop is offered at no extra tuition cost and will be delivered both online and in-person on the Canterbury campus.
Students must register to attend via the online booking form for a workshop and sessions designed for their MSc course. The workshop will refresh your knowledge of the quantitative concepts and techniques needed for your Master’s studies.
It is especially recommended to students who are planning to study a quantitative course such as any of our MSc Finance courses, or our courses with business analytics components.
Quants Workshop Details
The workshop will refresh your knowledge of the quantitative concepts and techniques needed for your Master’s studies. It is organised as a series of short lectures and practical sessions, and you will have the opportunity to go through a series of theoretical and practical exercises with staff from the School. Students can take part in some or all of the sessions, though we greatly advise you to make the most of all there is to offer. There will be no assessment at the end of the course.
Quants focus 1: Mathematics
Monday 22 September 10:00 – 13:00
This mathematics workshop provides a review of the essential skills that provide background mathematics needed in finance, marketing and analytics. The syllabus includes: basic algebra, calculus, matrix algebra, numerical methods and optimisation.
Quants focus 2: Statistics
- Tuesday 23 September 10:00 – 15:00
- Wednesday 24 September 10:00 – 15:00
This two-day statistics workshop builds on the mathematics part and is an introduction to statistics, covering basic probability and inference. The syllabus includes: measures of summarising data, probability, discrete and continuous distributions, special distributions, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, estimation, and simple regression.
Quants focus 3: Excel
- Thursday 25 September 10:00 – 15:00
The Excel part of the course is an introduction to Excel, covering Excel basics and producing professional spreadsheets. The syllabus covers: good spreadsheet practice, essential functions, essential formula, auditing tools and charts.
Quants focus 4: Introduction to Programming Languages (‘R’ or Python)
- Friday 26 September 10:00 – 15:00
The Introduction to Programming Languages workshop is an introductory course and students do not need any previous experience in either of the two programming languages. ‘R’ and Python are very powerful for quantitative analysis and equip students with logical, structured and analytical thinking.
The session covers some of the most important functionalities such as: data management, data inputting and processing, data structures, simple calculations and translating equations, loops, functions, charts and algorithms.
Find your workshop schedule, and more details about preparing for the start of classes, on your pre-arrival platform. Please note, the deadline for registration is Sunday 21 September 2025.
If you have any questions please email us at kbsadmissions@kent.ac.uk.