Why study Mathematics and Statistics at university level?

There are many opportunities for mathematics and statistics graduates, including:

• Teaching at all levels: primary, secondary and tertiary;
• Public service: Commonwealth, State and Local Government;
• Financial institutions: banks, investment, finance and insurance companies;
• Computing: government, commerce and industry;
• Research at universities, CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology, DSTO, government laboratories, consulting companies, etc.

Analytical and quantitative skills in general are sought by a wider range of employers. A sound knowledge of mathematics and statistics is important in most other areas of science, economics, medicine and engineering. Mathematics and statistics are also the cornerstone for decision making and various quantitative activities in commerce, industry, education and defence. From direct and daily experience, most companies and organisations have realised that success depends critically on the level of analytical, quantitative and statistical skills of their workforce and they therefore seek employees with a sound mathematical training.

Since mathematics and statistics is all-pervading, the study of the subject can be rewarding whatever future career you have in mind. Its place in physical science is perhaps best known; indeed physics, engineering, mathematics and statistics are at times so intertwined that they are virtually inseparable. Some important related areas that can be studied at Monash are meteorology, oceanography, astrophysics, computational mathematics, mathematical geophysics, geometry, analysis, general relativity, applied statistics and operations research. There exist strong links between the research groups at Monash in these areas and scientists in other tertiary institutions both in Australia and overseas, as well as with industrial and government scientific organisations. Mathematics and statistics also has an increasingly important role in the biological, medical and pharmaceutical sciences, not only in the area of statistical design and analysis of experiments, but in complex study of genetics and, for example, in the study of blood flow, physiology and neural activity of the brain. Together with other studies such as computer science, economics and accounting, mathematics and statistics provides an excellent training for a career in banking, finance, insurance and business management in general. Many mathematics graduates work in these fields.

Mathematics and statistics will continue to be an important part of in the school curriculum, so mathematics and statistics subjects studied at university will provide the prospective teacher with a mature understanding of school mathematics and the wider place of the subject in the human activities.