If you have been at Solvay for many years, you have probably heard of QTEM. The QTEM, Quantitative Techniques for Economics and Management, is an international network bringing together Academic Partners and International Corporations as described on their website, and students eager to concentrate even more their competences in quantitative sciences thanks to those academic partners. It was launched in 2012 by Solvay with support from the Bernheim Foundation, as a potential specialisation or extension of the existing master programmes.
From 2012, the program has continued to improve and to grow. As of today, it gathers 24 academic partners (16 countries) as UPF Barcelona School of Management entered in 2018. 47 % of the member universities have Triple Crown accreditation.
So far, more than 500 students took part or are currently taking part in QTEM, altogether. The strength of such a program relies on its network and the capacity to be recognized as one strong body in the rankings. It is the reason why the Board members of the QTEM network are putting so many efforts and motivation in this venture.
Persistently looking for a way to bring all its members together, QTEM launched the QTEM data challenge in 2018. This challenge gathers teams of 3 students, from all the network and makes them tackle an analytical challenge organized in partnership with renowned firms: AB-InBev in 2018, Solvay in 2019 and Millennium in 2020. This year, the challenge has been renamed to “Global Business Analytics Challenge” and has become compulsory for the students that were enrolled as from this year.
One can wonder how QTEM practically impacts your studies. There are currently three main tracks: (a) one that fits within the 2-year Master program with the exchange chosen among the partners of the network, (b) two that make your Master last 2.5 years but allow you to either have 2 exchanges with the academic partners plus an internship of minimum 240 hours, or have 1 exchange abroad and 6-month internship. As it can be noticed, doing an internship is required and adds up to the strength of the program. When going on exchange, the student will have to meet some requirements regarding the chosen courses. QTEM requires the student to take at least 50% of quantitative ECTS during the master and a minimum of 22 quantitative ECTS abroad. However, it is important to note that it is not as difficult as it may seem to meet this requirement as the majority of the courses in our studies is quantitative.
It is difficult to write an article about the QTEM without mentioning the application procedure. Each year, up to 20 students are selected to enter the program. The university reserves the right to admit less than 20 students. To apply, you need first to write a cover letter and to submit your resume. After a screening of these two, the university offers the possibility to get an interview to the students that fit the program. After the interview, the institution will pre-select 20 or less of the candidates. In order to validate the selection, the candidate will have to still submit a proof of a minimum score of 650 at the GMAT. The GMAT consists in a Verbal part (reading, grammar) and a quantitative part. It requires upstream work and is quite expensive. It can be noted that passing the GMAT before the interview will probably play in your favor. Don’t hesitate to come back to us if you need more feedback from your predecessors. But you can already take a look at: https://www.qtem.org
A video of the last graduation in Amsterdam:
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