King's College London has launched a pioneering new undergraduate degree designed to equip students with the mathematical, computational and problem-solving skills needed to understand and solve complex, real-life problems in an increasingly data-driven and AI-enabled world.
From finance and healthcare to transport, climate, AI, government, logistics and technology, organisations need people who can think mathematically, work with data and computation, and explain complex ideas clearly.
But while Mathematics is the UK's most popular A-level subject, undergraduate mathematics enrolments have remained broadly flat over the past decade.
A maths degree for the future
The new Quantitative Mathematics BSc, which is now open for September 2027 entrants, has been developed as part of the London Mathematical Society (LMS) and Campaign for Mathematical Sciences' (CaMS) Maths Degrees for the Future initiative. The initiative is supporting five UK universities, including Kings, to develop new or existing degree programmes connecting foundational mathematics with important contemporary applications.
The new degree combines rigorous foundations in university mathematics with modelling, computation, statistics and data analysis. Students will learn how to move between mathematical theory and messy real-world questions - forming assumptions, building models, testing ideas, interpreting results and communicating what they mean.
The programme will also rethink how mathematics is taught at university. Students will learn through highly interactive, dialogic teaching, working collaboratively to explore ideas, test approaches and explain their reasoning. Alongside more traditional mathematical study, this will place greater emphasis on discussion, problem-solving and learning with and from other students.
The degree culminates in an advanced quantitative modelling project, in which students will work on substantial problems based on briefs developed with external organisations and professionals.
The real world doesn't really work like traditional mathematical problems. It's messy, it requires modelling and there often aren't unique solutions. The aim of our new degree is to develop mathematicians who can take a complex real-world question, work out how mathematics can help, build and test a model, and communicate what they have found. Those are enormously powerful skills in industry, government, charities and beyond.
Dan Abramson, Professor of Practice of Mathematics Education at King's and spearhead of the new programme
Learning through real-world problems
Professional skills are central to the Quantitative Mathematics degree. Through collaborative, project-based learning, students will gain experience of tackling open-ended problems where there may not be a single correct answer - reflecting the complexity and timescales of challenges encountered in industry and other organisations.
Zubin Siganporia, a mathematician, data scientist and Director of QED Analytics (a consultancy specialising in mathematical modelling and data analysis) is supporting the development of the programme, bringing an industry perspective to its design and helping ensure students encounter authentic problems, data and ways of working.
"Earlier in my career, I worked in Formula One which is more recognised for being a high-speed motorsport than for mathematics playing a crucial role in a team's success on race day. But engineers apply mathematics to solve problems such as which lap to change the car's tyres, what composition of tyres to fit, when to pit a car and many more."
"This degree teaches a skill set to solve problems rather than a specific application, so graduates from this degree could really go into almost any area. That could be in AI, biotechnology, finance, transport optimisation, national security, education, robotics, software. The opportunities are endless.
Zubin Siganporia, mathematician, data scientist and Director of QED Analytics
Widening the applicant pool
The programme is designed for talented students who enjoy mathematics and want to use it to understand the world around them. Further Mathematics A-level will not be required, opening the degree both to students whose schools cannot offer it and to those who have chosen to combine Mathematics with a broader range of subjects.
Students will graduate with the confidence and skills to apply mathematical thinking across a wide range of mathematically intensive careers - from data science, modelling and finance to technology, government and research.
Professor Mark Chaplain, President of the London Mathematical Society, said:
"Mathematics has never been more important, underpinning advances from artificial intelligence and data science to healthcare, engineering and climate science. The London Mathematical Society is delighted to support this innovative new degree through the Maths Degrees for the Future programme."
By combining rigorous mathematics with modelling, computation and data, collaborative and dialogic teaching, and substantial real-world problems, Quantitative Mathematics represents King's vision for what a mathematics degree can be - and what the mathematicians of the future will need.
More information
The degree will be taught in King's Department of Mathematics, which is ranked 8th in the UK for Mathematics in the 2026 QS and Times Higher Education subject rankings.
King's is ranked 6th in the UK for graduate employability in the 2026 Times Higher Education Graduate Employability Rankings.
