Economics and Finance with Foundation Year

Foundation courses
A foundation year can develop your skills and make it easier to get started at university. It is an extra year of study at the start of your course that leads in to a full degree programme. It’s a great option if:
You don’t have the grades for a full degree course
You have non-traditional qualifications or experience
You’re starting university after some time away from education
You’re looking for more support during the transition into university study.

During a foundation year you’ll learn about your chosen subject, develop your study skills and get used to university life. On successful completion of your foundation year, you’ll be ready to progress to the first year of your degree course.
As a foundation year student, you’ll be a full student of the University and part of our community. You’ll have access to all our campus facilities and support.

Why choose this course

• Together with a grounding in core economics topics, you will study the advanced financial decision making, theory of financial markets, and the practice of risk management, to prepare you for your future career.

• Take the opportunity to get industry-ready with our award-winning Professional Training placements.

• On this bachelor Economics and Finance degree, you will build key communication, leadership and employability skills which will prepare you to enter economic or finance roles and/or undertake further study in the areas of business and finance.

• You will develop your analytic abilities to train you as a skilled economist so that you can succeed in today's global financial economics job market.

• All our Economics degrees are accredited by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), fast-tracking your career by giving you exemption from some professional examinations.

• Our teaching is at the forefront of the field and is influenced by finance questions brought to classrooms by research active academics. Many of our academic staff are advisers to governments and world-renowned organisations.

What you will study
All our economics students follow the same first year in order to build a solid foundation on which to specialise. This means you can choose to transfer to the BSc in Business Economics and Data Analytics or Economics from your second year or continue with the Economics and Finance BSc.

All our programmes include two compulsory employability modules where you will obtain advice and feedback on CV and cover letter-writing, and how to prepare for an interview. You will also be encouraged to think about what kind of career you wish to pursue and how to start working towards your future goals.

The first-year modules are designed to provide you with a broad range of basic tools, skills and knowledge that you will develop in the course of your programme. You will study introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics as well as the mathematics essential for an economist to know. First year modules also comprise of introductory statistics and data analysis modules.

In the second year, you will start to specialise in your interests, economics and finance. In addition to studying microeconomic, macroeconomics and econometrics now at an intermediate level, you will complete several finance modules. After laying down the fundamental models and concepts of financial economics, the modules will move onto more specific topics in finance (e.g. financial accounting, quantitative portfolio theory and investment).

In your final year, you will continue to study finance-related topics but can also choose six optional modules in addition to two compulsory ones. We offer a long list of specialised modules, some of which are more technical than others, all taught by lecturers conducting research in various fields in economics. You will be able to choose to study further finance-related topics or explore other specialised fields in economics to equip you with invaluable skills for your career.

To see the full range of modules for this course please visit our website. The link is under course ‘contact details’. You will also find full details of the programme, including assessment methods, programme structure, contact hours and Graduate prospects.