Course description

BSc Economics is our single honours course for economics specialists.

It is a quantitative economics course, and as such you will need to have a strong mathematical background. You should be intending to advance your knowledge in order to become a skilled economist, proceed to postgraduate training in the best universities, or start a career in a renowned organisation, in either the private or public sector.

Modern professional economists need to have a clear understanding of economic principles in order to recognise and model relevant economic problems, and they need to be equipped with mathematical and econometric tools in order to solve and analyse such problems.

BSc Economics provides you with the required training by having a compulsory stream of units in economic principles, mathematical modelling and econometric techniques.

In the first two years of your degree, you will have compulsory units in core economics and quantitative methods, providing an excellent basis for a job as a professional economist.

Throughout your degree, you can choose from a range of optional course units. These units, in particular in your third year, offer the opportunity for further specialisation in an area of particular interest to you.

We offer optional course units in a wide range of economic sub-disciplines reflecting the research strengths of the department. Students often choose to focus their optional choices along certain specialisations. In this way, your focus can be linked to the kind of career you wish to pursue after graduation.

Irrespective of the particular area you are focusing on, employers look for candidates who can produce sound and clear reports that make sense of the available data using advanced quantitative skills in analysis and modelling. The analytical reasoning, essay writing and quantitative techniques provided in the BSc Economics degree give our graduates the very best employment prospects and a healthy start in their post-Manchester career. These skills can be further developed and sharpened by choosing an optional dissertation in your third year.

You also have the opportunity to spend year 3 studying abroad at one of our partner universities as part of a four-year degree option.

Special features

Leading research

World-leading research and teaching in economics has been at the heart of higher education in Manchester since the early days of the University. William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882), who helped build the foundations of modern economics, was one of the first professors at Manchester.

Three winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics have worked at Manchester. Sir John Hicks (1904-1989) wrote his most important works on welfare economics during his time at Manchester. Sir Arthur Lewis (1915-1991) was awarded the Prize in 1979 for his pioneering work in the field of development economics and, more recently, Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Prize winner 2001) has led the Brooks World Poverty Institute at Manchester.

We are proud to be acknowledged throughout the world as a leading centre for economic research, scholarship and research-led teaching in all areas of the discipline, including microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, financial economics, environmental and resource economics, development economics and industrial/business economics.

Study abroad

You could spend a year abroad studying in one of our partner universities. You can apply for this opportunity during your second year.

This is a competitive process, available places are allocated on the basis of your academic performance, for which a minimum average applies, as well as the quality of your overall application.

If successful, you put together a package of appropriate course units at your host university in consultation with your academic exchange advisor in Manchester.

Teaching and learning

Your course units feature formal lectures supported by smaller tutorials or seminars, in which you will be able to explore the contents of lectures and recommended reading in greater depth.

Tutorials and seminars are also key elements in improving your written and oral communication skills through group discussions, essay-writing, and presentations.

Students are assigned an Academic Advisor, a member of staff who takes a friendly interest in your progress and can advise you on selecting course units and career opportunities.

Coursework and assessment

The way that you study and are assessed will depend on which course units you choose.

The range of methods is carefully designed to promote in-depth learning and understanding, including:

essays, coursework and other mid-term evaluations;

dissertations;

presentations and group projects; and

Exams.