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Economics and Finance

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,C-A,B,B

For entry to Year 2: ABB including Accounting, Business or Economics AND Maths.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

It is also a requirement of every applicant to have English and Mathematics at a minimum of National 5 Grade C or GCSE Grade C or 4 (or equivalent)

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

29

For entry to Year 2: 34 points including Maths or Economics at Higher Level 5.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM

in relevant subject (Accountancy, Business, Economics, Finance preferred) for entry to Year 1. For entry to Year 2: DDM in relevant subject (Accountancy, Business, Economics, Finance preferred).

Scottish Advanced Higher

B,B

plus AABB at Highers (including Maths) for entry to Year 2.

Scottish HNC

Pass

HNC (Accounting or Business preferred) with B in graded unit for entry to Year 1.

Scottish HND

Pass

For Year 2 entry: HND (Accounting or Business) with BB in graded units.

Scottish Higher

A,A,B,B

We will consider T Levels as suitable for entry to our degree programmes, however, certain subject requirements may be required for entry to specific programmes. Where this is not evident as part of the T Level studies, we may ask for additional qualifications.

UCAS Tariff

96-128

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Finance

Economics

Economics at Edinburgh Business School is underpinned by the work of globally active researchers and has the 3rd highest levels of Student Satisfaction in the UK (NSS2019). This joint degree prepares you to make a difference with specialist knowledge.
MA (Hons) Economics and Finance at Edinburgh Business School will give you the skills to investigate, analyse and answer global economic questions as well as specialist understanding in financial theories and practice.
This degree does not require prior knowledge of the core disciplines of economics and finance. Study begins at an introductory level and the degree has a flexible structure to enable students to tailor their studies so that they can pursue their own interests.
As a result, graduates are able to embark upon successful careers, especially in market analyst, stockbroker, portfolio manager, performance analyst, and civil service, as well as a wide range of management roles. Graduates also pursue further study in economics and related disciplines at Masters and PhD level.
Your learning will be underpinned by the knowledge of highly respected economists who design and teach our courses with a real-world focus that stems directly from their global research into economic issues.
Finance courses are taught by academics and experienced practitioners and you will have the opportunity to make use of the university’s state-of-the-art Bloomberg Finance Lab to gain employable, practical finance skills.

Accreditation
Heriot-Watt University is accredited as a Bloomberg Experiential Learning Partner, recognising us as a leader in experiential learning in the area of finance.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£19,744
per year
International
£19,744
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£1,820
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Edinburgh Campus

Department:

Economics

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

70%
Finance
82%
Economics

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Finance

Teaching and learning

65%
Staff make the subject interesting
77%
Staff are good at explaining things
83%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
68%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

68%
Library resources
73%
IT resources
76%
Course specific equipment and facilities
71%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

63%
UK students
37%
International students
72%
Male students
28%
Female students
64%
2:1 or above
3%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
A

Economics

Teaching and learning

82%
Staff make the subject interesting
87%
Staff are good at explaining things
85%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
67%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

81%
Library resources
82%
IT resources
86%
Course specific equipment and facilities
81%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

85%
UK students
15%
International students
74%
Male students
26%
Female students
85%
2:1 or above
5%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
C

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Finance

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£22,000
med
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

48%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
17%
Business, research and administrative professionals
8%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

Over 2,000 students graduated with a degree in finance in 2015, and a sign of the strength of the finance industry, numbers are on the up. Over half of finance graduates go into the finance industry, with accountancy and financial advice roles particularly popular. It's also quite common for finance graduates to go into jobs which require you to take more training and gain professional qualifications — finance graduates who take further study are more likely to be studying accountancy than finance. About a third of graduates start their careers in London - but Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham are other popular locations for finance graduates to work.

Economics

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£24,000
med
Average annual salary
100%
high
Employed or in further education
75%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

35%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
23%
Business, research and administrative professionals
9%
Other elementary services occupations

This is a degree in demand, as business increasingly needs workers who can examine and explain complex data. And yet the number of economics graduates fell by nearly 10% last year, which means demand is even greater. As so many economic grads go into banking and finance, it's not surprising that over half of all 2015's economics graduates who did go into work were working in London. And don't think it's just the finance industry that's interested in these graduates - there's a significant number who enter the IT industry to work with data as analysts and consultants. It's quite common for economics graduates to go into jobs such as accountancy and management consultancy which may require you to take more training and gain professional qualifications - so don’t assume you won’t have to take any more exams once you leave uni. And the incentive to take them, of course, is better pay, which will be on top of an already healthy average starting salary of over £30,000 for graduates working in the capital.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Finance

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£21k

£21k

£27k

£27k

£32k

£32k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Economics

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£21k

£21k

£32k

£32k

£37k

£37k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here