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Economics and Finance (Industry)

Entry requirements


A level

A,A,B

Subject requirement: B in A level Mathematics or Further Mathematics

May occasionally be accepted

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

35

35 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects including 6 in HL Mathematics (either analysis and approaches or applications and interpretations)

May be considered alongside A level Mathematics or Further Mathematics

UCAS Tariff

136

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

About this course


Course option

4years

Sandwich | 2024

Subjects

Finance

Economics

BSc Economics and Finance (Industry) is a 4-year career-focussed degree programme that combines the broad sweep and critical thinking of Economics with a focus on the markets and investing of Finance. The programme is flexible after the first year of your studies, allowing you to choose modules based on your strengths and interests as they evolve. You’ll benefit from our specialist careers coaching throughout your degree which is designed to prepare you for the career you want.

**Programme overview**
You will learn from leading academic researchers and expert practitioners in Economics and Finance, and you will begin by learning the foundations of Finance theory and methodology, and the fundamentals of Economics.

Your first year includes the modules Accounting and Finance, Quantitative Methods for Economics, and Principles of Economics A. These will introduce you to the key principle of both fields and are designed to give you strong foundations for the remainder of your degree.

In your second year, you will learn about Asset Pricing, Financial Accounting and Econometrics, amongst other topics.

Your third year is spent in industry. You’ll be supported in securing a placement, with past students joining companies such as IBM, Lloyds Bank, Microsoft, PwC and the Bank of England. Roles on offer range from project management and logistics to investment, business development and risk. Most placements are in the UK but there are some options overseas.

In your final year, you choose all your modules, from Game Theory, Portfolio Management, Financial Markets, and Advanced Corporate Finance, among other options.

Alongside all of these academic modules and throughout all three years of your study, you will have modules on careers and employability led by our Careers Coaches. These are designed to prepare you for interviews, and internships, and to show you what careers will be available to you.

Throughout your studies, you will be led by academics at the frontier of financial research. Our researchers work on major European projects, including investigating how to apply artificial intelligence to banking, and on the art, precision and effectiveness of factor investing and hedge fund strategies. We have developed strong links with the Bank of England, top asset management companies, financial regulators and economists across the world. Our connections with Invesco allow us to deliver joint conferences and seminars, providing you with insights from both top academics and industry professionals.

**Key Facts**
We teach Economics from the ground up, as such you do not need an A level in Economics to enrol in this course.

The University will use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all placement roles offer valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills.

If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and would continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year. The University offers a range of shorter placement and internship opportunities for which you would be welcome to apply.

**Programme outcomes**
Our Economics and Finance degrees are highly valued by employers. Graduates from this programme work as economists in the public sector and in academia, but also in banking, professional services, International business and international organisations.

The Uni


Course location:

Lancaster University

Department:

Accounting and Finance

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.

83%
Finance
78%
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

78%
Staff make the subject interesting
86%
Staff are good at explaining things
83%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
74%
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

83%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
89%
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?

29%
UK students
71%
International students
59%
Male students
41%
Female students
78%
2:1 or above
7%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
B
B

Economics

Teaching and learning

69%
Staff make the subject interesting
85%
Staff are good at explaining things
72%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
59%
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

86%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
85%
Course specific equipment and facilities
77%
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?

77%
UK students
23%
International students
72%
Male students
28%
Female students
79%
2:1 or above
6%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
A
B

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.

£25,000
high
Average annual salary
100%
high
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

31%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
24%
Business, research and administrative professionals
15%
Business, finance 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.

£23,000
med
Average annual salary
98%
high
Employed or in further education
66%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

31%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
22%
Business, research and administrative professionals
6%
Other administrative 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.

£23k

£23k

£30k

£30k

£41k

£41k

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.

£25k

£25k

£31k

£31k

£42k

£42k

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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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (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.

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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.

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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

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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