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International Business and Finance (top-up)

Entry requirements


GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE Maths and English Grade 4/Grade C (or above) or equivalent qualification

You need to have an HND or Foundation degree in a relevant subject. When you apply, please send us a transcript of the modules you have already studied so that we can make sure that the HND or foundation degree is compatible with the top-up programme

About this course


Course option

1year

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

International business

Finance

International economics

**BA (Hons) International Business and Finance (Top-up)**

**With just one year of top-up studies, you can achieve a degree which will showcase your knowledge of international financial markets and business strategy, together with your strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.**

**Why choose this course?**

Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this course enables you to undertake applied analysis in economics, strategy, finance and accounting. You’ll delve deeply into the workings of international business and focus on the far-reaching impact of global financial markets.

**Is this course for you?**

The top-up course extends your know-how if you have a relevant HND or equivalent qualification, or if you’ve completed two years on a general business degree and would now like to specialise.

**How you will learn**

Learning in a vibrant international student community, you’ll be brought right up to date with developments shaping the world economy. You’ll gain vital transferable skills – undertaking business analysis, creating incisive strategy documents and delivering presentations.

**Opportunities and experiences**

Access to real-time data in our Financial Markets Lab gives you hands-on experience with the same technology and information used by financial professionals worldwide. Our inspiring guest lecture programme will also enrich your learning.

**Careers and employability**

Perhaps you aspire to work for an investment bank, hedge fund or financial department of a global organisation. You could be keen to join a top management training programme. Or you may want to help exporting companies make the right business moves. Whatever your ambitions, BA (Hons) International Business and Finance puts you on the fast track to success.

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
£14,900
per year
International
£14,900
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

University of Derby

Department:

Derby Business School

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.

89%
International business
93%
Finance
87%
International 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.

Business studies

Teaching and learning

72%
Staff make the subject interesting
88%
Staff are good at explaining things
83%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
86%
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

79%
Library resources
86%
IT resources
90%
Course specific equipment and facilities
74%
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?

32%
UK students
68%
International students
66%
Male students
34%
Female students
48%
2:1 or above
24%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
D
B

Finance

Teaching and learning

77%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
79%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
87%
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

78%
Library resources
90%
IT resources
87%
Course specific equipment and facilities
84%
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?

72%
UK students
28%
International students
71%
Male students
29%
Female students
62%
2:1 or above
10%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

D
C
C

Economics

Teaching and learning

85%
Staff make the subject interesting
89%
Staff are good at explaining things
87%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
81%
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

89%
Library resources
83%
IT resources
89%
Course specific equipment and facilities
87%
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?

84%
UK students
16%
International students
75%
Male students
25%
Female students
73%
2:1 or above
22%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
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.

Business studies

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.

£18,995
low
Average annual salary
93%
low
Employed or in further education
71%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

27%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
22%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
11%
Public services and other associate professionals

The number of business studies graduates fell significantly last year after a long period of increase. But there were still more than 14,000 degrees awarded and this is the third most popular subject for new graduates. Because so many graduates get business studies degrees, you can find them everywhere in the economy, and very few jobs are completely out of reach for a good business studies graduate. Around 40% go into jobs in finance, sales, recruitment, management (particularly retail) or marketing. There is also a small (but well paid) group who take their technical skills into computing and IT. Thousands of graduates from this subject go into professional jobs every year, and average starting salaries are above the average for all subjects and particularly healthy in London where they top £25k. Graduates with good degree grades in business studies are much more likely to get good jobs, so don’t be complacent, and keep a close eye on your grades.

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.

£18,428
low
Average annual salary
95%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

25%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
19%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
6%
Food preparation and hospitality trades

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.

£17,000
low
Average annual salary
97%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

24%
Welfare and housing associate professionals
17%
Welfare professionals
10%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers

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.

Business studies

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

£20k

£20k

£22k

£22k

£24k

£24k

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.

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.

£20k

£20k

£22k

£22k

£24k

£24k

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.

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.

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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?

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