Business Economics – BA (Hons)

Want a course that allows you to study business and economics? Our BA (Hons) Business Economics degree allows you to take a year-long sandwich placement in industry.

Our degree prepares you to work across all areas of the economy. Specifically, your degree combines the study of economics with a wide variety of business and finance-related topics, helping you to gain an awareness of the business and financial environment as well as current business issues. Our degree provides both the modes of thought and technical skills that have practical applications in business and society.

As economists work in a number of settings, you will be prepared for a career in government departments, in local government, in firms and organisations, and in the financial services industry (for example forecasting), therefore providing you with a range of options dependent on the graduate role you subsequently seek.

You will be equipped with a firm foundation focused on diverse economic ideas and their relevance to business and financial decision-making. You will also gain quantitative skills, as well as communication and IT skills, and learn about their application in business contexts as an economist, or in a related role which is concerned with the allocation of resources across all sectors of the economy.

What’s covered in the course?

The course will not just use business economics to explain social, financial and business interactions, but will draw back knowledge and understanding from these related areas, using these to challenge and progress your understanding of their interactions.

The technical skills within your degree, alongside your voluntary engagement with our Graduate + employability course, will aid your development as a work-ready graduate, equipping you with a range of technical and employability skills suitable for a wide range of positions. Your course will foster your intellectual and moral development, and encourage your personal commitment to the social purpose of becoming a professional economist or business analyst.

Why Choose Us?

• On all of our programmes you will gain a professional focus and real world experience of economics, ensuring you are equipped to make an immediate impact in the business world. You have the opportunity to embark on a year-long sandwich placement as part of your degree course. Many of our previous placement students have worked at big name companies such as BMW, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Intel, IBM and Disney.
• Recognising the global scope of business, all our programmes have an international focus. This is embedded throughout the curriculum, giving you the opportunity to transform your experience with us into a global one. There are a variety of exciting possibilities open to you, ranging from our successful international travel scholarships scheme, through which you can spend a summer working for a charitable organisation overseas, to one of our many overseas study exchange programmes.
• As a student on one of our undergraduate degrees, you will be able to benefit from our Graduate+ initiative. This three-year award programme enables you to gain award levels for all the extra-curricular activities you undertake so that you can stand out from the crowd on graduation.
• You’ll have the opportunity to work in our ‘CITY Trading Room’ using the same investment analysis software as traders, financial analysts and decision makers in the investment industry.
• Don’t meet the entry criteria? Our Foundation Year programmes offer a route to a full undergraduate degree at a lower entry tariff.
• Birmingham City University has just launched the UK’s first Centre for Brexit Studies, researching all aspects of the UK’s vote to leave the EU, including the impact it has on British and European economies.
• The Economics team at Birmingham City University have a wide range of experiences in industry and these will be enhanced by the unique contributions which colleagues in strategy, finance and enterprise can offer.
• You will develop the relevant subject-specific and key transferable skills you need to excel in a wide variety of sectors and roles.
• Your course will foster your intellectual development and encourage your personal commitment with the purpose of preparing you for work as an economist, both locally and abroad thanks to our international focus.
• We will provide you with the fundamental knowledge and skills base from which you can proceed to further studies in economics or in multidisciplinary areas that involve economics.
• You will study in our state-of-the-art City Centre Campus, ideally located for you to take advantage of our links to industry in the UK’s second city.