Economics and Finance (Industry) BSc Hons

Economics and Finance are intrinsic to how the modern world functions. Our flexible three-year joint honours degree programme provides an excellent foundation for a career in management and finance, and you will gain valuable experience of economics and finance in action during your paid placement year in industry.

How do stock markets work? What is the link between exchange rates and interest rates? How do betting markets operate? These are among the important questions you will tackle, taught by our leading Management School academics, who are at the frontier of financial research and who are recognised for their teaching with the TEF Gold accreditation. There is a firm emphasis on figures, not essays.

Your financial studies will cover areas such as capital markets, investment decision-making and financial statement analysis. You will look at economics from an individual and international level, and examine issues such as the crisis in banking, fairness in organisations and CEO salaries.

You don’t need an Economics A level as all first year students study the Principles of Economics and Quantitative Methods. Our Introduction to Accounting and Finance gives you a strong foundation in concepts and techniques, using real-world financial data from actual companies. In the second year, you will learn about topics including capital management, matrix algebra and applying econometrics using statistical packages. You will also build on your knowledge of micro and macro-economics.

Your third year is spent in industry. You will 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.

When you return to Lancaster, your final year offers a huge choice of options from International Trade to Game Theory. There is also an option to prepare for your Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1 examination. The range of topics allows you to tailor your studies to suit your aspirations.

You will have support from our careers team, which includes a dedicated departmental careers coach who works with you from day one, helping with internships, placements and graduate employment. We will supply training in CV writing, interview assessment centres and telephone interviews, helping you with your future career ambitions. Our graduates’ analytical skills mean many secure places on training schemes with accounting firms, banks and other financial institutions.

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.