If you enjoy problem solving and thinking clearly about domestic and international contemporary issues, these programmes will be of interest to you. Our employment record is excellent and our teaching and programme content have received high praise in external assessments.

Factfile

Degrees

 Degree Programmes

Degrees

 Degree Programmes

 Our Degrees

Economics is the study of scarcity, choice and incentives. Every society faces the problem of how to allocate scarce resources and ensure that individuals use them responsibly. Economists use scientific methods of observation, experimentation and research in providing answers to these problems.

Our Economics programmes help you to master the full range of skills practised by the professional economist. These include analytical problem-solving skills, quantitative and data analysis skills, computing skills, and written and oral presentation skills. The emphasis is on being able to use these skills, and ultimately on specialising in areas that interest you. 

Successful and fast-developing economies also exhibit expanding business and financial sectors. Therefore, the study of topics in business and finance within a framework of the core elements from an economics degree offers a powerful combination of skills.

Our Economics and Finance degree is an innovative new programme that provides you with these skills and an understanding of how they are applied to these dynamic and fascinating parts of many economies. 

Our Business Economics programme examines economic issues, how businesses behave and their role within the economy. It employs analytical tools and data analysis but places less emphasis on mathematical techniques than our other programmes.

Our professional training year offers you a unique opportunity to witness these skills in practice and to develop your understanding of them. The employment and career prospects for our graduates are very wide, with employers ranging from the private to the public sector and from the financial to the corporate sector.

BSc (Hons) Economics (L100)

Collectively, individuals, firms and governments constitute the economic society. On our Economics programme you will analyse the behaviour of each of these components separately, as well as the interactions between them, nationally and internationally. You will develop a wide variety of specialist skills and examine a range of topical questions that are central to the wellbeing and development of modern economies.

BSc (Hons) Economics and Finance (L111 )

The Economics and Finance programme will provide you with an understanding of the important economic roles played by the business and financial sectors in modern economies. It helps you to understand how they operate and provides key tools for analysing them. These are placed within the framework of core economic and quantitative principles to provide a strong set of analytical skills, highly relevant to the worlds of business and finance.

BSc (Hons) Business Economics (LN11 )

This programme covers the broad range of economic issues. It has a particular focus on the ways that businesses operate, the strategic decisions taken by management and the economic importance of business. You will gain a range of skills and employ analytical tools and data analysis techniques, but will find that this programme requires less use of mathematics than our other programmes.

Other degrees you may be interested in:

Accounting and Finance
Financial Mathematics
Physics with Finance

Programme

 Programme Overview

At Level 1 the programmes share common content to provide a sound foundation for later choice and specialisation. You will be introduced to core principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics, and encouraged to discuss topical economic issues and practise giving presentations. Data Analysis, Statistics and Mathematics for Economics are also introduced, with additional support available if you do not have A level Mathematics (or equivalent). You can also study languages. 

Level 2 continues these core themes, as well as emphasising computer-aided data analysis. Specialist modules are introduced and you will also gain a foundation for professional placement and for choosing your final-year options. 

In Economics, some modules apply the core principles in areas of economic policy and you will work in a team to produce a report on an area of economic importance and interest. Both Business Economics and Economics and Finance focus on the role of business and financial institutions within the economy, and allow you to study accounting and work on a team project designing a business plan to be evaluated by professional business assessors. 

During Level 3, each programme has compulsory modules designed to enhance your specialism, with additional optional modules ranging from theoretical, quantitative and computer-oriented modules to those involving applications of economic theory in major areas of policy. They cover domestic, European and international topics, including those in business economics and finance. As such, they allow for either increased specialism or a more varied menu of subjects. 

You may choose to write a 5000-word project, allowing you to work intensively on a topic of particular interest and helping prepare you for the sort of activity you may be engaged in after graduation. Our inspiring, challenging programmes aim to prepare you fully for further study or a successful career.

 Programme Structure

Professional Training

If you are on the four-year degree, the Department’s professional training year gives you the chance to spend the third year with an outside organisation. Some placements are in economics, statistics or operational research departments of large corporations. Some are in City institutions and some in government departments.

Recent employers include the Bank of England, JP Morgan, Nomura, State Street Bank, Oxford Economics, Lloyds TSB, IBM and Walt Disney Co.

During your placement you work as a salaried employee, gaining invaluable work and life experience. A workplace supervisor is appointed and you are visited at least twice by one of our tutors. Your work is assessed throughout the placement and you will also complete a 3000-word report.

Why Surrey?

 Key reasons to study Economics 2012 at Surrey

• Ranked as the tenth best economics department in the UK by The Times Good University Guide 2012
• Profit from our outstanding employment record
• You will benefit from our excellent national and international reputation for research excellence
• Gain the opportunity to specialise in your preferred areas
• A near perfect (23/24) teaching assessment score in external Teaching Quality Assessment
• Enjoy the opportunity to spend a year studying in the USA or Singapore
• Benefit from a well-established professional training year offering a range of paid placements

Careers

 Top for Jobs

Graduates over the last few years entered employment in roles such as:

• Lloyds TSB - Fraud Investigations
• Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance - Underwriter's Assistant
• Coutts & Co - Trainee Portfolio Manager
• Accenture - Analyst
• Gam Hedge Funds - Investment Support Assistant
• HSBC - Management Trainee
• IBM UK - Accountant
• PricewaterhouseCoopers - Associate
• State Street Bank - Financial Assistant

 Career Opportunities

Graduates from our programmes are highly successful in securing quality jobs. The ‘problem-solving’ nature of the subjects, the topical and applied focus of our programmes and the experience gained on the professional placement greatly appeal to employers. Computing skills are often an additional asset. 

Graduate employment spans the finance sector (including banking, accountancy and investment analysis), the corporate sector (including management training) and the public sector. For example, recent graduates are now working for the Bank of England, the Government Economic Service (in a variety of government departments), numerous City firms (such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, KPMG and Ernst & Young) and other commercial organisations (such as Cornhill Insurance, Legal and General, and British Airways). Their job roles range from economic policy advisor, investment manager, financial economist and statistician to airline pilot. A number of graduates each year go on to study for higher degrees, both in the UK and abroad.

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Teaching

Teaching on the programme is by lectures, tutorials, seminars and workshop sessions, which absorb about 15 hours each week. The purpose is to use, rather than just study, economics. In tutorials we encourage you to present your own ideas and to develop the verbal skills that will stand you in good stead for the future. Classes and workshops are practical sessions in which you will develop the ability to apply and use economics. For each hour of teaching, you are expected to spend two to three hours in private study. There are also modules where you are required to work in groups.

Assessment

The final degree classification is based on your performance in the written examinations at Level 2 and Level 3 of the programme, in coursework and in a final-year project (if selected). Assessments at  Level 1 do not count towards your final degree classification.

Satisfactory completion of all Level 1 assessments is necessary for entry into Level 2. Performance in Level 2 and Level 3 contributes 35 per cent and 65 per cent respectively to your final degree award. Coursework is typically worth a minimum of 30 per cent of marks and examinations 70 per cent.