BSc Economics

at Bangor University

Program structure

Year 1 Compulsory Modules:

Economics (Autumn & Spring) 

These modules will provide an overview of the history of global economic development as well as considering important contemporary issues such as inequality and sustainability of economic growth. They will introduce the key tools and models that economists use. The autumn module will focus on microeconomics – how individuals make choices and how they interact in markets. The spring module will focus on macroeconomics – the behaviour of the economy as a whole.

Business Analytics 

This module will focus on manipulation of algebraic expressions, collection and presentation of data, producing descriptive statistics, measuring uncertainty using probability, estimating confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and investigating association and causality.

Financial Techniques & Analysis 

This module covers quantitative techniques that are applicable in a wide variety of Financial and Economic contexts.

Year 2 Compulsory Modules:

Econometrics 

The module will cover the fundamentals of probability theory and of statistical methods. It will introduce the method of ordinary least squares (OLS) used in estimating the quantitative relationship between economic variables, in the context of cross-sectional data. There will be instruction on data management and the use of the statistical and regression tools within Excel.

Microeconomics 

This module will extend students’ analytical skills in relation to consumer and producer theories and introduce students to general equilibrium analysis and game theory. The module content includes Demand and supply microfoundations, Rational choice, Individual and market demand, the cost of production and profit maximisation, Market structures, Game Theory, Public Goods and Externalities

Macroeconomics 

This module will focus on the role of macroeconomics, macroeconomic variables and statistics. The module will also introduce schools of thought and explore the classical and Keynesian models. Moreover, it will focus on aggregate demand and supply analysis, the Phillips curve and the role of expectations.  

Year 3 Compulsory Modules 

Macro/Monetary/Development

The focus of this module is on analysing the behaviour of real world economies in the light of macroeconomic theory, with specific focus on monetary policy and development. Topics covered will include growth, business cycles, monetary policy, fiscal policy, and development; stressing the role that each of these elements plays in determining the performance of the global economy.

Competition and Strategy

This module will focus on understanding the strategies that firms use to compete against each other in the marketplace. The module will consider how firms decide whether to enter markets; how they differentiate their products from those that their rivals over, including through innovation and advertising; and the strategies that they might follow in pricing their products. 

Advanced Econometrics

This module will extend the students' understanding of econometrics. Techniques for dealing with various forms of data will be studied; including those applicable to panel data, binary data, data arising from experiments and time series data. Diagnostic testing will be covered, as well as strategies for dealing with problems such as heteroskedasticity, multicollinearity, autocorrelation, measurement error, simultaneity bias and endogeneity.

Applied Economics

The module is divided in lectures and practical econometric workshops. Economic theory lectures will cover topics such as education, unemployment and wages, market failure and externalities, economic growth and monetary policy (they may be subject to change depending upon real-world events). In practical econometric workshops, students will learn how to organise and manipulate data, software programming, sourcing and data visualization. 

Course content is for guidance purposes only and may be subject to change.

GCSE Maths at grade C/4 required if not demonstrated by the Level 3 qualification.

Offers are tariff based, 80 - 120 tariff points, from Level 3 qualifications* e.g.:

• A Levels

• BTEC National/Extended Diploma and Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma: MMP  - DDM

• International Baccalaureate Diploma

• Access: Pass

• City & Guilds Advanced Technical/Extended Diploma: considered on a case by case basis

• Welsh Baccalaureate is accepted

• T-levels: considered on a case-by-case basis. 

Home (UK) students

• The cost of a full-time undergraduate course is £9,000 per year

International Tuition Fee For Full Year

• £15,750

Career opportunities

Economics is not a vocational subject – it doesn’t lead to one specific career path. However, despite that, it is widely recognised as one of the subject areas with the best prospects for future employability. This is because economics provides students with useful skills and knowledge, including:

• analytical skills – the ability to distil and analyse complex problems;

• market insights (understanding how markets work and the importance of incentives;

• the ability to work with data and using it to generate real-world insights.

Economics graduates go on to work in a variety of careers, including the civil service, financial services, industry, education and the third sector.