People looking at data charts on tablet

BSc (Hons) Business Economics with Placement

Course type
Undergraduate
Course qualification
BSc (Hons)
Subject area
Business Management
Delivery mode
Full-time
Course length
Four year
Foundation year
Available with foundation year

Learn how businesses make decisions, analyse markets and use data, then put your skills into practice on a paid industry placement that strengthens your CV and career prospects.

This course is available as a standard course

Find out more about our standard course option

This course is available with a foundation year

Find out more about our foundation year option

Course summary

What is the fee?

For all course options, see fees and funding

Where will I study?

º£½ÇÂÒÂ× Business School

What is the UCAS code?

N1L1

How long will I study?

Four year

Overview

Our BSc (Hons) Business Economics with Placement degree gives you the skills to understand how economies and businesses work. You’ll learn how to use economic theory and real data to support sustainable growth, reduce inequality and make ethical business decisions. 

In response to the call for a more inclusive and relevant approach to economics, this course inspires you to use economic insight to lead positive social, environmental and economic transformation. You’ll build strong skills in economic analysis, critical thinking and data‑driven decision‑making. Your year‑long industry placement lets you test your knowledge in a real organisation, build your CV and gain the experience employers look for. 

By graduation, you’ll be ready to lead, support ethical growth and help organisations build a fairer, more resilient economy.

  • Test your knowledge and skills in a real-world environment, building your CV and gaining valuable experience
  • Analyse markets, business strategies and complex data
  • Use economic insight to design solutions for sustainable growth
  • Apply ethical and sustainable practices in real business settings
  • Connect with SMEs and global industry partners across Greater Manchester

Industry‑Ready Digital Skills

This industry‑informed course helps you turn economic insight into effective business strategies and policies. You’ll explore the technologies shaping the future of work and build essential digital skills, including:

  • Microsoft Office
  • Power BI
  • Bodyswaps VR technology

Your journey starts here

Ready to take the next step? Discover more by attending an Open Day, or speak to our dedicated course enquiries team for further information. 

This programme has dual accreditation with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

CMI (Chartered Management Institute) logo

This is for you if...

1.

You want to build real industry experience during your degree and use a year‑long placement to apply your economic skills in a real organisation

2.

You want to develop a deep understanding of economic theories and how they apply to today’s global challenges

3.

You want to explore how economics can lead sustainable, ethical and inclusive global growth

4.

You want to use data-driven decision analysis to solve real-world social and business problems

5.

You want to develop economic, analytical and digital skills to pursue diverse careers in economics, finance, management, civil service and NGOs

6.

You want to build leadership and project management skills to lead teams and drive strategic decisions in global business environments 

This course is available as a standard course

Find out more about our standard course option

This course is available with a foundation year

Find out more about our foundation year option

How you'll learn

You'll experience a blend of face-to-face lectures and seminars, where academic staff will guide you through key concepts and encourage open discussion and peer learning. Through a combination of coursework, practical exercises, role plays, simulations, presentations and tests, you will develop the practical skills and theoretical knowledge that you'll need when you begin working. 

For further information about teaching and assessment, visit the Accounting, Finance and Economic subject page.

Future careers

When you graduate, you will have transformed yourself from an ambitious individual into a skilled and business-minded graduate. We have used our close links with industry partners to make sure the programme is highly practical, career-focused and industry-informed so you're ready for a successful career.

A taste of what you could become

An economist

a policy analyst

a research economist

a market analyst

a international development officer

and more...

Modules

In the first year, you’ll gain an understanding of businesses, the global economic environment and the digital and data skills that will empower you to excel in your studies and future career. You’ll study the fundamentals of micro and macroeconomics, explore contemporary economic global issues and develop employability, project management and reflective practice skills. 

In your second year, you’ll deepen your understanding of economic theory, behavioural insights and sustainability, while enhancing your analytical and quantitative skills through applied data projects, including the live project in macroeconomics. This stage focuses on connecting theory with real-world applications, helping you to analyse operational and strategic business decisions and develop critical thinking. 

Between your second and third years, you will complete a one-year industry placement, where you'll put your skills and knowledge into practice. 

By the final year, you’ll be able to apply your knowledge to complex economic and social issues, engaging with advanced topics such as game theory and strategic behaviour, industrial dynamics, competition policy and policy evaluation. Core business modules emphasise ethical leadership, corporate responsibility and sustainability, while optional modules allow you to tailor your studies to your interests. You’ll conduct independent research, refine your analytical and communication skills and consolidate your learning in preparation for graduate careers or postgraduate study. This final stage ensures you are ready to lead, innovate and sustain progress in economics, business and policy. 

Year one
Principles of Economics

This module introduces the fundamental principles of economics and explores how they shape the decisions of individuals, businesses and governments. You will examine how markets function as the foundation of modern economic systems, considering how supply, demand and prices influence outcomes. 

The module also explores market efficiency, government intervention and how economic decisions impact business strategy and society. By developing an understanding of these core concepts, you will build the knowledge and analytical skills needed to lead, innovate and contribute to more sustainable economic and business practices in an ever-changing global environment.

Contemporary Issues in the Global Economy

This module will introduce you to some of the major challenges and debates shaping today’s global economy. It examines topics such as international trade, the role of emerging markets, digital economy, AI, geopolitical and economic security. You will explore how economics interacts with politics and society, gaining insight into the economic policies driving global change towards sustainable and inclusive economic growth. 

Through a blended learning approach, this module fosters critical thinking and informed debate on real-world economic issues. By the end of the module, you will understand key contemporary challenges and develop essential research, analytical, and communication skills that will prepare you to lead, innovate and sustain progress in addressing today’s global economic challenges.

Data Driven Decision Making

Explore how data drives business success and learn about essential tools for data collection, analysis and decision-making. You'll also learn how to use data to make and justify business decisions and will have the opportunity to develop your professional digital skills to ensure you meet the growing demand for these in the modern workplace. You will learn how to communicate in collaborative digital environments to a high professional level using a range of industry standard tools, and you'll be introduced to emerging tools for AI and automation.

 
Developing your Career Foundations

This is the start of your professional career, and this module lays the foundation that will support you in being a successful graduate. In your first year, you will research potential career options and map-out skills and opportunities to be developed through your second and third years. By building a graduate portfolio, and demonstrating employability skills, you will identify your strengths and weaknesses to create a personalised and targeted plan alongside your programme pathway. Starting early will give you the confidence and adaptability as you progress through your undergraduate career.

Global Business and Sustainable Digital Futures

This module examines the twin forces shaping the future of business: the urgent drive toward sustainability and the disruptive potential of emerging technologies. You will explore ecological economics, climate change and the global energy transition alongside the dynamics of digital transformation, including artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0 and 5.0, robotics, automation, 3D printing, the Internet of Things, blockchain and virtual reality. 

Through case studies and applied learning, you will develop the ability to lead and innovate responsibly in a rapidly changing world, applying creative and sustainable solutions to transform industries and shape next-generation business strategies.

Understanding Organisations

Through an immersive and intensive delivery, this introductory module explores how businesses operate through core functions like people management, finance, marketing and operations. Via an organisational visit and case studies, you will learn how organisations work and respond to external change. 

You will compare business types alongside developing essential academic and professional skills in analysis, reporting and presentation of information to support future study and careers. The module will leave you with understanding of appropriate academic practice and expectations of professional behaviour alongside a strong foundation of business knowledge to build on for the remainder of your degree discipline.

Year two
Microeconomic and Behavioural Analysis

This module explores core microeconomic theory and its applications, focusing on rational consumer choice, the theory of the firm and labour markets. It examines how models are shaped when agents face incomplete information, including adverse selection and moral hazard. The module introduces behavioural economics, highlighting how heuristics, bounded rationality and social preferences influence choices. By integrating standard microeconomic analysis with behavioural insights, you will develop tools to critically assess real-world issues, focusing on individual decision-making and its implications for sustainable policy solutions.

Economics of Sustainable Development

This module explores the economics of sustainable development by examining how countries pursue growth while addressing poverty, inequality and environmental challenges. It introduces global perspectives on economic development and compares experiences across regions. You will engage with theories of economic growth, the dynamics of poverty and inequality and the relationship between the environment and development. 

Understanding the principles of development economics is essential for designing effective policies and programmes that shape the future of inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Through the integration of theory and applied case studies, this module equips you to critically evaluate development strategies and to lead, innovate and sustain progress in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Live Project in Macroeconomics

This module prepares you to lead an important analytical and strategic project by applying advanced macroeconomic ideas and principles. You will take charge of designing, implementing and evaluating policies that address real economic, social and environmental issues. Working on a consultancy project with a partner organisation, you will learn how to sustain long-term impact by creating strong, evidence-based solutions that can be put into practice and make a lasting difference. This practical experience helps you build the confidence and skills needed to lead change and maintain positive results in real-world situations.

Advanced Data Analytics

This module enables you to develop advanced analytical skills essential for informed decision-making, empowering you to lead with data. Through a blend of theoretical foundations and hands-on practice, you will learn to collect, clean analyse, visualise, and interpret data to support strategic business insights. Emphasising innovation, the module nurtures curiosity and entrepreneurial thinking, encouraging you to interrogate data critically and creatively. With a focus on sustainability, you will explore how data-driven decisions can contribute to long-term value for both people and planet.

Project Management

This module will examine various aspects of project management through a variety of means, including online content and practical seminars informed by research and industrial collaborations. It will focus on theoretical approaches, tools and techniques of planning and controlling projects. You will learn to appreciate project management as an important and integral part of a business whether product or service based.

Developing Your Professional Identity

This module will enable you to build on the embedded employability skills developed during year one of the programme. Through engaging in various professional development and reflection activities, you will be able to identify or realise, evaluate, plan and lead on the development of your future-focused knowledge, skills, behaviours and activities required to help secure your professional career aspirations, according to your programme of study. You will develop knowledge on how to access career-specific and professional graduate-level job opportunities through exploring graduate-level labour market trends, and job-specific employer requirements. 

You will also draw on the expertise of the school’s Career’s and Employability team, employer visits and workshops delivered by the academic team within the school. This will enable you to identify and engage in innovative development strategies to improve your work experience and employability, enabling you to further strengthen in a sustained way your career-focused digital footprint in relation to your professional career goals and around the graduate level employer selection process.

Placement year

You will complete a placement year, taking a year in industry to learn in a real-life environment whilst earning a salary and paying no tuition fees.

Year three
Games and Economic Behaviour

This module explores how game theory can be used to understand and predict human behaviour in economic and social contexts. You will study foundational concepts such as Nash equilibrium, sequential and mixed-strategy games, and repeated interactions, alongside classical examples like the Prisoner's Dilemma. The module covers evolutionary games, uncertainty, risk, auctions and signalling, highlighting how strategic choices influence outcomes. You will apply game-theoretic models to real-world situations, developing skills to lead strategic decision-making and design innovative solutions in both competitive and cooperative settings.

Industrial Economics

This module explores how firms and markets operate, with a focus on competition, strategy and policy. You will examine competitive and concentrated markets, mergers and acquisitions, regulation and the role of competition authorities. The module also introduces alternatives to the neoclassical theory of the firm and analyses topics such as market power, price discrimination, product differentiation, innovation and network effects. 

By combining theory with real-world applications, it develops your ability to critically evaluate economic models, apply them to business and policy problems and understand how to lead in the development of policies and strategies that promote fair, efficient, resilient and sustainable markets. 

Organisational Strategy and Leadership

This module provides you with in depth understanding of strategy and leadership. Using scenarios, you will be equipped to lead transformational change, make evidence-based strategic decisions and contribute meaningfully to sustainable organisational performance in complex, dynamic environments. You will examine and critique the underlying principles of key leadership theories and critically evaluate how effective leaders embed a culture of innovation in organisations. Finally, you will review and critically examine the strategic role of leaders within organisations.

Sustainable Business Practice

In this forward-thinking module, you will critically examine the impact of local business decisions across globalised value chains. The module builds on prior learning and integrates multi-disciplinary themes, including ethical leadership, innovation and digital transformation, to explore how businesses can accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through case-studies, co-creation activities and student research, you will critically reflect on the assumptions and systems that underpin business as usual before examining the role of managers and leaders in leading change to address the complex challenges of environmental sustainability and social inequalities. The module prepares you for your final year of study and future as an independent learner, by developing your academic skills and problem-solving mindset as you investigate, present and recommend innovative solutions to inspire positive change in both local and global communities.

The Professional Graduate

This module enables you to step confidently into your future as a professional graduate. Building on your development at Levels 4 and 5, you will critically reflect on who you are, what you offer, and how you will make your contribution. You will deepen your emotional intelligence, evaluate workplace behaviours, and identify strengths and aspirations to shape a compelling professional identity. Using strengths-based diagnostics and simulated recruitment environments, you will learn to lead through critical thinking and data-driven decisions, innovate with curiosity and entrepreneurial skills, and sustain positive impact for people and planet while building a lifelong learning plan.

Optional modules

You will choose one of the following 20 credit modules. 

Economics of Social Problems

This module examines how economic principles can be applied to understand and address key social problems in contemporary society. You will explore issues such as crime, housing, welfare, inequality, health and education, analysing how markets, government policies and social institutions interact. Through critical evaluation and applied case studies, you will learn how to design and assess effective policy responses. The module develops the ability to lead and innovate in tackling real-world challenges while promoting sustainable economic and social outcomes, equipping you with the analytical and problem-solving skills needed for policy and business decision making.

Econometrics for Impact Evaluation

This module develops the skills to lead evidence-based economic and policy analysis through rigorous causal evaluation. You will learn to innovate using econometric techniques such as social and natural experiments, propensity score matching, difference-in-differences, instrumental variables and regression discontinuity design. 

Emphasising both theory and application, the module explores real-world cases including education, regulation and social programmes. By the end, you will be able to lead critical assessments of causal relationships, innovate in research design and sustain high standards of analytical integrity in addressing complex economic and policy challenges.

We take a flexible approach to our course delivery that promotes diversity and inclusivity and provides a blended learning experience, which will vary to meet specific programme requirements. This learning time includes formal lectures and interactive activities such as seminars, tutorials, practical sessions, laboratory and studio learning. Smaller classes may be used to support collaborative activities such as project and group work and presentations. A range of different assessments and feedback is offered to meet the needs of both our diverse student body and specific subject needs.

Our undergraduate courses are normally made up of 20 credit modules which are equal to 200 hours of learning time. A three-year degree qualification typically comprises a total of 360 credits (120 credits per year).

Please note that exact modules and content offered may vary in order to keep content current and, for courses that offer optional modules, may depend on the number of students selecting particular options. When accepting your offer of a place to study on a programme with optional modules, you should be aware that optional modules may not all run each year. Your tutor will be able to advise you as to the available options on or before the start of the programme. Whilst the University tries to ensure that you can undertake your preferred options, it cannot guarantee this.

Entry requirements

This course is ideal for applicants who are curious about how economics shapes business decisions, societies and global challenges. You should have a genuine interest in understanding how data, policy and innovation can drive sustainable and inclusive growth. We welcome students from a range of educational backgrounds, particularly those with a willingness to think critically and apply theory to real-world issues which will help you thrive on this programme. 

Whether you aim to work in economics, finance, management, or public policy, this course provides academic grounding and practical experience to support your ambitions. It is also well-suited for those looking to build careers that combine ethical leadership, strategic thinking and a commitment to sustainability in the global economy. 

International students 

We accept qualifications from all around the world. Applicants will be required to show a proficiency in English, with an IELTS score of 6.0 (with no element below 5.5).

Find your country to see a full list of entry requirements. If you do not meet the entry requirements, you could take the International Foundation Year to gain entry onto this degree. 

Standard entry requirements
GCSE

Maths and English at grade C / grade 4 or above. Applicants who do not have the equivalent of grade C or above in these areas will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

You must fulfil our GCSE entry requirements as well as one of the requirements listed below.

UCAS Tariff points

104-112 UCAS tariff points from A Levels or equivalent

A level

BCC with a minimum of two A2 passes.

BTEC National Diploma

DMM in any subject

T levels

96 points, pass (A* to C)

Access to HE

104-112 UCAS points from 45 level 3 credits

Scottish Highers

104 UCAS points from minimum of 2 Advanced Highers

Irish Leaving Certificate

104-112 from a minimum of 2 higher level subjects including a minimum of H7 (D3) or O4 (C3) in Maths and English

European Baccalaureate

Pass Diploma with 60% or above

International Baccalaureate

30 Points including a grade 5 standard level Maths and 6 in standard level English or 4 higher level Maths and 5 higher level English

Alternative entry requirements
º£½ÇÂÒÂ× Alternative Entry Scheme (SAES)

We welcome applications from students who may not meet the stated entry criteria but who can demonstrate their ability to pursue the course successfully. Once we have received your application we will assess it and recommend it for SAES if you are an eligible candidate.

There are two different routes through the º£½ÇÂÒÂ× Alternative Entry Scheme and applicants will be directed to the one appropriate for their course. Assessment will either be through a review of prior learning or through a formal test.

Fees and funding

See fees below

2026/27

Type of study Fees
Full-time £9,790 per year

2026/27

Type of study Fees
Full-time £16,500 per year

The tuition fees shown are for the first year only. If your course lasts longer than one year, fees may increase each year in line with inflation, up to the maximum limits set by the UK Government.

Additional costs

You should also consider further costs which may include books, stationery, printing, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits.

 

How to apply

Enrolment dates

September 2026

September 2027

Student information

Terms and conditions

UCAS information

Course ID N1L1

Institution S03