BA (Hons) Business Economics with Foundation Year

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

BNU is a vibrant and diverse university that has student experience at its heart. Our high teacher to student ratio guarantees that you will receive continual and first-hand support throughout your degree, which will allow you to stretch and excel your abilities and graduate with a versatile and in-demand degree.

We pride ourselves on our employer led student focused approach to our courses. A key feature of this programme is that it provides the chance to blend both the latest industry insights with best practice workplace skills, enhancing the employability of our graduates.

This programme has been specially designed by our industry experienced lecturers. Being able to gain the crucial experience and skills needed during your time at university is the intention of this vocationally focused course. The curriculum is strongly influenced by, and based upon, industry expectations of the skills, attributes and competencies needed for graduates to pursue a rewarding career in different roles and sectors.

You will have the opportunity to challenge yourself academically and discover your strengths whilst drawing on the wealth experience of our industry experienced lecturers. There are various modules on this course that will provide the chance for you to engage with real-life scenarios and work-related assignments and activities.

We are all about making sure you gain the relevant experience needed to thrive in a post graduate workplace. We work with industry guest lecturers and companies to create specialised lectures, supervised mentoring, live briefs and events to help you apply your knowledge to business specific situations.

What will I study?

During your foundation year you will have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of business and study topic areas like, creativity, self-development, responsibility, business studies and inquiry based learning to provide you with a solid basis for your study of business economics.

From day one you will be introduced to the fundamental concepts of microeconomics and macroeconomics and learn about the impacts of economics on society. The business environment will be examined, with its interconnected business functions, against a context of volatility, uncertainty and change, and a demand for agile and effective decision-making. Basic mathematical and statistical methods of analysis will be utilised. You will start to consider the career opportunities available to you and take control of your own personal and professional development, a responsibility that will crucially remain across the whole degree programme.

In your second year you will explore the concepts, principles and theories of microeconomics and macroeconomics at a more advanced level. The links between economics, the social sciences and other subject areas will be considered, including, finance, law, ethics and politics. You will develop and expand on your mathematical and statistical methods within econometrics, a quantitative and modelling approach to developing or testing economic theories and forecasting future trends.

In the final year, you will become a motivated and independent learner, with the ability to use and critique information from different sources, and to inspect business problems, challenges and opportunities from a strategic perspective. Their understanding of finance will be consolidated and extended, alongside coverage of other business-focused imperatives of corporate governance and change management. The application of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies will be emphasised, as a basis for analysing complex problems and economic phenomena. The Dissertation or Consultancy Project is a significant and meaningful endeavour, which gives students the opportunity to apply what they have learned on their course to some interesting project or problem.