Overview
Do you want to gain an understanding of how businesses make financial decisions? Would you like to study at a business school with highly respected finance and management academics, with some of Britain’s most satisfied students?
Individuals who understand management and finance are in increasing demand by employers. This course is designed to give you career flexibility after graduation. We help you to develop the quantitative skills appropriate for the finance sector, as well as the qualitative, discursive skills appropriate for management and leadership, whether you seek to lead a finance team within an organisation, pursue a career as a financial analyst or use your business knowledge to work in any area of management. In your third year, you also have the option to undertake a paid work placement to develop your professional skills and further enhance your CV.
Our BSc Finance and Management degree teaches you about how businesses make financial decisions and study international financial markets. Your management modules also develop the necessary skills and knowledge to be an effective leader.
We use real-life examples to apply theory to practice and you regularly have access to our virtual trading floor. Here, you can learn how to use real-world Bloomberg data, information and analytics to make better business decisions and practise trading stocks and securities using X_TRADER. This industry leading software enables you to trade multiple markets from a single screen.
You’ll study topics including:
- management, innovation and new technologies
- organisational behaviour
- business strategy
- human resource management
- corporate finance
- financial management
- portfolio analysis
- financial modelling
- risk management
- financial markets and trading
Your first year introduces you to finance, management, accounting and economics so you receive a fully-rounded business education. As your course progresses, you can tailor your studies to your career aspirations by choosing from a selection of optional modules.
In your final year, you have the opportunity to put your knowledge into practice by completing an in-depth, independent research project or dissertation. This gives you the chance to further develop vital employability skills in areas of research, time management and critical thinking.
Our BSc Finance and Management course is taught by Essex Business School. We are a member of the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program, enabling us to award up-to six exceptional students each year with a scholarship that goes towards the fees for the CFA Program Level One exam, so you can start your journey of becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Achieving this accolade is one way to enhance your CV if you’re interested in pursuing a career in investment management.
This course can also be taken with an optional study abroad or placement year in your third year.
Study abroad
The four-year version of this course enables you to study abroad during your third year. In all other areas, this version of the course remains identical to the standard three-year variant.
You can study abroad with one of our exchange partners in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Middle East, Hong Kong and Japan. In doing so, you experience other cultures and languages, meet new people, and gain intercultural skills that are sought-after by employers.
Placement year
Alternatively, you may prefer to take on a placement during your third year to gain relevant work experience within an external organisation. A placement can provide you with valuable experience to add to your CV.
The Essex Business School Placements Manager can offer bespoke support throughout the process of researching, applying and interviewing for placements. However, it is your responsibility to apply, prepare for and secure your own role. In recent years, our students have gained placements with organisations such as BMW, Samsung and Cummins.
Our expert staff
You’re taught by a group of highly qualified and enthusiastic academics and practitioners with diverse research interests. Their work has been discussed in the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve and we have one of the largest finance groups in the country.
Our staff all have wide-ranging research interests and proven academic track records. Their research informs your lectures and seminars, so you learn about the latest issues impacting the finance sector globally.
Our staff join us from all over the world and specialise in areas such as:
- bank risk and regulation
- foreign bank ownership
- finance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
- bank mergers
- acquisitions and financial econometrics
- financial crises
- behavioural finance
- hedge fund performance
- financial bubbles
- growth and poverty; drivers of commodity prices
Joining us from the Bank of England where he was a Senior Technical Advisor with special responsibility for coordinating research activities in Monetary Analysis, Professor Simon Price combines his academic and professional expertise to expertly inform his teaching on our Finance and Banking courses.
Our staff embed the latest research into your course, so you learn about real-world issues affecting business right now.
Specialist facilities
Our BSc Finance and Management is based at our Colchester Campus.
In our landmark Essex Business School building, the first zero carbon business school in the UK, you’ll see our sustainable approach to business first-hand. Set around a lush winter garden, are a wealth of inspiring teaching and study zones..
Our unique building provides you with superb facilities:
- a virtual trading floor with Bloomberg Terminals offering direct use of Bloomberg data, information and analytics
- access to X_TRADER, industry-leading software for trading multiple markets from a single screen
- light and spacious lecture theatres with ‘listen again’ recording to aid your study
- study pods and innovation booths for group working
- a café and adjacent foyer to enjoy on-site fresh food and drink
- study skills workshops and advice
Why we’re great
- We’re ranked in the UK’s top five for social science research (REF 2014)
- Over half our students are from overseas; you develop worldwide connections to use throughout your career.
- Our Bloomberg Financial Market Labs provide hands-on experience of dealing in stocks and securities.
Structure
Course structure
The course structure is designed to allow you to explore two contrasting sides of business.
In the first year our current students cover a variety of business essentials, designed to help you in a wide variety of potential careers. However, we are planning some changes to our first year and we’ll be tailoring it more closely to your chosen course. After that you’ll study financial decisions and international finance markets in your finance modules, whilst learning the skills you need to be an effective leader in your management modules. You’ll also have some optional modules available to tailor your course to your own interests.
We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists. Please be aware that we are planning changes to our first year to make it more relevant to your chosen course.
Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.
Teaching and learning disclaimer
Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.
The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently approved for 2022 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.
Placement
On a placement year you gain relevant work experience within an external business or organisation, giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market and providing you with key contacts within the industry. The rest of your course remains identical to the three-year degree.
Year abroad
On your year abroad, you have the opportunity to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised. The rest of your course remains identical to the three-year degree.
Teaching
- Teaching includes a combination of lectures, seminars and computer-based lab sessions
- Modules delivered by experts in the field as well as guest speakers
- Contribute and interact in lectures through the use of smart technology
- Lecture presentations and notes are uploaded online beforehand to help you prepare in advance
- Complete your final-year project in consultation with a personal supervisor
Assessment
- Assessed through traditional methods of end-of-year exams and multiple-choice questions in class tests and essays
- Plus more innovative and creative assessments include laboratory work, poster presentations, real-business case problems and group presentations
