BSc (Hons) International Business, Finance and Economics

Graduate with in-depth knowledge of three strongly-related disciplines.

Study finance, economics and business within an international context, drawing on the combined strengths of Alliance Manchester Business School and the School of Social Sciences.

This interdisciplinary course offers you the opportunity to study a wide range of units across finance, accounting, economics, business analysis, innovation, strategy and political economy.

The following courses are available:

It is also available with the option of a work placement.

This interdisciplinary course offers you the opportunity to study a wide range of course units across finance, accounting, economics, business analysis, innovation, strategy and political economy. You will study the technical tools and techniques required to measure and assess business performance, while also emphasising the importance of changing economic contexts. You will also have the opportunity to learn a foreign language as part of your degree.

Aims

This course aims to offer you an inter-disciplinary social science perspective on business that is strongly informed by leading contemporary research and which introduces you to competing and complementary perspectives on business issues.

Special features

• Join one of the UK's longest established centres for the study of economics.
• Optional language study in years 2 and 3 - choose from 15 different languages at varying levels.
• Selected course units grant exemptions from professional accountancy exams, including 1 ICAEW ACA paper, 6 ACCA papers and 7 CIMA papers.

Teaching and learning

You will normally study four or five-course units per semester. Each week there are usually two hours of lectures for each course unit and a one hour workshop in alternate weeks, although this varies slightly. You are expected to double this in private study. Group work and group or individual presentations will form a regular part of your assignments.

What will I study?

Your first year begins with a broad introduction to the study of business, finance and economics, enabling you to make an informed choice of areas to study later in the course. You will learn the technical skills of macro, micro and managerial economics and financial reporting.

In the second year, you will study core course units in finance, managerial economics and business strategy and choose options from accounting and finance, economics and contexts for international business. You will gain practical report writing, financial and competitor analysis and database skills through a core unit in international business strategy, using a real-life case study. Previous IBFE students analysed the performance of global earthmoving machinery giant, Caterpillar Inc.

IBFE focuses on the international context within which global businesses operate and is well-suited to students seeking international graduate positions in the UK and abroad. As such, in your second year, you have the option to learn a language (which can be continued into your final year). You can choose from around 15 different languages at varying levels.

In year three, as well as compulsory course units in international finance, managerial economics and international business analysis, there are options in accounting and finance, contexts for international business, economics and modern languages. You will choose 60 credits of optional course units, enabling you to specialise.

The International Business Analysis Project allows you to critically analyse contemporary business practice from a social and political perspective. You will question the classical strategy tradition by exploring how the pressure to deliver shareholder value complicates the job of management. You will explore these ideas through real-life case studies, including a recently collapsed bank (Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns) and GlaxoSmithKline.