Business and Economics

Business and Economics is a combination that makes intuitive sense: economics provides the theoretical foundations for understanding how markets, firms, and economies function, while business studies trains you in the practical disciplines of management, strategy, and organisation. Together they give you both the analytical rigour to understand what is happening in an economy and the applied skills to respond to it effectively as a manager or entrepreneur. This combination is particularly well suited to students who want to be both thinkers and doers.

At the Open University, this programme is available part-time and through distance learning, making it accessible to students who cannot study full-time in a traditional campus setting. Whether you are working, caring for family members, or living somewhere without convenient access to a campus, the Open University model allows you to fit your studies around your life. The curriculum covers microeconomics and macroeconomics, business strategy, finance, marketing, and organisational behaviour, as well as quantitative methods and research skills.

The distance learning mode means you will develop strong self-management and independent learning habits that employers value in their own right.

Graduates from Business and Economics programmes find employment across an unusually wide range of organisations and roles. Finance, banking, consultancy, marketing, human resources, and general management are all common destinations. Government departments, think tanks, and public sector organisations value the economics component for roles in policy analysis and programme evaluation.

The analytical skills developed transfer well to law, public affairs, and entrepreneurship. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in economics, business administration, finance, or public policy, and the Open University qualification provides a solid foundation for these next steps regardless of the mode in which you studied.