Economics with a Placement Year

Economics is a rigorous social science that applies mathematical and statistical tools to understand how individuals, firms and governments make decisions, how markets allocate resources, and what policies can improve social outcomes. It addresses questions from the intimate, why wages differ between jobs and genders, to the global, what drives international trade, what causes recessions and how central banks should respond to inflation. Its methods are precise, but its questions are some of the most consequential facing contemporary societies.

At the University of East Anglia, this four-year programme includes a placement year, which gives you the opportunity to work in a professional environment, whether in finance, a government analytical team, a consultancy, a business or an international organisation, and apply your economic knowledge in a real organisational context before completing your studies. The programme covers microeconomic theory, macroeconomics, econometrics, and a range of applied areas in which economists work, including labour economics, development economics, public economics and financial economics. The placement year deepens your understanding of how economics is used outside the university and substantially strengthens your graduate employability.

The typical entry tariff is 120 UCAS points.

Economics graduates are sought across virtually every sector of the economy. Finance, banking, management consultancy, the civil service, international organisations, think tanks, market research, technology companies and data science teams all recruit economics graduates. The quantitative and analytical skills the degree develops are highly transferable, and the professional experience gained through the placement year gives UEA graduates a practical advantage in competitive graduate recruitment.

Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study in economics, finance, public policy or data science.