Finance with Foundation

Finance is the discipline concerned with how money is managed over time and across risk: how individuals, businesses, and governments raise capital, make investments, manage debt, and balance risk and return. It is a field that draws on economics, mathematics, and statistics to develop frameworks for valuing assets, pricing risk, and making optimal financial decisions under uncertainty. The ability to analyse and manage financial resources is fundamental to the functioning of markets, firms, and governments, and the skills finance develops are in demand across a very wide range of professional contexts.

At the University of Reading, this four-year full-time programme includes a foundation year, making it accessible to students who need to build their mathematical and economic foundations before moving into the degree proper. Reading's business school is one of the UK's most respected, and its finance programmes benefit from strong connections with the financial services industry and a research culture that informs the teaching. The typical entry tariff of 104 points reflects the foundation route's purpose: to bring students with genuine potential but varied prior qualifications up to the level needed for rigorous degree-level finance study.

You will cover the core disciplines of corporate finance, investment management, financial markets and institutions, derivatives, financial modelling, and risk management, developing both the theoretical understanding and the analytical tools that professional finance demands.

Finance graduates from a strong business school like Reading are consistently in demand. Careers in investment banking, asset management, corporate treasury, financial analysis, insurance, risk management, and the fintech sector are all common destinations. Many graduates go on to pursue professional qualifications in finance, including the CFA, which a finance degree provides excellent preparation for.

Postgraduate study in finance, financial economics, or quantitative finance is available for those who want to develop specialist or research expertise, and the foundation year means the programme is genuinely open to students who start with fewer formal qualifications but have the ability and motivation to succeed.