Economics - BSc (Hons)
with a Year in Industry

This is an archived course for 2022 entry
2023 courses

This is an archived page and for reference purposes only

Examine some of today's profound issues, from poverty to environmental protection, financial and monetary crises. Develop the skills to analyse and discuss these crucial areas in an era of Big Data, new technologies and artificial intelligence, discovering the solutions to shape our world.

Overview

Immerse yourself in this exciting topic, joining our international community of staff and students. Learn from lecturers who advise UK and International organisations, expanding your global perspective and providing you with the tools to make a difference.

Shape your degree outside the classroom with our thriving student led societies. Kent Invest focusses on financial markets holding an annual trading competition. The Economics Society explores issues of the moment through the lens of the discipline, culminating in an annual networking conference.

Reasons to study Economics with a Year in Industry at Kent

  • You'll satisfy your curiosity at a top 20 subject in The Guardian University Guide 2022
  • You'll study in a supportive learning community, ranked 22nd for student satisfaction in The Complete University Guide 2023
  • You'll learn from inspiring lecturers who advise UK, European and international organisations
  • You'll gain ongoing support through our employability team, regular workshops and alumni talks, as well as our dedicated academic adviser and peer mentoring scheme.
  • You'll study in our new Kennedy building, home to our economics community, with excellent facilities, ideal for teaching analytic tools.

What you'll learn

You learn how economists think and develop the analytics skills to find solutions to shape our world. You’ll develop knowledge and understanding of crucial aspects of the subject, such as macroeconomics, microeconomics and quantitative economics.

You can choose to specialise in areas such as international finance, industrial and monetary economics, and the economics of money and banking. Our wide range of modules allows you to tailor your degree to support your particular career ambitions; for example, you can choose modules that prepare you for life as a professional economist.

Year in Industry students have previously worked at: Bank of England; Government Economic Service (GES); Deloitte; Ernst & Young; PwC; and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

See what modules you'll study

Year in Industry

This programme includes an opportunity to spend a year working in industry between Stages 2 and 3. This greatly enhances your CV and gives you the opportunity to apply your academic skills in a practical context. In previous years students have worked at:

  • Bank of England
  • Government Economic Service (GES)
  • Deloitte
  • Ernst & Young
  • PwC
  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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Entry requirements

The University will consider applications from students offering a wide range of qualifications. All applications are assessed on an individual basis but some of our typical requirements are listed below. Students offering qualifications not listed are welcome to contact our Admissions Team for further advice. Please also see our general entry requirements.

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    A level

    BBB-BBC from three full A levels

  • medal-empty GCSE

    Mathematics grade B / 6. However, those who hold GCSE Mathematics at grade 5 will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

  • medal-empty Access to HE Diploma

    The University welcomes applications from Access to Higher Education Diploma candidates for consideration. A typical offer may require you to obtain a proportion of Level 3 credits in relevant subjects at merit grade or above.

  • medal-empty BTEC Nationals

    The University will consider applicants holding BTEC National Diploma and National Extended Diploma qualifications (QCF; NQF; OCR) on a case-by-case basis.

  • medal-empty International Baccalaureate

    30 points overall or 15 points at HL, including Mathematics 4 at SL or HL, or Mathematical Studies 5

  • medal-empty International Foundation Programme

    Pass all components of the University of Kent International Foundation Programme with a 65% overall average including 65% in the Economics module (plus 70% in LZ013 Maths and Statistics if you do not hold GCSE Maths at 7/A or equivalent).

  • medal-empty T level

    The University will consider applicants holding T level qualifications in subjects closely aligned to the course.

If you are an international student, visit our International Student website for further information about entry requirements for your country, including details of the International Foundation Programmes. Please note that international fee-paying students who require a Student visa cannot undertake a part-time programme due to visa restrictions.

Please note that meeting the typical offer/minimum requirement does not guarantee that you will receive an offer.

English Language Requirements

Please see our English language entry requirements web page.

Please note that if you do not meet our English language requirements, we offer a number of 'pre-sessional' courses in English for Academic Purposes. You attend these courses before starting your degree programme.

Course structure

Duration: 4 years full-time

The course structure below gives a flavour of the modules that will be available to you and provides details of the content of this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.

Year in industry

All our single honours degree programmes, with the exception of Economics with a Year Abroad, offer a Year in Industry. Our joint honours programmes with Management and Politics also offer this option. 

The year in industry is taken between the second (Stage 2) and third years (Stage 3) of the degree and contributes towards your final degree classification. The placement must be with a suitable employer, but the reference to 'in industry' is intended to cover employers in any service sector as well as in manufacturing.

Students are responsible for finding their placements, but the School offers structured support for the application process in the form of a non-contributory module, 'Preparing for a Placement'.

Students must have passed Stage 2 of their degree before they can embark on the year in industry.

Fees

The 2022/23 annual tuition fees for this course are:

  • Home full-time £9,250
  • EU full-time £13,000
  • International full-time £17,400

For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.

For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* 

Your fee status

The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.

Fees for Year in Industry

Fees for Home undergraduates are £1,385.

Fees for Year Abroad

Fees for Home undergraduates are £1,385.

Students studying abroad for less than one academic year will pay full fees according to their fee status.

Additional costs

General additional costs

Find out more about accommodation and living costs, plus general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.

Funding

We have a range of subject-specific awards and scholarships for academic, sporting and musical achievement.

Search scholarships

University funding

Kent offers generous financial support schemes to assist eligible undergraduate students during their studies. See our funding page for more details. 

Government funding

You may be eligible for government finance to help pay for the costs of studying. See the Government's student finance website.

Scholarships

General scholarships

Scholarships are available for excellence in academic performance, sport and music and are awarded on merit. For further information on the range of awards available and to make an application see our scholarships website.

The Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence

At Kent we recognise, encourage and reward excellence. We have created the Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence. 

The scholarship will be awarded to any applicant who achieves a minimum of A*AA over three A levels, or the equivalent qualifications (including BTEC and IB) as specified on our scholarships pages.

Teaching and assessment

All of our modules are taught by a combination of lectures and small group sessions, which include seminars, computing practicals, problem sets, debates and role-play games. On average, you have a total of 12-14 hours of lecture, seminar and other formal contact time per week.

The School of Economics is committed to making sure that you leave Kent with much more than just a degree in Economics. We put great emphasis on the development of transferable skills, including numeracy, analytical problem solving, data analysis, and written and oral communication, as well as subject-specific skills for further study at postgraduate level.

Some modules are assessed by continuous assessment of coursework throughout the year and an end-of-year exam in the final term. A number of modules at each stage are assessed solely through coursework.

Contact hours

For a student studying full time, each academic year of the programme will comprise 1200 learning hours which include both direct contact hours and private study hours.  The precise breakdown of hours will be subject dependent and will vary according to modules.  Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.

Methods of assessment will vary according to subject specialism and individual modules.  Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.

Programme aims

The programme aims to:

  • Provide structured developmental work experience in the industry
  • Provide experience on working on a specified project in the industry
  • Enable you to learn how to apply economic and business principles and analysis to a range of issues, problems and policies (this will not necessarily apply to all placement students)
  • Develop appropriate skills relevant to the specific industry of the placement
  • Develop management, communication, decision-making, creative, team working and reliability skills
  • Develop skills of reflecting and evaluating your own work, and being able to communicate this reflection and evaluation
  • Provide a well-developed structure to support your year in the industry
  • Develop a range of skills that will be of value in employment and self-employment.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

You gain a knowledge and understanding of:

  • The working of a successful enterprise or organization.
  • Practical experience of business, management and financial aspects of an industry (not necessarily all) and/or local, regional or national government.
  • Applied aspects of economic analysis.
  • The main concepts, principles, theories, models and methods of modern economic analysis and their application in different areas of economics
  • The analytical skills that allow students to formulate and consider a range of economic problems and issues
  • The mathematical, statistical and computing methods used in economics
  • Economic data and methods used to analyse such data
  • Economic analysis of policy.
  • Specific problems, issues and policies in a range of areas in economics
  • Key concepts affecting decision-making
  • Critical discussion of economic problems, issues and policies in politics and media
  • An economic topic chosen by the student and submitted as a supervised final year project
  • The study of other social science subjects in the first year.

Intellectual skills

You gain the following intellectual skills:

  • Abstract the essential features of a complex system
  • Think about what are the important variables and fixed parameters in solving a problem
  • Analyse complex issues using deductive and inductive reasoning
  • Organise and use information to analyse complex issues
  • Review critically alternative explanations and analyses of a problem.

Subject-specific skills

You gain the following subject-specific skills:

  • Analytical skills in economics that can be applied to business and organisational problems
  • Ability to apply economic principles and analysis to a range of issues, problems and policies
  • Ability to abstract the essential features of an economic issue, problem or system
  • Ability to use and present numerical information
  • Ability to carry out economic/econometric analysis of business/economic data.

Transferable skills

You gain the following transferable skills:

  • Effective communication of analysis and ideas both orally, aurally and in written form
  • Ability to assemble, analyse, use and present data
  • Understanding of and ability to use economic, mathematical and quantitative methods to analyse business issues and problems
  • Ability to analyse and make decisions using economic concepts, eg opportunity cost and strategic behaviour
  • Skills associated with the chosen/specific industry
  • Independence in initiating and executing work
  • Ability to think critically about proposed analyses and solutions to a problem or issue
  • Responsibility for managing your own performance.

Independent rankings

Economics at Kent was ranked 22nd for student satisfaction in The Complete University Guide 2023.

Careers

Graduate destinations

Our Economics graduates have developed careers in accountancy, banking and finance, journalism, management consultancy and business. Recent graduates have gone on to work for:

  • Deloitte
  • Government Economic Service
  • HMRC
  • Citibank
  • KPMG
  • PwC
  • Bank of America
  • Schroders
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Barclays.

Help finding a job

Employers are always keen to employ graduates with knowledge of the work environment and some students receive job offers from the company where they spent their year in industry.

The School of Economics supports and advises you in deciding what to do after your Economics degree. We offer:

  • one-to-one advice from a member of our employability team
  • employability workshops
  • talks from alumni and outside employers.

The University also has a friendly Careers and Employability Service which can give you advice on how to:

  • apply for jobs
  • write a good CV
  • perform well in interviews.

Career-enhancing skills

Alongside a thorough understanding of economic issues, you develop key transferable skills that will appeal to employers. These include the ability to:

  • think critically
  • communicate your ideas and opinions succintly
  • work independently
  • use your initiative and be proactive
  • work as part of a team and independently
  • manage your time and plan effectively
  • problem solve.

You can also gain extra skills by signing up for one of our Kent Extra activities, such as learning a language or volunteering.

Apply for Economics with a Year in Industry - BSc (Hons)

This course page is for the 2022/23 academic year. Please visit the current online prospectus for a list of undergraduate courses we offer.

Contact us

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United Kingdom/EU enquiries

Enquire online for full-time study

T: +44 (0)1227 768896

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International student enquiries

Enquire online

T: +44 (0)1227 823254
E: internationalstudent@kent.ac.uk

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School website

School of Economics

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