Economics with Foundation Year

Economics is the social science concerned with how societies allocate scarce resources, how markets and institutions coordinate economic activity, and how the choices of individuals, firms, and governments produce aggregate outcomes in income, employment, growth, and welfare. It is a discipline that combines mathematical rigour with a concern for some of the most important questions facing contemporary societies: how to reduce poverty, what causes financial crises, how trade shapes development, and what role public policy can play in addressing market failures and inequality.

At Keele University, this four-year full-time Economics BSc with a foundation year explores how the behaviour of households, organisations, and governments is determined, how global markets work, and which public services should be funded and how. The foundation year provides a supported entry for students who need additional preparation before engaging with a degree in economics, building the mathematical and analytical foundations needed to succeed. You will develop understanding of both microeconomics and macroeconomics alongside quantitative and statistical methods, and you will engage with the theories and techniques that economists use to analyse a wide range of economic problems.

Economics graduates are in strong demand across many sectors of the economy. The civil service, financial services, economic consultancy, banking, international organisations, the third sector, journalism, management, and academic research are all well-established career destinations. The analytical and quantitative skills developed through an economics degree are valued in any role that requires understanding complex systems, interpreting data, and making reasoned arguments about policy and strategy.

Postgraduate study in economics, finance, public policy, or data science is a natural continuation for those who wish to develop specialist expertise or pursue research careers.