Economics/Theatre Studies

Economics and Theatre Studies is an uncommon combination that rewards exactly the kind of student who refuses to be confined to a single way of understanding the world. Economics asks how societies allocate scarce resources, how markets function, how incentives shape behaviour, and what the data say about growth, inequality and policy. Theatre Studies asks how human experience is interpreted, staged and communicated, and how performance has shaped culture across centuries and continents.

Bringing them together demands intellectual agility, but the rewards are considerable.

At the University of Glasgow, you will develop rigorous quantitative and analytical skills through the economics strand while building practical and critical knowledge of theatre and performance through the other. Glasgow has close connections with the theatre industry, giving you opportunities to learn from and engage with practitioners of national and international standing. The programme runs for four years full time and includes a year abroad, allowing you to experience both disciplines in an international academic context and to encounter theatre traditions very different from those you study at home.

The typical tariff for entry is 232 points, reflecting the dual demands of a degree that spans two academically rigorous fields.

The combination trains you in data analysis, argumentation and policy reasoning alongside close reading, creative interpretation and an understanding of cultural production. These are skills that rarely appear together, and that rarity is itself an advantage in a competitive graduate market. Careers for graduates span a wide range: arts management and cultural policy, journalism, broadcasting, public affairs, management consulting, the civil service, economic research, and the creative industries.

Some graduates go on to postgraduate study in economics, cultural policy, theatre practice or arts administration. Others move directly into careers that sit at the boundary between culture and commerce, working in organisations where understanding both the numbers and the stories matters.