Program Overview

Explore how economic theory can be applied to the major domestic and global issues of today – and gain valuable skills in the workplace – with our BSc Economics with Placement Year degree.

This four-year course focuses on how economic tools can be applied to different markets and situations. You will acquire the skills, knowledge and understanding that will enable you to solve the problems that are challenging policy makers and businesses all over the world. An integrated placement year gives you the opportunity to put your skills and knowledge into practice.

We also offer a BA Economics with Placement Year degree at the University of Reading, which covers a narrower range of economic markets and social policy issues but focuses more on techniques for working with data.

Choose economics at the University of Reading

• Established for more than 50 years.
• 100% of our research is judged to be world leading or internationally excellent (Research Excellence Framework 2014).

Our BSc programme will allow you to understand what’s happening in the world and how policy makers can respond to it: how do economies grow, how can policy makers manage business cycles, is inflation a problem, how can unemployment be reduced, is a five-day week really necessary and so on. You will analyse these issues using a range of economic theories and methods including the theory of games and strategic interactions, natural and behavioural experiments.

Your degree will help you to understand the levers of policy and provide policy advice in response to economic problems.

Placement Year

You’ll undertake a year-long work placement, in an industrial setting, between your second and final year. A placement is a valuable way to develop your skills, experience the workplace, and build your network.

We have a dedicated placement coordinator who can provide advice and support in your search for a placement.

Previous students from the Department of Economics have undertaken placements with:

Government Economic Service

• Bank of England
• NHS England
• Lloyds Bank
• Deloitte
• Disney
• Nissan
• IBM.