Program Overview

Are you interested in how financial markets operate? Do you want to learn about financial decision making and investment? Would you like to join one of the UK’s largest and most respected finance groups, with some of Britain’s most satisfied students?

BSc Finance at Essex Business School course prepares you for a fast-paced career in any area of finance.

You have access to our virtual trading floor, where you can trade multiple markets from a single screen with industry leading software, X_TRADER. You can also use real-world Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE), within minutes of it being released, so you can practise making business decisions in the same way you might in the workplace.

The course examines international financial markets, as well as how finance shapes leadership, strategy and planning within organisations.

Topics may include:

• The pricing of securities in financial markets
• Risk management
• Corporate finance and financial decision making
• Business economics
• Quantitative methods
• Financial modelling
• Portfolio analysis

We use real-life examples to apply theory to practice and develop your capacity to analyse statistics. Ethics underpins all of our teaching, so you can graduate with the ability to make sound, responsible financial decisions for the benefit of organisations and their stakeholders.

Your first year ensures you receive a fully-rounded business education by introducing you to topics such as marketing, economics, management and accounting.

In your final year, you have the opportunity to put your knowledge into practice by completing an in depth, independent research project or dissertation. This gives you the chance to further develop vital employability skills in areas of research, project management and critical thinking.

Placement year

Like our study abroad option, our placement year variant also extends your degree by a year. You gain valuable business contacts and work experience that can make your CV stand out from the crowd.

The Essex Business School Placements Manager can offer bespoke support throughout the process of researching, applying and interviewing for placements. However, it is your responsibility to apply, prepare for and secure your own role. Our students have gained placements with organisations such as BMW, Samsung and Cummins.