Economics and Finance | Undergraduate Degrees

Economics and Finance, _MA

Introduction

Economics and Finance at Aberdeen is a brilliant subject combination and springboard to an exciting career in international business and finance. Economics gets to grips with the global economy and what influences the wealth of nations and Finance adds a powerful understanding of the principles and practice of finance, giving you all-round business skills to take advantage of the many opportunities available to sought-after Aberdeen graduates.

Study Information

At a Glance

Learning Mode: On Campus Learning
Degree Qualification: MA
Duration: 48 months
Study Mode: Full Time
Start Month: September
UCAS Code: LN13
Pathway Programme Available: Undergraduate Foundation Programme

In Economics, you will explore the microeconomics of business and society, macroeconomics of the world economy and economic problems in political, social and historical contexts, with a strong emphasis on applied learning. You will be taught by experts including leading petroleum economist and government adviser Professor Alex Kemp and our health economists whose work influences Scottish and UK policy decisions on public health.

Finance will give you skills in financial management, corporate finance, personal finance, financial institutions, derivatives and the stock market. You will develop intellectually by analysing and evaluating financial problems and the practical skills to understand and use information from financial newspapers and documents. You will have close links with employers, work on real-life business scenarios and use sophisticated financial management technology and software, such as our Bloomberg finance lab, used by major financial services companies across the world, integrating real activity in financial markets directly into students’ courses.

You will thrive in the dynamic, international environment of our Business School of over 40 nationalities. You will be taught by renowned experts in their fields and dedicated careers advisers, who will guide you on the skills and attributes sought by employers from large multinational blue-chips to small and medium-sized enterprises in all sectors of business.

What You'll Study

Year 1

Compulsory Courses

Academic Writing for Business (AW1003): This compulsory evaluation is designed to find out if your academic writing is of a sufficient standard to enable you to succeed at university and, if you need it, to provide support to improve. It is completed on-line via MyAberdeen with clear instructions to guide you through it. If you pass the evaluation at the first assessment it will not take much of your time. If you do not, you will be provided with resources to help you improve. This evaluation does not carry credits but if you do not complete it this will be recorded on your degree transcript.

Detailed course information
Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD1002): This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students and articulating students who are in their first year at the University, is studied entirely online, is studied entirely online, takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across the first 4 weeks of term.

Topics include University orientation overview, equality & diversity, MySkills, health, safety and cyber security, and academic integrity.Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Transcript as ‘Achieved’.

Detailed course information
The Economics of Business and Society (EC1006): 15 Credit Points

This course is an introductory course in microeconomics where we study the decision making of individual actors (consumers, employees, firms, governments, etc.) in an economy. Actors must make decisions about behaviours because they face scarce resources, but often they find that trading with other actors in markets can increase the wellbeing of all parties. This course models and examines the nature of these interactions, highlighting when they work well and when they fail to increase wellbeing and what might be the solution to these failures.

Detailed course information
Finance 1: Finance, Risk and Investment (FI1004): 15 Credit Points

This foundation course in finance, risk and investment is the requisite for several degree programmes and for level 2 real estate and finance courses. The module considers the nature and operation of investment markets, focusing on three asset classes; shares, bonds and real estate. It looks at the characteristics of these investment options in terms of their risks and returns. The module introduces basic financial mathematics: time value of money, calculation of present values and investment rates of return. Finally, it considers the role of financial institutions and regulatory bodies in personal finance, where consumers and financial markets interact.

Detailed course information
The Global Economy (EC1506): 15 Credit Points

This course is an introductory course in macroeconomics where we study the behaviour of the economy as a whole. Whereas microeconomics focuses on individual markets, macroeconomics addresses the “big issues” such as unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and financial crises. Macroeconomics is a lively subject, full of discussion and debate, as economists and policymakers take different views on macroeconomic issues, their causes and appropriate policy responses. Issues such as: Is the economy growing? What causes unemployment and how can we reduce it? How can we avoid recessions? When is inflation a problem? Are banks lending too much?

Detailed course information
Accounting and Entrepreneurship (AC1517): 15 Credit Points

The course provides an understanding of how organisations, particularly small businesses, capture, create and use accounting information both to guide their own activities and to communicate their financial performance and financial position to parties external to themselves. It develops knowledge and understanding of accounting, accounting techniques and accounting information, so that students become informed users of accounting data and information, not creators of that data and information.

Detailed course information

Optional Courses

Plus further credit points from courses of choice to gain a total of 120 credits.

Year 2

Compulsory Courses

Intermediate Microeconomics (EC2003): 30 Credit Points

This course builds on and is a natural extension of EC 1006. By examining in a more rigorous way concepts introduced in EC 1006 students will develop further their analytical skills and they will obtain a better understanding of consumers and producers behaviour, market structure as well as the effectiveness of economic policy. The course is designed to appeal to all students interested in economics. This includes students who may wish not to enter into any further studies of economics, as well as students who may wish to continue studying economics at the honours level.

Detailed course information
Finance 2: Business Finance (FI2004): 15 Credit Points

The main aim of this course is to develop a sound understanding of fundamental principles underlying the theory and practice of finance, thereby providing a strong basis for further study of advanced finance theory and cognate disciplines. The course introduces students to important concepts in finance: principles of assets pricing, concept of risk and return, theory of interest rates and pricing fixed income securities, evaluation of investment project with a focus on embedded real options. It equips students with good analytical skills in order to understand the implications of financial decisions by understanding the fundamentals that govern them.

Detailed course information
Intermediate Macroeconomics (EC2503): 30 Credit Points

This course focuses on macroeconomic policy in a global economy. The first part builds an open-economy Keynesian model to investigate what determines the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policies, and how exchange rate regimes and capital mobility impact on policy effectiveness. The second part investigates what determines the level of macroeconomic activity and its growth over time. The final part looks at what determines inflation and unemployment. This intermediate level course uses live lectures to develop your analytical skills evaluating economic policy in a rigorous and technical way to equip you with the skills needed for honours level study.

Detailed course information
Financial Markets and Regulation (FI2501): 15 Credit Points

This course provides students with an understanding of the financial system, primarily from a UK perspective, introducing students to the reasons for, and nature of, financial markets and institutions before moving on to explore the need and importance of financial regulation, and investigating the causes and consequences of the recent global financial crisis. The course will introduce students to a variety of topics including the role of wholesale and retail banks, non-bank financial institutions, the debt and equity markets, and the derivative markets; market efficiency, UK and international regulation, consumer protection and market abuse.

Detailed course information
Understanding Statistics (PO2508): 15 Credit Points

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of statistical concepts and methods relevant to accounting, management, finance, real estate and economics. The course is intended to enable students

i) To understand the principles of descriptive statistics, index construction, statistical inference, correlation, regression and time series analysis

ii) To apply statistical techniques to the analysis of accounting, business and economic issues and interpret findings

iii) To identify important sources of data in accounting, business and economics

Detailed course information
Building Skills and Experience for Career Success (PD2002): This course, which is designed for level 2 students and above, is studied entirely online. Topics include career planning, finding work experience and articulating your skills and experiences in applications and interviews. Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Enhanced Transcript as ‘Achieved’. The course takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.

Detailed course information

Optional Courses

Plus further credit points from courses of choice to gain a total of 120 credits.

Year 3

Compulsory Courses

FI3009 - Corporate Financial Theory (15 Credit Points)
FI3008 - Applied Corporate Finance (15 Credit Points)

Optional Courses

Plus select 60 credits of EC coded courses. Students are required to have exactly 240 credits at levels 3 and 4, at least 210 of which must be Economics or Finance, and normally no more than 120 credits from either discipline. At least 90 credits must be at level 4.

Year 4

Optional Courses

Select one of the following dissertation options:

Economics Dissertation (EC4526)
Dissertation in Finance (FI4501)

Students are required to have exactly 240 credits at levels 3 and 4, at least 210 of which must be Economics or Finance, and normally no more than 120 credits from either discipline. At least 90 credits must be at level 4.

Economics Dissertation (EC4526)
Dissertation in Finance (FI4501)

Economics Dissertation (EC4526): 30 Credit Points

The dissertation presents students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and research skills of Economics to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic which has been chosen by the student and approved by the Dissertation coordinator and Dissertation supervisor. Over the course of the Dissertation, with guidance from the supervisor, the student will study a particular topic, conduct a literature review of relevant material, select appropriate theoretical and/or empirical methods to address the topic and write a final analysis in the form of the Dissertation of up to 10,000 words.

Detailed course information
Dissertation in Finance (FI4501): 30 Credit Points

All Accountancy and Finance students must undertake a dissertation. Students taking a joint degree may undertake the dissertation in either discipline, but not both. It is designed to show that you are able to:

Carry out a substantial piece of research on a chosen subject without close supervision

Critically analyse and evaluate work carried out by others

Reach your own conclusions based upon your analysis and evaluation of relevant evidence, whether this is prior research only or prior research coupled with your own research.

Write-up the results of your work in a clear, coherent and logical way.

Detailed course information

We will endeavour to make all course options available. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.

Within Subject Areas

How You'll Study

Learning Methods

Individual Projects
Lectures
Research
Tutorials

Assessment Methods

Students are assessed by any combination of three assessment methods:

Coursework such as essays and reports completed throughout the course.
Practical assessments of the skills and competencies they learn on the course.
Written examinations at the end of each course.

The exact mix of these methods differs between subject areas, years of study and individual courses.

Honours projects are typically assessed on the basis of a written dissertation.

Why Study Economics and Finance?

Why Economics

An excellent teaching environment, committed to the needs of industry, which integrates research in to teaching, grows transferable skills and develops intellectual skills on a range of contemporary economic problems.
A thriving Economics Society, organising annual trips to international economic institutions including the European Union in Brussels, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris.
Enterprise Campus, a new initiative to nurture entrepreneurial skills and support students wanting to progress their own business ideas.
ACREEF (the Aberdeen Centre for Research in Energy Economics and Finance) headed by leading international petroleum economist and author Professor Alex Kemp, adviser to the Scottish Government.
Home to CELMR (the Centre for European Labour Market Research) which leads research in education, skills and labour markets so topical today.
The spectacular, award-winning Sir Duncan Rice Library, with brilliant study facilities, state-of-the-art learning technology, and an extensive collection of reference books, journals and other media for economics and business studies.
A packed campus programme of student, public and business events, and the annual May Festival attracting internationally acclaimed public figures, business leaders, authors and broadcasters to debate critical challenges in the world today.
Experience the Bloomberg Terminal, a software platform that provides real-time and historical data, market-moving news and analytics to help leading business and financial professional make better informed investment decisions.

Why Finance

An excellent teaching environment, committed to the needs of industry, which integrates research into teaching, enables transferable skills and develops intellectual skills on a range of contemporary financial challenges.
The spectacular, award-winning Sir Duncan Rice Library, with brilliant study facilities, state-of-the-art learning technology, and an extensive collection of reference books, journals and other media for finance and business studies.
A packed campus programme of student, public and business events, and the annual May Festival which attracts public figures, politicians, business leaders, and broadcasters to discuss and debate critical challenges in our world today.
Enterprise Campus, a new initiative to nurture entrepreneurial skills and support students wanting to progress their own business ideas.
Our location in the main European centre for the oil and gas industry, where multinational firms and financial services all have offices in the city, and close links to our teaching programmes.
Experience the Bloomberg Terminal, a software platform that provides real-time and historical data, market-moving news and analytics to help leading business and financial professional make better informed investment decisions.

Interested in this programme?

Call +44 (0)1224 272090 Email study@abdn.ac.uk Enquire Now Using an online form Next Steps Find out how to apply

Aberdeen Global Scholarship

The University of Aberdeen is delighted to offer eligible self-funded international on-campus undergraduate students a £6,000 scholarship for every year of their programme.

View the Aberdeen Global Scholarship

Entry Requirements

Qualifications

The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.

2024 Entry: SQA Highers

Standard: AABB

Applicants who have achieved AABB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.

Minimum: BBB

Applicants who have achieved BBB (or are on course to achieve this by the end of S5) are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will normally be required.

Adjusted: BB

Applicants who achieve BB over S4 and S5 and who meet one of the widening access criteria are guaranteed a conditional offer. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will be required.

More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.

A LEVELS

Standard: BBB

Minimum: BBC

Adjusted: CCC

More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.

International Baccalaureate

32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.

Irish Leaving Certificate

5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.

PLEASE NOTE: National 5/ Standard Grade/ GCSE (or equivalent) in Mathematics (or Applications of Mathematics) is required in addition to the requirements noted above.
2025 Entry: SQA Highers

Standard: BBBB

Applicants who have achieved BBBB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.

Minimum: BBC

Applicants who have achieved BBC at Higher and meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an unconditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.

Adjusted: BB

Applicants who have achieved BB at Higher, and who meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an adjusted conditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.

We would expect to issue a conditional offer asking for one additional C grade at Higher.

Foundation Apprenticeship: One FA is equivalent to a Higher at A. It cannot replace any required subjects.

More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.

A LEVELS

Standard: BBC

Minimum: BCC

Adjusted: CCC

More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.

International Baccalaureate

32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.

Irish Leaving Certificate

5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.

PLEASE NOTE: National 5/ Standard Grade/ GCSE (or equivalent) in Mathematics (or Applications of Mathematics) is required in addition to the requirements noted above.

Entry from College

Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.

The information displayed in this section shows a shortened summary of our entry requirements. For more information, or for full entry requirements for Arts and Social Sciences degrees, see our detailed entry requirements section.

English Language Requirements

To study for an Undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:

IELTS Academic:

OVERALL - 6.0 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 5.5; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0

TOEFL iBT:

OVERALL - 78 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21

PTE Academic:

OVERALL - 59 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59

Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:

OVERALL - 169 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 162; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169

International Applicants

Additional details for international applicants, including information specific to your country or territory, are available here..

International Applicants who do not meet the Entry Requirements

The University of Aberdeen International Study Centre offers preparation programmes for international students who do not meet the direct entry requirements for undergraduate study. Discover your foundation pathway here.

Fees and Funding

You will be classified as one of the fee categories below.

Fee information
Fee category	Cost
RUK	£9,535
Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year	£9,535
EU / International students	£20,800
Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year	£20,800
Self-funded international students commencing eligible undergraduate programmes in 2025/26 will receive a £6,000 tuition waiver for every year of their programme - See full terms and conditions
Home Students	£1,820
Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year	£1,820

International Applicants

More information about Fee status, living costs, and work allowances for international students is available here.

Additional Fees

In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips. Any additional fees for a course can be found in our Catalogue of Courses.
For more information about tuition fees for this programme, including payment plans and our refund policy, please visit our Tuition Fees page.

Scholarships and Funding

UK Scholarship

Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who pay tuition fees may be eligible for specific scholarships allowing them to receive additional funding. These are designed to provide assistance to help students support themselves during their time at Aberdeen.

Aberdeen Global Scholarship

The University of Aberdeen is delighted to offer eligible self-funded international on-campus undergraduate students a £6,000 scholarship for every year of their programme. More about this funding opportunity.

Funding Database

View all funding options in our Funding Database.

Careers

As an Economist you can work in fund management, accountancy, investments, banking and the civil service. You may choose to use your finance knowledge to specialise in a financial area which when combined with economics gives you a greater skill set and a unique ability, or you may go into teaching, research or other professional areas.

Our Experts

Information About Staff Changes

You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.

Discover Uni

Discover Uni draws together comparable information in areas students have identified as important in making decisions about what and where to study. You can compare these and other data for different degree programmes in which you are interested.

Get in Touch

Contact Details

Address: Student Recruitment & Admissions
University of Aberdeen
University Office
Regent Walk
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX

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Economics and Finance, MA

Introduction

Study Information

At a Glance

What You'll Study

Compulsory Courses

Optional Courses

Within Subject Areas

How You'll Study

Learning Methods

Assessment Methods

Why Study Economics and Finance?

Why Economics

Why Finance

Interested in this programme?

Aberdeen Global Scholarship

Entry Requirements

Qualifications

General Entry Requirements

English Language Requirements

International Applicants

International Applicants who do not meet the Entry Requirements

Fees and Funding

International Applicants

Additional Fees

Scholarships and Funding

UK Scholarship

Aberdeen Global Scholarship

Funding Database

Careers

Our Experts

Information About Staff Changes

Discover Uni

Get in Touch

Contact Details

Social Media

Economics and Finance, _MA