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Knowledge and Understanding

The main focus remains on Economics, but in various ways we attempt to equip students for a business environment, through emphasising the application of Economics to business affairs.

(For the Business stream) knowledge and understanding of organisations, their business environment and the management of these organisations,
(For the Business stream) an understanding of the uncertainties and complexities of business organisation, their environments and management.

Cognitive Skills

(a) Perception – particular emphasis on business aspects of Economics.

(b) Intuition – again we emphasise ‘economic awareness’, with particular reference to business. Students should become conscious of Business as self interested activity and learn to perceive how the interests of different parties are at variance. They should intuitively think in terms of costs and benefits; of probability and the management of risk.

(c) Reasoning. Students on this programme should learn to reason as Economists; in other words they should attempt to simplify business and economic questions to their essentials, and attempt to illuminate the relationship between the parts of the situation.

(For the business stream) – The above cognitive skills are also relevant, but in addition, students will be able to demonstrate business acumen, be entrepreneurial and acquire numeracy skills relevant to data-based decision making.

Practical/Transferable Skills

As with the Economics programme, students of Business Economics are required to defend an intellectual position in a tutorial context. In many Business courses the ability to work on group projects is stressed. The development of interpersonal skills is of particular relevance here. Such skills will readily transpose into the business situation.
As on the Economics programme, we encourage clarity in the presentation of argument; numerical and quantitative skills of the type required in business. We require a degree of computer competence, which is taught in the first two terms of the student’s time at ³Ô¹ÏÍø. Business students are encouraged to increase the knowledge of foreign languages as these may be useful in their future business lives. We do not, however, make this a requirement of the degree programme, as we once did. The change in policy has been due to the additional strain that language requirements can place on students whose native language is not English.

(For the Business stream) – this includes the above applied to a business setting, but, in addition, students will be able to demonstrate IT competence and digital literacy, emotional intelligence and empathy , data-based decision-making skills and people management skills.