Master of Science in Economics and Finance

at University of Bristol - Clifton Campus United Kingdom

This course allows you to combine two historically interlinked disciplines and develop a breadth of skills across both economics and philosophy.

The economics part of the course is technically rigorous and will build your analytical skills. There are mandatory units in macro- and microeconomics, mathematics, statistics and econometrics (the application of statistical methods to data to estimate economic models). These are complemented by units in philosophy, which will equip you with skills in textual analysis, written and verbal expression, logic and critical thinking.

As you progress through your degree you will be able to take an increasing number of optional units and specialise in areas that interest you most.

Previously, economics options have included: History of Economic Thought; Environmental Economics; Current Economic Problems.

Previous philosophy options have included: Philosophy of Psychology; Evil, Deviance and Crime; Classical Chinese Philosophy.

A-level standard offer

AAA including an essay based subject

This degree offers an enriching experience with exciting intellectual challenges. You will study the politics of individual countries and governments and the relationships between countries, communities and individuals.

This course follows the same structure as BSc Politics and International Relations but with an additional year spent abroad.

The year abroad is an exciting opportunity to experience and study a different society and culture. For further details on year abroad opportunities, please see Global Opportunities.

BSc Economics and Mathematics combines high-level mathematics with a technically rigorous economics programme that emphasises the use of mathematical tools, including econometrics.

Mandatory economics units develop your understanding of micro- and macro-economics, while the mathematics part of the degree builds your mathematical ability and allows you to explore applied topics that are particularly relevant to economics.

Having built a solid grounding in the fundamentals of both disciplines in your first year, the second and third years allow you to choose optional units to tailor your degree to your specific interests, including the option to complete an applied economics dissertation.

Previously, economics options have included Industrial Economics, International Economics and Macroeconomic Theory and Policy. Mathematics options have included Complex Networks, Financial Mathematics and Time Series Analysis.

Our MSci Chemistry with Study Abroad in a Modern Language course is suited to you if you want to deepen your understanding of the subject and broaden your experience by studying chemistry in a foreign language during your third year.

The first two years are common to all of our degree courses. You will study fundamental concepts in inorganic, organic and physical chemistry, and applications in areas such as analytical, environmental, materials and theoretical chemistry.

You will also develop your ability to design experiments and interpret results and gain key skills through our chemistry-specific communications and mathematics units.

Engineering mathematics is the art of applying mathematical and engineering principles to complex, real-world problems across areas as wide-ranging as artificial intelligence, ecology, medicine, physics, social media and sustainability.

For this MSc, you will be fully embedded within an engineering faculty, benefitting from unrivalled access to a broad range of industrial collaborations and pioneering research.

Spanning engineering, mathematics and computer science, this program would suit graduates from any related discipline who would like to become versatile at solving multidisciplinary challenges.

Graduates will be well placed to meet the increasing demand from the industrial, government and service sectors for maths-savvy graduates who can work across traditional boundaries and drive high-tech innovation. From designing Formula One cars, to biomedicine and developing renewable energy technologies, our engineering graduates go on to a wide range of exciting careers.

This four-year course allows you to explore high-level mathematics at the leading edge of research. If you're driven by intellectual curiosity and enjoy the satisfaction of cracking difficult puzzles, this course provides you with core mathematical skills that will equip you for a variety of careers and give a strong basis for further study.

Our lecturers are passionate about their subject, with modules informed by cutting-edge research in fundamental mathematical abstractions, statistics and practical applications to global problems. You may be able to try units in quantum mechanics or mathematical biology, or take the opportunity to mentor and learn from students studying the same subject overseas.

Project work opportunities in each year of your course allow you to collaborate with staff and fellow students, preparing you for a substantial fourth-year project on a topic you are passionate about.

Year one consists of compulsory topics, covered in lectures, small-group tutorials and working through exercises independently and with peers, as well as freedom to explore a range of topics in collaboration with your personal tutor and fellow students.

In your second and third year you can start to shape your degree to fit your interests; continue with a varied degree or choose to specialise. You'll also have the chance to study units outside mathematics.

After your first year, support for your studies continues in the form of drop-in sessions with lecturers, exercise and feedback classes, and student-led Maths cafés.

Third- and fourth-year units specialise in exciting modern topics, informed by the strong research culture in our school.

This taught postgraduate program is research-led and will draw heavily on academic literature. It will build on your existing knowledge of technical aspects of accounting and finance. You will develop your ability to critically analyse the nature and conditions of effectiveness for these techniques to contribute to accounting and finance practice and governance.

In the first term you will explore contemporary issues in accounting and finance research literature. You will also build key skills in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This will prepare you for the more specialist elective units taught in the second term.

The final part of the MSc is a research-based dissertation, which involves identifying and analysing a research question in accounting and/or finance under the guidance of a member of staff. For those planning on undertaking a PhD, this dissertation represents an important bridge between taught and advanced research studies.

This program develops skills for critical analysis of accounting and finance topics, which will be valuable in your future career. The strong conceptual foundation it offers will support students who want to pursue an academic or professional career in accounting or finance.

Do you enjoy both physics and computing? Our MSci Physics with Scientific Computing combines study of the building blocks and forces of nature with training in the computational and data-science skills that are currently revolutionising science and society.

Computing skills are vital across many physics-related careers. Computers control advanced instrumentation and simulations predicting the properties of the universe, from subatomic particles to the formation of galaxies.

This course offers a unique combination of units and projects blending programming, machine learning, data science and high-performance computing with fundamental concepts in physics, to produce a new kind of scientist – one with a firm foundation in physics, a sound appreciation of scientific computing and an understanding of what can be achieved by combining them.

Year one gives you a comprehensive grounding in physics, mathematics and programming, while year two focuses on the principles of physics with further emphasis on scientific coding. In your final year, you will undertake a major research project, supervised by staff with expertise in physics and computing. Our students' final-year projects address questions at the frontier of our research fields. The most successful have been published in scientific journals.

You will join a friendly department with a very active, award-winning student society. We encourage you to develop a broad range of skills, including the experimental, theoretical and computational skills needed for a career in research and industry. Our physics graduates have an excellent record of employment, a testament to the value that employers place on these skills.

If you have a fascination for physics and an appetite for scientific computing, you will enjoy this programme.

The first two years of this course provide a background in mathematical analysis, modelling and scientific computation and their application to engineering. These core topics underpin the advanced material that follows.

As well as gaining first-hand exposure to pioneering research, after your first two years you will have a wide choice of options from across engineering and mathematics to fit your interests.

A major focus of the course and a key strand throughout the curriculum is real-world problem solving, spanning many different application areas from robotics and social media to medicine and environmental modelling. Problems come from our industrial collaborators or address challenges in current research. Working on these case studies, using theory and techniques from your other units, you will develop your mathematical modelling, collaboration and communication skills.

A highlight is your final year project – a highly creative, challenging and enjoyable experience that is excellent preparation for your future career.