BSc International Business, Finance and Economics / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course description

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Why study International Business, Finance and Economics at Alliance MBS?

This interdisciplinary course offers you the opportunity to study a wide range of course units across finance, accounting, economics, business analysis, innovation, strategy and political economy.

You will study the technical tools and techniques required to measure and assess business performance, while also emphasising the importance of changing economic contexts. You will also have the opportunity to learn a foreign language as part of your degree.

Aims

This course aims to offer you an inter-disciplinary social science perspective on business that is strongly informed by leading contemporary research and which introduces you to competing and complementary perspectives on business issues.

Special features

  • Join one of the UK's longest established centres for the study of economics.
  • Optional language study in years 2 and 3
  • Selected course units grant exemptions from professional exams

Teaching and learning

You will normally study four or five course units per semester. Each week there are usually two hours of lectures for each course unit and a one hour workshop in alternate weeks, although this varies slightly. You are expected to double this in private study. Group work and group or individual presentations will form a regular part of your assignments.

Coursework and assessment

Essays, multiple choice tests, project reports and presentations, in-class tests and weekly assignments constitute the coursework component of assessment, although the nature and proportion of coursework varies across course units. The remainder of assessment is by unseen examination. We aim to strike a balance between examinations and assessed coursework as well as providing opportunities for feedback on progress through non-assessed work.

Course content for year 1

All students take BMAN10931 Financial and Digital Innovations in International Business, BMAN10501 Financial Reporting, ECON10221 Microeconomics 1, BMAN10512 Introductory Management Accounting, BMAN10522M Financial Decision Making (M), ECON10252 Macroeconomics 1, and BMAN10780 Academic And Career Development. These together form 80 credits.

Students who have taken A-level Maths (or equivalent) must take ECON10071 Advanced Mathematics and ECON10072 Advanced Statistics (together 20 credits).

Students who have taken GCSE Maths but not A-level Maths (or equivalent) take ECON10061 Introductory Mathematics and SOST10062 Introductory Statistics for Economists (together 20 credits).

Students have a choice of taking either SOCY10912 Work, Organisations and Society (20 credits), or BMAN10252 Fundamentals of Technological Change together with MCEL10002 Entrepreneurial Skills (together 20 credits).

Course units for year 1

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Financial Reporting BMAN10501 10 Mandatory
Introductory Management Accounting BMAN10512 10 Mandatory
Financial Decision Making M BMAN10522M 10 Mandatory
Academic and Career Development BMAN10780 10 Mandatory
Finance and Innovation in International Business BMAN10931 20 Mandatory
Microeconomics 1 ECON10221 10 Mandatory
Macroeconomics 1 ECON10252 10 Mandatory
Fundamentals of Technological Change BMAN10252 10 Optional
Introductory Mathematics ECON10061 10 Optional
Advanced Mathematics ECON10071A 10 Optional
Advanced Statistics ECON10072A 10 Optional
Work, Organisations and Society SOCY10912 20 Optional
Introductory Statistics for Economists SOST10062 10 Optional
Displaying 10 of 13 course units for year 1

Course content for year 2

You will study core course units in finance, managerial economics and business strategy and choose options from accounting and finance, economics and contexts for international business. You will gain practical report writing, financial and competitor analysis and database skills through a core unit in international business strategy, using a real-life case study. Previous IBFE students analysed the performance of global earthmoving machinery giant, Caterpillar Inc.

IBFE focuses on the international context within which global businesses operate and is well-suited to students seeking international graduate positions in the UK and abroad. As such, in your second year you have the option to learn a language (which can be continued into your final year). You can choose from around 15 different languages at varying levels - visit the Language Centre for more details. The majority of language courses have a 20 credit rating and run for the entire session (both semesters).

IBFE students can also choose up to 10 credits from a range of University College level 2 course units, including the Manchester Leadership Programme .

Course units for year 2

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Foundations of Finance A BMAN23000A 20 Mandatory
Fundamentals of Strategy BMAN24492 10 Mandatory
Managerial Economics I ECON20001 20 Mandatory
Investment Analysis BMAN20072 10 Optional
Financial Statement Analysis BMAN20081 10 Optional
Marketing BMAN20832 10 Optional
Financial Markets and Institutions BMAN21011 10 Optional
Financial Reporting and Accountability BMAN21020A 20 Optional
Intermediate Management Accounting BMAN21040A 20 Optional
Business Law 1: Law, Business Liabilities and the Consumer BMAN24042 10 Optional
Mergers & Acquisitions: Financial Perspectives BMAN24102 10 Optional
Creativity, Design & Entrepreneurship BMAN24241 20 Optional
International Business BMAN24312 20 Optional
FinTech, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies BMAN24582 20 Optional
Advanced Mathematics ECON20071 10 Optional
Advanced Statistics ECON20072 10 Optional
Econometrics ECON20110 20 Optional
Introduction to Mathematical Economics ECON20192 10 Optional
Microeconomics 2 ECON20232 10 Optional
Macroeconomics 2 ECON20262 10 Optional
Development Economics: Growth, Capital Accumulation and Structural Change ECON20321 10 Optional
Development Economics: Understanding Poverty ECON20332 10 Optional
Economics for Public Policy ECON20431 10 Optional
Security Studies POLI20332 20 Optional
Questions About International Politics POLI20521 20 Optional
The Politics of Globalisation POLI20711 20 Optional
The Politics of Development POLI20722 20 Optional
Comparative West European Politics POLI21001 20 Optional
Southern European Politics POLI21012 20 Optional
Political and Economic Anthropology SOAN20821 20 Optional
Work, Economy and Society SOCY20032 20 Optional
Racism and Ethnicity in the UK SOCY20961 20 Optional
Displaying 10 of 32 course units for year 2

Course content for year 3

As well as compulsory course units in international finance, managerial economics and international business analysis, there are options in accounting and finance, contexts for international business, economics and modern languages. You will choose 60 credits of optional course units, enabling you to specialise.

The International Business Analysis Project allows you to critically analyse contemporary business practice from a social and political perspective. You will question the classical strategy tradition by exploring how the pressure to deliver shareholder value complicates the job of management. You will explore these ideas through real-life case studies, including a recently collapsed bank (Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns) and GlaxoSmithKline.

Course units for year 3

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
International Finance BMAN30060 20 Mandatory
International Business Analysis Project: Corporate Management in a Wider Context BMAN33000 20 Mandatory
Managerial Economics II ECON31002 20 Mandatory
Business Law 2: Law and the Modern Corporation in an International Context BMAN24052 10 Optional
Marketing BMAN30021 10 Optional
Contemporary Issues in Financial Reporting and Regulation BMAN30030 20 Optional
Human Resource Management BMAN30042 10 Optional
Share Prices and Accounting Information BMAN30071 10 Optional
Financial Derivatives BMAN30091 10 Optional
Advanced Corporate Finance BMAN30111A 20 Optional
Accountability and Auditing BMAN30131 10 Optional
Digital Transformation in Accounting BMAN30151 10 Optional
Corporate Governance in Context BMAN30211 10 Optional
Financial Engineering BMAN30242 10 Optional
Corporate Contracting and Managerial Behaviour BMAN30702 10 Optional
Advanced Management Accounting BMAN31040 20 Optional
Wicked Problems: Clumsy Solutions - Leadership in Healthcare BMAN31762 20 Optional
Financial Market Microstructure BMAN31792 10 Optional
Human Resource Strategy and Practice BMAN31901 20 Optional
Innovation and Markets BMAN31911 20 Optional
Global Management, People and the Digital Divide BMAN32062 20 Optional
Advanced International Business BMAN32071 20 Optional
FinTech Revolution: The Digital Transformation of Financial Services BMAN32272 20 Optional
Econometrics ECON20110 20 Optional
Mathematical Economics I ECON20120 20 Optional
Microeconomics 3 ECON30021 10 Optional
Microeconomics 4 ECON30022 10 Optional
Macroeconomics 3 ECON30031 10 Optional
Econometrics ECON30370 20 Optional
Topics in Development Economics ECON30451 20 Optional
Advanced Econometrics ECON31031 20 Optional
Econometrics and Data Science ECON32252 20 Optional
Developing Business Ideas MCEL30111 10 Optional
The Politics of the European Union POLI30032 20 Optional
Displaying 10 of 34 course units for year 3

Scholarships and bursaries

The Manchester Bursary is available to UK students registered on an undergraduate degree course at Alliance MBS who have had a full financial assessment carried out by Student Finance England. 

In addition, Alliance MBS will award a range of Social Responsibility Scholarships to UK and international/EU students. These awards are worth £2,000 per year across three years of study. You must achieve A*AA at A-level (or equivalent qualification) and be able to demonstrate a significant contribution and commitment to social responsibility. The School will also award a number of International Stellar Scholarships to international students achieving A*AA at A-level (or equivalent qualification). Additional eligibility criteria apply - please see our scholarship pages for full details.

What our students say

'I've always been quite a numerical and analytical person, so the finance-related course units stood out for me the most. International Finance, Financial Derivatives and Financial Markets and Institutions helped me to understand the underlying problems that were the catalyst for the financial crisis. I enjoyed learning about this in greater depth than just reading what was published in newspapers.

I've accepted a job offer from KPMG and plan to study for the CFA qualification, for which they fund me. I would like to travel the world, working in various places such as LA, New York, Sydney and Tokyo, but I would also like to see what it's like working at a Hedge Fund at some point.'

- Sean Crowther

'IBFE offers a unique combination of the three disciplines I was most interested in. In a few months I am going to Los Angeles to represent MBS at a business case competition. There is no shortage of societies, sports clubs and various activities to get involved in. I learned about stock markets and investing at the trading and investing society, played business games and learned about career options with the AKPsi fraternity, climbed rocks, discussed philosophy, played poker...'

- Artem Bocharov

Facilities

John Rylands University Library is renowned as one of the most extensive libraries in the world. This is complemented by our specialist business and management Eddie Davies Library which provides a dedicated service to Alliance Manchester Business School undergraduates. There is increasing provision of information via various web-based services and much of your reading material will be available through e-journals. These and other standard computing services, such as access to the internet and word processing, are available through computer clusters across campus in departmental buildings, libraries and halls of residence. Many buildings in and around the campus are also equipped with free wifi access.

Personal development plans

PDPs are aimed at helping you develop awareness of generic transferable and subject-specific skills, improve independent learning and provide a record of your academic learning and achievement.

Academic advisors

All new Alliance Manchester Business School students are allocated an academic advisor who you will meet in regular sessions as part of a first-year course unit. Where possible, you will keep the same academic advisor throughout your time here. Your advisor will support you throughout your studies on matters of an academic nature, from providing feedback on a practice essay in preparation for your `formal' assessment at the end of each semester to discussing your PDP or writing you a reference. We also have a dedicated undergraduate assessment and student support centre within the School, who will be your first point of contact for any ill health or other personal problems which are affecting your work.

Student mentoring

We operate a peer mentoring scheme which aims to provide you with a second or final year 'mentor' to provide practical assistance with orientation and induction as well as advice and information on any aspect of student life.

Disability support

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email:  dass@manchester.ac.uk