BAEcon Economics and Philosophy

This course is designed for first-year undergraduate students to develop essential skills in using Microsoft Excel for a variety of academic and professional applications. By focusing on practical, hands-on experiences, students will learn to effectively use Excel for data analysis, optimization problems, financial analysis, and integration with Microsoft Word for report generation. This course will also briefly touch upon the general use of University IT systems, including library systems and citation databases.

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

- Understand and navigate University IT systems, focusing on library systems and citation/journal databases.

- Utilize Microsoft Word's advanced features, including the equation editor, styles, and endnote referencing, in conjunction with Excel data.

- Manipulate, summarize, and visually represent data in Microsoft Excel, applying various data analysis techniques.

- Employ Microsoft Excel’s solver functionality for solving constrained dynamic optimization problems.

- Integrate Excel outputs within Microsoft Word to produce quantitative reports of professional standards.

- Understand the basics of Macro and VBA Basics 

This course is designed for first-year undergraduate students to develop essential skills in using Microsoft Excel for a variety of academic and professional applications. By focusing on practical, hands-on experiences, students will learn to effectively use Excel for data analysis, optimization problems, financial analysis, and integration with Microsoft Word for report generation. This course will also briefly touch upon the general use of University IT systems, including library systems and citation databases.

At the end of this course, students will be able to: 
- Understand and navigate University IT systems, focusing on library systems and citation/journal databases such as to facilitate students’ studies. 
- Utilize Microsoft Word's advanced features, including the equation editor, styles, and endnote referencing, in conjunction with Excel data in order to be able to submit well formatted assignments. 
- Manipulate, summarize, and visually represent data in Microsoft Excel, applying various data analysis techniques in order to use data to support written arguments. 
- Employ Microsoft Excel’s solver functionality for solving constrained dynamic optimization problems. 
- Integrate Excel outputs within Microsoft Word to produce quantitative reports of professional standards. 
- Understand the basics of Macro and VBA Basics in order to automate repetitive tasks. 
 

Provisional

Core content area of the course: 
- Excel Fundamentals, e.g. Basic functions and formulas; Data entry, manipulation, and formatting 
- Data Visualisation and Dashboards, e.g., Creating and customizing charts and graphs; Advanced visualization techniques using PivotTables and PivotCharts 
- Advanced Data Analysis Techniques in Excel, e.g., Utilizing advanced functions like VLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH; Data sorting, filtering, and conditional formatting; Introduction to statistical analysis in Excel 
- Optimization and Problem Solving, e.g., Solver tool in Excel 
- Automation and Efficiency Tools, e.g., Basics of macros and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)

Synchronous activities (such as Lectures or Review and Q&A sessions, and tutorials), and guided self-study

30%      Exam

• Feedback in tutorials.
• Office hours. 
• Revision sessions. 
• Discussion boards. 
 

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £33,100 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

Learn more about student finance options for UK students.

Learn more about fees and finance for international students.

As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships . This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026