Frequently asked questions for Applied Economics

The course starts in January, May and September.

The Applied Economics (Banking and Financial Markets) online MSc will take between two years, six months (minimum) and five years (maximum) to complete.

We recommend approximately 12–15 hours of study per week.

Tailored to fit your lifestyle, our online economics degree is perfectly suited to students with full-time work commitments and/or family obligations. Online study offers multiple ways to interact with the curriculum, all designed to suit your schedule.

The units are 8 weeks in duration, and run consecutively. Over the year, there are three short breaks - in December, April and August.

• Autumn term: September to December
  Short break in December
• Spring term: January to April
  Short break in April
• Summer term: May to August
  Short break in August

Tuition fees are paid per unit at £722* per 10 credits. Fees are paid in unit instalments corresponding with the course units. Each taught 10 credit unit is £722 and for the 40 credit project students will pay two instalments of £1,444. To qualify for an MSc you will need a total of 180 credits. All courses will have the project payment split into two equal instalments with the first instalment payable in advance of the start of the project, and the second instalment due during the following enrolment and payment window period (8 weeks after the start of the project).

To enrol on our online master’s in economics, you should have the following:

• Typically you should have a first or second class bachelor’s honours degree or international equivalent. We welcome applications from those with a 2:2 honours degree (or its international equivalent) in subjects with a high level of economics content
• To apply for this course, you must have an undergraduate degree in a social science or business-related discipline such as business administration, finance, accounting, international trade, banking, financial management, public finance or politics
• We may make an offer based on a lower grade if you can provide evidence of your suitability for the degree
• If English is not your first language, you will be required to show that your first degree was principally taught and assessed in English
• Alternatively, you have passed the IELTS academic test with a grade of no less than 6.5 overall, with at least 6.0 in all of the four parts (reading, listening, writing and speaking). If you completed your degree in the UK within the last 2 years prior to the start of the course, you may be exempt from our English language requirements.

Find out how to apply

You must demonstrate basic quantitative skills through undergraduate modules in economics, maths or statistics or have another recognised qualification. If you don't have a maths qualification, then you will need to demonstrate proficiency through work experience.

Within the VLE you can access a discussion forum within each unit where you can post questions to your tutor and fellow students. You can also email any questions you may have to your lecturer. For non-academic related questions, you can contact our student support team, or if you are having a technical issue, you can ask our 24/7 technical support team.

If you have previous experience in the financial sector, then you will gain more expertise and a deeper understanding of economics and financial markets, and this course is an ideal fit for you. If you have little or no experience of the financial sector, you will still be able to complete the MSc. 

Our MSc courses are flexible and designed to fit around your lifestyle and work commitments.

Our teaching staff are all active researchers and regularly publish in the top economics journals, so you will be working with some of the UK’s leading thinkers in economics. In addition to our faculty of highly acclaimed teaching staff, we have links to a wide range of companies worldwide. This means we are in a great position to open doors for our students.

One of the main forms of interaction is on discussion forums on our VLE, where some of the weekly activities involve you sharing your thoughts in discussions with your fellow classmates. You also have the option to message each other and connect via email, text, WhatsApp and other social media platforms. 

You will be required to write a 12,000-15,000 word final project at the end of the course, which you can choose to focus on any of the research and learnings you have picked up throughout your studies. It is advised that you decide on a topic you have genuine interest in, for example you can carry out research which feeds into your current role or industry. You can refer to our article here for more information about your project.

Students are assessed through a variety of methods, including essays, reports, group work, case studies and presentations. In some cases relevant work experience can be included as curriculum credit. Find out more about the course curriculum.

All your required reading will be made available via the University Library’s reading list system and will be available to read electronically. Once you have fully registered as a student and received your university username and password, you will be able to access the Library's services and online resources. 

The course is 100% online, so there is no need to visit campus at any point during your studies. You can attend campus, for instance if you want to use the library, but it’s not a requirement.

Our online environment features regular interaction with your lectures and fellow students to give it that classroom feel. To help you connect with the content, the environment includes video content, case studies and a library of digital resources. Though our online courses allow you to study at a time and place that suits you, we do ask that you complete your assignments against a set schedule.

Find out more about studying online at Bath

It is recommended you have the following operating systems in order to fully enjoy the benefits of our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE): either Windows 8, 10, or 11, Mac OS X 10.11 or later, Linux based operating systems will likely be sufficient but please note they are not officially supported by our technical support teams. You will need RAM of 4 GB or more and high-speed/broadband connection (at least 25Mbps). If you are unsure, you can test your internet speed here. 

It is also important you have an up-to-date web browser, listed here: Chrome (version 30.0 or higher), Firefox (version 25.0 or higher), Microsoft Edge, or Safari (version 6 or higher). Cookies must be enabled in your browser for our VLE to function correctly. Most browsers have cookies enabled by default. If you are unsure whether your browser is configured properly, please contact technical support for advice.

You will be assessed in a variety of ways, including essay questions, data analysis and investigating case studies. You may be asked to submit a video and present your findings. Often, assessments revolve around solving real-life problem scenarios. 

The first part of the course will discuss banking and financial topics within a more general framework, with a focus on economics. The later units within the course are dedicated to investigating banking and financial international markets. We cover topics such as economics of financial institutions, international monetary policy institutions and applied financial markets. 

With a focus on applied practices and employability, the skills taught throughout the Applied Economics (Banking and Financial Markets) online MSc pave the way for a number of economics careers. Many graduates go on to work in banking and finance or public economics in government or industry sectors. Some have used the skills take on roles in economics think tanks.

The degree certificate and transcript do not mention ‘online’, and the degree qualification is equivalent to a full-time campus degree.