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Finance with Foundation Year at Birkbeck, University of London - UCAS

Course options

2025 - 2026
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There are other course options available which may have a different vacancy status or entry requirements – view the full list of options

Birkbeck, University of London has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.

Course summary

Our BSc Finance is designed to provide you with a core set of technically demanding, yet applications-oriented, skills in finance. It will equip you with essential skills and knowledge to enable you to compete successfully in a competitive jobs market. Why choose this course?

  • We have an excellent reputation for the quality of our teaching. Our academics are professional practitioners in the world of economics and finance who provide specialist advice and in-house training for government departments and City firms and banks, including the Treasury and Bank of England.
  • Your tutors are actively working to extend the boundaries of knowledge. Many of our academics are recognised as world-class experts in their fields and their research feeds directly into our teaching programmes.
What you will learn You will begin by attaining the IT, professional and quantitative skills you need to be successful in this degree. You will gain knowledge of how financial institutions and markets work in the UK, alongside introductory accounting and economics. This will equip you with the skills required to read and understand financial journals or simple balance sheets. You will also have the opportunity to follow your career interests taking modules from a range of options such as portfolio management and behavioural economics and finance. How you will learn This BSc Finance is is available for full- or part-time study and is taught through a combination of lectures which provide you with foundational knowledge and small-group tutorials which offer you hands-on learning. It has an evening timetable with classes taking place in the evening, so you can balance studies with work or other commitments. Foundation Year If you opt for the Foundation Year route, this will fully prepare you for undergraduate study. It is ideal if you are returning to study after a gap, or if you have not previously studied the relevant subjects, or if you didn't achieve the grades you need for a place on your chosen undergraduate degree. Highlights
  • Our BSc Finance is ideal for anyone whose ambition is to work in investment banks and other financial institutions, financial regulators or economic consultancies, as well as those hoping to continue to graduate studies in finance.
  • Goldman Sachs and Birkbeck Diversity Scholarships are available for this course for students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
  • We bring together research and teaching across economics and finance, mathematics and statistics which creates significant interdisciplinary synergies.
  • Birkbeck was ranked in the top 25 universities in the UK for its Economics and Econometrics research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.
Careers and employability On graduating, you will have gained an array of important transferable skills including:
  • the ability to analyse data and evaluate trends
  • the capacity to assess information critically and solve problems
  • effective communication of ideas, findings and recommendations to diverse audiences.
Our finance students go on to build successful careers with a variety of employers in a range of sectors, including:
  • government departments
  • the Bank of England
  • UK regulatory bodies
  • commercial banks
  • teaching.
Some also progress their studies further at master's level. We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.

Modules

For information about course structure and the modules you will be studying, please visit Birkbeck’s online prospectus.

Assessment method

Depending on the module: tests, assignments, project work, presentations and usually examinations.

How to apply

29Jan

This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.

Application codes

Please select a course option – you will then see the application code you need to use to apply for the course.

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Foundation

International applicants

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests. We also accept other English language tests.

Entry requirements

Qualification requirements

We welcome applicants without traditional entry qualifications as we base decisions on our own assessment of qualifications, knowledge and previous work experience. We may waive formal entry requirements based on judgement of academic potential.

Student Outcomes

Operated by the Office for Students
63%
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
77%
Go onto work and study

The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

England £9535 Year 1
Northern Ireland £9535 Year 1
Scotland £9535 Year 1
Wales £9535 Year 1
International £18060 Year 1

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases.
Finance with Foundation Year at Birkbeck, University of London - UCAS