Finance and Investment BSc(Hons)

Course in brief

What makes a smart investment? How do traders make markets work for them?

This course prepares you for employment in a wide range of industries, such as stockbroking, fund management, investment management and banking. It equips you with a solid grounding in the principles of finance and investment, which can be applied to a broad range of financial issues in the UK and international economy.

You will have the opportunity to work in our real-time trading room which is fed with up-to-the-minute data from Reuters. Students can apply their skills to real markets and real data, and make use of simulation software to recreate the pressure of a trading floor. There are only a handful of such facilities nationwide. Trading sessions are supervised by guest traders who pass on their own extensive trading experience.

A distinctive feature of the course is the work placement year. Having a year's experience on your CV differentiates you from other graduates and many students return to university for their final year with firm job offers.

This course is accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Association of International Accountants (AIA) and the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). Graduates will be exempt from some of the foundation level exams set by these professional bodies.

University of Brighton students earn up to £22,000 during year-long placement work with some of the biggest names in commerce and industry.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Moulsecoomb

UCAS code N390

Full-time 3 years
With placement year 4 years

Accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Chartered Insurance Institute

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Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course if you wish to begin studying with us in 2017. They should be used as a general guide.

We operate a flexible admissions policy – this means that you could receive a lower conditional offer than the typical offer, informed by our assessment of your complementary non-academic achievements and experiences. For courses that require interview or portfolio review, this may also be considered in the level of any conditional offer that follows if your application is successful.

A-levels
BBC. Excludes General Studies.

BTEC
DMM.

International Baccalaureate
28 points including 16 at higher level.

Access to HE Diploma
pass with 60 credits overall. Units in accounting and finance, business or management required. At least 45 credits at level 3, with 24 credits at merit or above.

GCSE (minimum grade C)
at least three subjects including English language and mathematics.

Foundation degree/HND
may enable you to start the course in year 2. Relevant subjects required.

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.0, with 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

Course in detail

Course structure

In your first year, you will be introduced to the core principles of finance and investment.

Subsequently, you will specialise in the areas of the course that interest you the most.

There is the opportunity to undertake an optional placement year. This will develop your understanding of finance and investment, enhance your CV and improve your employment prospects.

You will mainly be assessed through group work, presentations, exams and essays.

Finance and Investment accreditation logos

Year 1

In your first year you will be introduced to the core disciplines of economics, finance, accounting and quantitative research.

Modules

Financial Accounting
Introduction to Finance
Economics
Financial Skills
Academic and Professional Skills

Year 2

In your second year, you will be encouraged to identify which areas of the degree interest you most. You will go on to study these in more detail in your third year.

Modules will build on what you have learned in your first year.

Modules

Corporate Analysis
Finance and Risk Management
International Financial Economics
Monetary Economics: Theory and Policy
Investment Case Study
Professional Practice

Placement year

You may opt to undertake training with an appropriate employer on completion of your second year.

This optional sandwich year will develop your understanding of finance and investment, enhance your CV and improve your employment prospects.

The placement year will also help to prepare you for your final year, in which you will develop and consolidate what you have learned throughout the course.

Final year

In your final year you will specialise in the areas of the degree which interest you the most.

You will choose between option modules and may complete a dissertation that will allow you to substantially develop your knowledge in a particular area.

Completing a dissertation will also help you to acquire research skills and may be particularly useful if you are interested in extending your academic experience to a postgraduate level.

Modules

Advanced Treasury Risk Management
Investment Management
Applied Financial Techniques
Economic and Legal Regulation

Options:

Placement Project
Dissertation
Financial Econometrics
Behavioural Economics
International Finance
Game Theory in Economics, Finance and Business
Taxation
Applied Strategy

Cutting-edge IT

You will be trained to use the latest IT tools and apply them to a variety of situations.

Our real-time trading room is fed with up-to-the-minute data from Reuters. You will be given the opportunity to apply your skills to real markets and real data, and make use of simulation software to recreate the pressure of a trading floor. There are only a handful of such facilities nationwide. Trading sessions are supervised by guest traders who pass on their own extensive trading experience.

The trading room allows students to use state-of-the-art software and use a range of financial information and data in their assignments.

Module in focus

The Professional Practice Module

The aim of this module is to encourage students to engage with the options that they face at the end of the course and to consider the skills and experience that they will require in order to get to where they want to be.

The initial focus is the placement year. Even if students decide not to take the option of a placement, they will need to complete the application process for a number of suitable positions and take part in a simulated interview for one of the positions.

There will be opportunities to discuss contemporary developments with industry specialists, to participate in field trips and to get an introduction to the advanced quantitative and software skills that they may require for some of the career options that they are available in this field.

Applied Financial Techniques

Working in the dealing room, students will take part in a number of simulations of market activity, gaining experience of issues at the forefront of the evolution of the financial markets.

You will develop your technical language and their use of contemporary financial methods and techniques. You will practice using financial information systems and to be able to locate, extract, manage and analyse data from multiple sources.

By the end of this module you will have an understanding of the structure of the financial system and have developed knowledge about the way that the financial system are influenced by the environment in which the markets operate.

Student society

The Investment and Trading Society gives students the opportunity to take part in real-time trading competitions against other universities, attend guest talks, take field trips and take advantage of internships and postgraduate posts.

The opportunities to take part in real-time trading competitions against other universities, guest talks, field trips and receive advice about applying for jobs, internships and post-graduate posts will help you towards a higher grade and improve your prospects once you leave university.

Rob Hayward, course leader

Careers and employability

The course will prepare you for a wide range of careers in finance and investment.

The UK's banking, investment and insurance industry includes investment banks, commercial banks, building societies, broking firms, independent financial advisers and insurance companies. You will be equipped to enter any one of these sectors.

There are also opportunities for graduates to work in the financial or treasury departments of large companies.

The course is highly relevant if you wish to become a management consultant, financial market regulator or active in governmental services where a knowledge of the financial system may be required.

Finance and Investment BSc graduates have gone on to work at Barclays, Lloyds, Bain Capital, Swiss Re, American Express, Microsoft, UBS, Findessa, Goldman Sachs and the Eurasian National Resources Corporation.

Careers Service

The university's Careers Service offers guidance relating to any aspect of your career planning and development. The service is in regular contact with over 1,800 employers who post vacancies and attend our careers fairs.

Careers counsellor

As the Business School's careers counsellor, Christine Keiller helps you to write your CV, prepare for interviews and plan your career. She also works closely with tutors to ensure that our courses teach vocational skills as well as academic ones.

Entrepreneurship network

Beepurple is the university’s entrepreneurship network. By taking part in beepurple activities, you will meet like-minded people, hear how other recent graduates have set up their own businesses and gain key enterprise skills that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Mentoring scheme

Momentum is our award-winning mentoring scheme. It pairs students with professionals who wish to share their experience. Students and their mentors meet regularly to exchange ideas. The scheme helps students to develop new skills and enhance their career prospects.

Links with industry

"Our students engage with industry through work placements, projects and guest speakers. This close link with industry often provides our students with opportunities to get a job. This is what the business school is all about."

Aidan Berry, Director of Brighton Business School

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (full-time) 9,000 GBP

International (full-time) 12,420 GBP

If you choose to take the professional placement (sandwich) year offered on this course you will pay a reduced fee during this year. Our fee for the professional placement year is £1,000 for home students and £2,000 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2013-14. Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or criminal record checks, field trips or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply please check with the school that provides your course using the contact details on the left of this page for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

Our website www.brighton.ac.uk/money provides advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee paying status

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Brighton has been called the happiest place in the UK, and it’s easy to see why. With five miles of pebble beach, more than 300 pubs and a packed festival calendar, Brighton is the ideal place to spend your student years.

Arts and culture: The Royal Pavilion is the most famous landmark in Brighton, opening its doors to around 400,000 tourists every year. Right next door is the Brighton Dome, the south coast’s premier multi-arts venue, and the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, which holds a diverse collection of decorative arts, textiles and archaeological artefacts.

Festivals: The Brighton Festival is now the largest arts festival in England and a major milestone in the international cultural calendar. Meanwhile, The Great Escape has been established as the UK’s leading event for new music, with over 300 bands playing 30 venues across the city over three days.

Nightlife: Aside from the many nightclubs that line the city’s seafront, student favourites include The Haunt, Concorde 2 and Patterns, which attract leading bands and DJs from around the world. If you don’t feel like dancing, you can take your pick from the many hundreds of pubs and bars that dot the city centre.

Shopping: The quirky North Laine district houses Brighton’s finest collection of boutique shops and independent cafes, while the narrow, winding streets of the South Lanes house collections of jewellery and antiques. Churchill Square is the city’s main shopping centre and serves all of your high street needs.

Sports: Brighton’s seaside location offers the perfect opportunity to try paddle boarding, kayaking and windsurfing. Further into the city, The Level has a skate park for skateboarders and BMX riders to practise their skills.

Campus where this course is taught

Moulsecoomb campus

Just two miles north of Brighton city centre and the seafront, Moulsecoomb is the largest of our five campuses with more than 8,000 students. A wide variety of subjects are taught here, from engineering and product design to business and law.

Students benefit from many professional-standard facilities, including a flight simulator, design and digital media suites, and specialist research laboratories. The campus library, Aldrich, offers long opening hours and a diverse collection of books and journals for students from all subject areas.

Sports enthusiasts will enjoy our basketball and badminton courts, fitness suite and climbing wall. The campus is also a few minutes walk from the South Downs National Park, providing a great place to relax during the summer months.

Accommodation

Brighton

Our Brighton halls of residence are located across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

Our Grand Parade campus is in central Brighton and has one hall of residence, Phoenix Brewery, within walking distance. We have around 300 rooms available in Phoenix Brewery, which are all ensuite and self-catered.

Moulsecoomb is two miles from the city centre and also has one hall of residence, Moulsecoomb Place, on campus. All accommodation in Moulsecoomb Place is catered, offering breakfast and an evening meal during term time. There are more than 150 rooms available here, with six to eight rooms per flat.

Varley Park offers the biggest choice of student accommodation with ten halls of residence. The site is four miles from Brighton centre but within walking distance of Falmer train station. You can also catch a free bus service to Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb and Falmer campuses, which is operated by local bus service The Big Lemon.

Falmer campus has two halls of residence: Great Wilkins and Paddock Field. Great Wilkins offers 150+ self-catered single rooms and one-bed couples flats, while Paddock Field offers 450+ catered and self-catered single rooms only. All rooms in Falmer are en-suite.

Aside from halls, you have the option of Unihomes, which we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords. The rent covers all utilities and includes £5,000 of contents insurance for your personal belongings.

You can also choose to join the many students who live away from campus in private rented accommodation. We have a list of high-quality, university-endorsed private sector accommodation and can help you find housemates to move in with.

If you have any questions about accommodation in Brighton, our accommodation team will be happy to help. You can contact them by email at accommodation@brighton.ac.uk or by telephone on 01273 644100.

Paddock Field

Moulsecoomb Place

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Moulsecoomb campus map

Unistats

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats is an organisation that collects specific data about university courses in the UK which enables you to compare information that is important in your decision-making when choosing a university. All universities publish Unistats data on their online course pages.

Wherever we can we have provided extra information here to help put the data into context so that it is as useful as possible when you are making decisions.

In addition to the 18% contact time, you will also benefit from unscheduled contact time which may be spent one on one with tutors, working with the placements office or meeting with the careers counsellor.

Programme specification

Programme specifications are the official university documents that describe each course in detail. They reflect the course as it is being taught to students who started their course in this academic year. They are updated every summer, and give a very detailed breakdown of what your course might look like.

Programme specification

Find out more

Brighton Business School
01273 642151
undergrad.business@brighton.ac.uk

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Student views

Jimmy Meghani

"The best part of my course is the pace of it; it gives a real feel for working in the financial markets; dynamic and vibrant, full of energy and knowledge.

"The University of Brighton has been very helpful. Not just in terms of academic development but also personal development.

"The course will certainly help my career as it has strengthened my academic knowledge of economic and financial theories. It has helped me to get an internship at The Walt Disney Company as a finance analyst and also a summer internship at Bank of America.

"This is a great place to study and you should cherish every moment you have here."