Banking and Finance with Foundation Year BSc (Hons)

Buckinghamshire New University

From day one, your future career is our focus. With smaller class sizes, you’ll have access to one-to-one teaching and support. Our academics have a wide range of educational and professional experience as well as extensive links with industry.

Our BSc (Hons) Banking and Finance degree will help prepare you for a career in a number of sectors related to banking and investment, such as financial regulation, insurance or accounting. With modules on employability, and a strong emphasis on flexibility, teamwork and creative solutions, you’ll graduate ready to succeed in your working life.

Why study this subject? Banking and financial services is a highly competitive and rapidly changing sector. In recent years, factors such as globalisation, technological changes, regulatory and international integration have fundamentally transformed the banking and financial services sector.

Banks have responded to growing pressure by diversifying into new activities. Non-bank organisations such as supermarkets and telecommunications firms now compete directly in financial services markets. These new survival tactics now require an increase in talent, a 2018 report by Deloitte with London, home to many of the UK’s largest banks, predicts a 34% growth in jobs in the next 30 years.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University? Our degree focuses on your future employability, giving you a thorough understanding of the economics of banking and finance.

Our strong links with industry helped to shape this programme and we will help you gain ‘employable knowledge’, which can be applied to real-world situations, providing you with the skills you need to find the right role after you graduate.

On this course, you will study the theory and practice of financial services and financial markets from a national and international perspective. This course explores in detail the development challenges and analyses the broader role, and importance of, the financial sector in the national and global economies.

We are committed to providing you with the best learning experience. Our team of dedicated and supportive lecturers have strong links with industry. We also welcome a wealth of guest speakers to help you understand how your degree applies to working in business, and how you can learn from their experiences.

What will I study? This course provides you with a strong foundation in the disciplines offered in BNU Business School – data analysis for decision making, corporate law, finance and accounting, strategic thinking, client-focussed projects – together with in-depth study of core topics in the Banking and Finance field.

In years two and three, you will be able to develop your skills further. Through the combination of module choice, topic selection and the dissertation or consultancy project, you will have the flexibility to tailor the content in your studies to match your interests and employment aspirations, whilst gaining a broad understanding of financial markets, its activities, and its products.

How will I be taught and assessed? This course is offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate degree.

A key feature of the programme is to blend both academic study and skills development in order to enhance your employability prospects.

You will develop key skills, such as problem solving, analytical, and decision making which will ensure you are well placed to enter the employment market.

You will also have the opportunity to collaborate on projects and live briefs with students from other business management degree programmes.

You'll be assessed through essays, coursework assignments, individual and group research projects, exams and a final-year dissertation or project.