Compulsory modules in the first year give you a firm foundation in the philosophical concepts of reason, argument, freedom and responsibility. You'll also start gaining knowledge about economics and employability, with an introductory module that will:

• provide useful information about internships in economics
• offer online training opportunities useful for your economics projects
• give you the opportunity to improve your professional skills, including presentation and writing skills

Optional modules cover a broad range of topics, allowing you to select areas that interest you the most. You can even take optional modules outside your subject areas. For example, you can learn about cultural economics (which encourages you to attend arts events to learn more about them), or learn a language.

Your core modules will include studies of microeconomics and macroeconomics together with basic philosophical topics such as appearance and reality.

You'll continue to choose from a wide selection of optional modules. You can learn economics research skills that will help to prepare you for your final year research project - and for a future career as a professional economist. There are also topics such as econometrics, which look at the nature of economic data, the methods by which it is compiled, and the problems it may present.

You'll spend your third year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions.

For your dissertation, you'll demonstrate your research and planning skills by writing a dissertation in philosophy or economics, or doing a research project in economics.

You'll also select further optional modules. These usually cover topics that academic staff are actively researching, introducing you to the latest thinking. Options include studying the work of Nietzsche, or looking at classical Indian or Islamic philosophy. You can also focus on economics modules such as the principles of finance or labour economics.