Business Economics

• UC is the only Aotearoa New Zealand university to offer a pathway that combines Economics with at least one other commerce discipline in a formal major.
• The Business Economics major at UC combines knowledge of an academically rigorous discipline with skills that equip graduates to be work-ready. For example, the third-year capstone course ECON 310 Economic Thinking for Business has a strong community engagement emphasis. It looks at the application of economics with regard to incentives, opportunity cost, and constrained optimisation to actual business and real world problems. This sort of learning ensures that graduates can demonstrate the use of skills that employers demand and value.
• Students majoring in Business Economics can also take advantage of the Economics and Finance internship courses to further their work-ready skills in real businesses.

While previous study of economics is useful preparation, it is not essential to have studied economics at secondary school level. The Business Economics major does not require mathematics.

A broad education, including history and English, is useful to develop the ability to write clearly and analyse written material.

Graduates in Business Economics are well prepared for employment in many areas of government and business, where it is recognised that an economist's education provides valuable training for a professional career, as well as good preparation for an executive, entrepreneurial, or administrative career.

The inclusion of a second business discipline gives breadth to a degree that requires good analytical and problem-solving skills.

Professional business economists are employed to conduct research and give advice on economic matters in various organisations such as government ministries and state-owned enterprises (eg, Treasury, Health, Social Development, Agriculture and Forestry, Foreign Affairs and Trade). Graduates also find work in marketing organisations, Te Pūtea Matua | Reserve Bank, Tatauranga Aotearoa | Stats NZ, trading and merchant banks, stockbroking, insurance, trade commissions, local authorities, market research and other consultancies, and large businesses.

Those who are passionate about economics and education can also go on to teaching careers in schools or universities.

Find out more about what you can do with a degree in Business Economics.