BSc (Hons) International Business Economics

Key information

Degree

Types of study

Full time

Duration

Three or four years depending on entry qualifications

Start date

September 2025

Faculty

Nottingham University Business School China

Study model

4+0

Note: For the 2+2 study model courses, the student will spend the last two years at our UK campus. For the 4+0 study model courses, the student will spend the entire degree programme in Ningbo, China with 'study abroad' opportunities from year three.

Introductory video

VZan

566609

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for our programmes vary depending on your school qualifications, which determine your entry into either the preliminary year (Year 1) or qualifying year (Year 2). Please visit here for more detailed information.

*Entry for Mainland Chinese students is through the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, commonly known as Gaokao.

Course overview

The programme will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of how businesses and entrepreneurs make economic decisions, and how these decisions can affect society and economic performance. You will also be equipped with the ability to apply theories to analyze economic policies and their impact on businesses.

Special features

A degree with enormous prestige in economics combined with management or other areas of business
Develops a theoretical understanding of economic issues in China with a focus on modern business and its operating environment

Course structure

The degree is offered as a three or four-year programme depending on your entry qualification.

For domestic students the course structure follows the Chinese higher education system and is based on a four-year programme. For international students, with relevant qualifications, the course structure follows the UK higher education system and is based on a three-year programme.

Preliminary year modules

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The preliminary year is designed to help you develop your English language skills so that you can make the most of your degree programme.

This special English language programme designed by the English for Academic Purposes experts at the University's Centre for English Language Education is carefully integrated with academic content modules so that you are prepared fully for years two to four of your degree programme.

*Note:

This year is not compulsory for students with appropriate qualifications for year two entry.

Compulsory

Students (excluding International students) must take all modules in this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
CELEN048	Reading and Writing in Academic Contexts	20	Autumn
CELEN069	Oral Communication Skills A	10	Autumn
CELEN042	Introduction to Business Economics	20	Autumn
CELEN121	Critical, Creative, and Reflective Thinking	10	Autumn
CELEN082	Oral Communication Skills B	10	Spring
CELEN051	English in Specific Academic Contexts a (Arts & Social Science Pathways)	20	Spring
CELEF002	Introduction to Information Technology For Business	10	Spring
CELEN041	Introduction to Business & Management	20	Spring
	Credit Total	120

International students must take all modules in this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
CELEF008	Introduction to Academic Skills	10	Autumn
CELEN109	Introduction to Statistics for Business and Economics A	10	Autumn
CELEN107	Introduction to Mathematics for Business and Economics A	10	Autumn
CELEN121	Critical, Creative, and Reflective Thinking	10	Autumn
CELEN042	Introduction to Business Economics	20	Autumn
CELEN110	Introduction to Statistics for Business and Economics B	10	Spring
CELEN108	Introduction to Mathematics for Business and Economics B	10	Spring
CELEF007	English for Specific Academic Purposes: Business and Economics	10	Spring
CELEF002	Introduction to Information Technology for Business	10	Spring
CELEN041	Introduction to Business & Management	20	Spring
	Credit Total	120

Qualifying year modules

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Compulsory

Students must take all modules in this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI1116	Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice	20	Full Year
BUSI1117	Introduction to Economics	20	Autumn
BUSI1074	Quantitative Methods 1b	10	Autumn
BUSI1118	Microeconomics for Business	20	Spring
	Credit Total	70

Restricted

Group1:

Students must take a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 50 credits from the group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI1067	Computers in Business	10	Autumn
BUSI1088	Work and Society	10	Autumn
BUSI1070	Business Finance	10	Spring
BUSI1086	Organisational Behaviour	10	Spring
BUSI1073	The Digital Economy	10	Spring
BUSI1130	Principles of Marketing	10	Spring
BUSI1091	Humanistic Philosophy in Modern Business	10	Spring
	Credit Total	70

Group2:

AND students must take a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 20 credits from the group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI1122	Introduction to Accounting	10	Autumn
BUSI1113	Fundamentals of Financial and Management Accounting	20	Full Year
BUSI1112	Business Law	20	Full Year
	Credit Total	50

Year 3 modules

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Compulsory

Students must take all modules in this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI2180	Industrial Economics I: Economics of Organisation and Innovation	20	Autumn
BUSI2105	Quantitative Methods 2A	10	Autumn
BUSI2182	Industrial Economics II: Pricing and Decision Making	20	Spring
BUSI2183	Firm Strategy and Internationalisation	20	Spring
BUSI2187	Principles of Econometrics	10	Spring
	Credit Total	80

Restricted

Group1:

Students must take a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 40 credits from this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI2179	Human Resource Management with International Perspectives	20	Autumn
BUSI2157	Management Accounting	20	Autumn
BUSI2178	Marketing Management	20	Autumn
BUSI2120	Corporate Entrepreneurship	10	Autumn
BUSI2124	Introduction to Management Science for Business Decisions	10	Autumn
BUSI2128	Analysing Organisations	10	Autumn
BUSI2189	Introduction to Business Programming	10	Autumn
BUSI2197	Macroeconomic Growth, Cycles and Policy	10	Autumn
BUSI2198	Principles of Financial Modelling and Programming	10	Autumn
ECON2043	Experimental and Behavioural Economics	10	Autumn
	Credit Total	130

Group2:

AND students must take a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 10 credits from this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
INCM2028	Cultural Analysis	10	Autumn
INCM2025	Understanding the Chinese Creative Industries	10	Autumn
	Credit Total	20

Group3:

AND students must take a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 20 credits from this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI2109	Introduction to Business Operations	10	Spring
BUSI2131	Marketing Analytics	10	Spring
BUSI2140	Principles of Taxation	10	Spring
BUSI2129	Managing Across Cultures	10	Spring
BUSI2156	Corporate Finance	20	Spring
BUSI2158	Intermediate Corporate Reporting	20	Spring
BUSI2132	The Consumer Psychology of Brands	10	Spring
BUSI2118	Database Design and Implementation	10	Spring
BUSI2190	Trends in Work and Organisations	10	Spring
BUSI2192	Fixed Income Investment	10	Spring
	Credit Total	120

Additional Module Choice Information for Year 3

Students must complete 120 credits with at least 90 credits at level 2 or above. Although 60 credits per semester is the normal allocation, University rules permit 70 credits in one semester and 50 in the other. This variation from the norm requires careful consideration and it is sensible to seek advice. Where either semester is undertaken away from UNNC on exchange, the plan for the year requires the Exchange Coordinator’s approval since exchange partners may not permit the arrangement.

In addition to the listed modules, the following modules will also be offered.

In Autumn semester:

BUSI2122 Doing Business in China A (compensatable, 10 credits, with limited capacity, aimed primarily at international students)
BUSI2199 Industry Project_Autumn (compensatable, 10 credits, with limited capacity)

In Spring semesters:

BUSI2123 Doing Business in China B (compensatable, 10 credits, with limited capacity, aimed primarily at international students)
BUSI2200 Industry Project_Spring (compensatable, 10 credits, with limited capacity)

Year 4 modules

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Compulsory

Students must take all modules in this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI3209	Capstone Project	20	Full Year
BUSI3193	Industrial Economics III: Market Structure and Competition Policy	20	Autumn
BUSI3106	Financial Economics	10	Autumn
BUSI3101	Corporate Restructuring and Governance	10	Autumn
BUSI3197	Industrial Economics IV: Games and Strategies	20	Spring
BUSI3196	Economics of Regulation and Public Choice	20	Spring
	Credit Total	100

Restricted

Group1:

Students must take a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 20 credits from this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI3188	Strategic Management: Perspective, Process and Practice	20	Full year
BUSI3189	Business Ethics and Sustainability	20	Full year
BUSI3192	Advanced Management Accounting	20	Full year
BUSI3190	Financial Markets: Theory and Computation	20	Full Year
	Credit Total	80

Group2:

Students must take a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 20 credits from this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI3194	International Business Environment and Strategy	20	Autumn
BUSI3087	International Finance	10	Autumn
BUSI3115	Logistics and Supply Chain Management	10	Autumn
BUSI3118	Marketing Services	10	Autumn
BUSI3119	Advanced Calculus for Business, Economics and Finance	10	Autumn
BUSI3122	Introduction to Data Science: Big Data Analytics in Business	10	Autumn
BUSI3123	Derivatives	10	Autumn
BUSI3195	Globalization and Innovation in China	10	Autumn
BUSI3210	Advanced Database Management	10	Autumn
BUSI3211	Big Data Marketing	10	Autumn
BUSI3213	Entrepreneurial Management	10	Autumn
BUSI3214	Performance Management and Compensation	10	Autumn
ECON2034	Labour Economics	10	Autumn
	Credit Total	140

Group3:

Students must take a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 20 credits from this group

Code	Title	Credits	Taught
BUSI3198	International Alliances	10	Spring
BUSI3110	Applied Econometrics	10	Spring
BUSI3116	Management of Quality	10	Spring
BUSI3146	Brand Management	10	Spring
BUSI3145	Digital Marketing	10	Spring
BUSI3124	Stochastic Calculus and Numerical Analysis	10	Spring
BUSI3120	Strategic Innovation Management	10	Spring
BUSI3144	Issues in Contemporary Leadership	10	Spring
BUSI3204	International Economics	10	Spring
BUSI3212	Enterprise Digitalization and Transformation	10	Spring
BUSI3215	Text Analytics in Business	10	Spring
ECON3079	Advanced Experimental and Behavioural Economics	20	Spring
	Credit Total	130

Additional Module Choice Information for Year 4

In addition to the listed modules, the following modules will also be offered.

In Autumn semester:

BUSI2199 Industry Project_Autumn (compensatable, 10 credits, with limited capacity)

In Spring semesters:

BUSI2200 Industry Project_Spring (compensatable, 10 credits, with limited capacity)

Year 4 students must select at least 100 credits at level 3 or above within 120 credits.

The number of places on ECON2034 open to IBE students is restricted to 20. If applications exceed this number, priority will be given to students with higher average marks in Year 3.

Students must take 120 credits. At least 100 credits must be at level 3. Although 60 credits per semester is the normal allocation, University rules permit 70 credits in one semester and 50 in the other. This variation from the norm requires careful consideration and it is sensible to seek advice.

*For the most up-to-date and detailed course structure, please refer to the online course catalogue.

Careers and further study

The majority of our graduates were employed by leading global companies (such as Bank of China, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, HSBC, Mars, Nestle, Abercrombie & Fitch) or went on to further study and research in the UK, America, Australia etc.

For those who pursue further study in the class of 2018, 49.5% were admitted by World Top 50 universities according to QS Ranking. Examples of further study destinations include Imperial College London, University of London, National University of Singapore and Johns Hopkins University.

Fees

Mainland Chinese students

100,000 RMB / year

Hong Kong, Macau & Taiwan students

100,000 RMB / year

International students

110,000 RMB / year

Scholarships, sponsorships and bursaries

To encourage academic excellence, we offer a comprehensive and expanding range of full and partial scholarships.

Historically nearly 30% of our undergraduate students were awarded scholarships for their entry. Once enrolled, current students are eligible for additional merit and/or performance-based scholarships and awards, which covers approximately 32.5% of our whole student body.

Please check here for scholarship types and policies for applicants from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas countries. If you are a mainland Chinese student, please visit the Chinese language prospectus.