Economics

This masters degree will equip you with the economic knowledge and skills to be able to analyse and address the most pressing global and social challenges of our time. You’ll learn how to explain the nature, significance of and interconnections between five key global challenges: the environment, recurring crises, health inequalities, social inequalities and global inequalities. As you progress through the MSc, you’ll develop your knowledge of research methods, including econometrics and quantitative and qualitative methods, that are relevant to the economic analysis of global challenges. This will culminate in a piece of extended independent research for your dissertation. You’ll also extend and deepen the skills and attributes that are crucial to enhancing your career development and professional skills.

Modules
To gain the 180 credits you require for this qualification, you must study the modules in the order shown below:

The economics of global challenges (D815) 90
Doing pluralist economics research (D816) 90

You should note that the University’s unique study rule applies to this qualification. This means that you must include at least 60 credits from OU modules that have not been counted in any other OU qualification that has previously been awarded to you.

You must hold an UK honours degree or equivalent to be accepted for the MSc in Economics. A degree in Economics or a very closely related subject, or an undergraduate degree and our Diploma in Economics or significant professional experience, is strongly recommended. You should be aware that a degree of at least 2.1 or equivalent will greatly increase your chances of successfully completing the MSc. If you do not have a degree in Economics, it is expected that you will have knowledge of or experience working with statistics and mathematics.

Your spoken and written English must be of an adequate standard for postgraduate study. If English is not your first language, we recommend that you will need a minimum score of 6.5 under the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Please see the IELTS website for details. If you’re not sure whether your English skills are good enough, there is some help and guidance at our Skills for OU Study website.

2 years.

How long it takes
This qualification has a required study order. You will be able to complete this masters qualification within two years by studying one module each year.

See Course Web Page link for next start date.

Career relevance
This qualification will equip you with the core skills of policy relevance needed to engage with current and vitally important social issues that have economic aspects such as health, social and global inequalities, environmental sustainability and migration.

You will develop the ability to demonstrate core employability skills at an advanced level, including numeracy, information literacy, collaborative work and independent research skills. Moreover, since topics such as the functioning of markets, the behaviour of economic agents, and decision-making under conditions of risk are inherent, economics modules strongly deliver the awareness of business and customers that employers seek.

Qualifications in economics are inherently attractive to employers because of the various skills learned by graduates, including analytical thinking, model building, numeracy and data analysis. What do Graduates do? 2023 reports that "Economics graduates who had undertaken significant further study had the highest average salaries."