Are you passionate about the business and finance sector? Do you follow the national and international news? Then, an Economics degree is the answer. It has always been one of the most sought-after degrees amongst youth.
Economics degrees are designed to tackle all the issues that have an impact on financial situations, ranging from production to how resources are used. Candidates are trained to understand how the economy suffers fluctuations based on the market’s needs and wants followed by the market’s supply and demand.
By far one of the most crucial elements is that economics is divided into microeconomics and macroeconomic. Microeconomics deals with the economic behaviour at an individual level (companies, buyers, sellers and others), whilst macroeconomics illustrates the bigger picture, on a national or global scale (unemployment, economic growth, inflation and so on).
Having an economics degree increases anyone’s chances to find a job, regardless of the field. This is mainly due to the fact that graduates hold many transferable abilities, such as analytical and problem-solving skills, that are suitable for any career.
A study made by the London School of Economics and Political Science showed that graduates from an economics course have a starting salary of £33,000 per year. Having a job in the field right after graduation is a major positive aspect and comes with a lot of opportunities for career advancement.
Economics degrees are usually a three years commitment and sometimes are offered as part of a joint degree. This means that Economics can be studied along with another subject such as engineering, management, law, computer science and others.
This degree can be found either as a Bachelor of Science (BSc) or Bachelor of Arts (BA). The BSc focuses more on economical theory and statistical techniques, while BA is combined with social sciences and qualitative modules.
As I am just starting off in September, I do not have any hands-on information about the education or the university itself. However, I can tell you about the experience I have had with the admin staff, which was always extremely positive. As I am a scholarship student, I had some hardships with reserving my place as I needed to wait for the result of my scholarship application, otherwise, I would not have been able to attend the university. They kindly offered me to hold my place without paying which was a big help for me. Additionally, any time I had problems with the IT system or any administrative task they would always help me in a day or two.
View moreESADE is an excellent business school, definitely in my opinion in Europe’s top 3. The university success factors are (1) superior career services department (through which I was able to secure a great job in the middle of my first year of my MSc in Finance without having had extensive previous professional experience), (2) diversity and quality of fellow students (having had friends in most European business schools and having shared our different experiences, it seems ESADE offered the best fit for me in terms of people, who are smart, professionally driven yet very social and down to earth/not superficial like those that can be found in other schools), (3) content and work-format (ESADE does not follow a purely academic/theoretical framework but rather incentivises students to interact through group work, presentations, debates, workshops, guess speakers, which is highly relevant with and applicable to the workplace). In the end, the actual content that students learn in different business schools or masters will more or less always be the same, which therefore should not be something to factor in too much when making your choice of which school to attend. What matters is the way it is taught, the people you work with (fellow students and teachers) and the career programs made available to you. My last factor is (4) the city of Barcelona that is an ideal place to study in as it offers a new language to learn as opposed to most other European business schools, a great social life and a “hot” scene for those wanting to enter (tech) startups. I definitely recommend applying there, you will not regret the experience and the (long-term) benefits Esade offers!
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