Program Overview

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Undergraduate

Economics

Economics provides you with a concentrated program of study in economics and is ideal for anyone planning a career as an economic analyst or forecaster.

Course Details

• Duration: 3 years (BCom); 4 years (BPhil [Hons])
• Locations: Perth (Crawley campus)
• Attendance: Full-time, Part-time
• Delivery: On-campus
• Starting dates: Semester 1, Semester 2
• Weekly contact time: 12-15 contact hours, plus at least twice as much of your own study time
• Level of study: Undergraduate
• Course Code: MJD-ECNPF

Careers and Further Study

This course opens up a world of future study pathways and career opportunities.

Career Pathways

Employment prospects for economists are strong, and graduates can pursue careers as specialist economists in government and business, or as economic consultants, economic analysts, and policy advisers. Graduates have found employment in the Australian and State Treasuries, the Australian Reserve Bank, as well as in economic consultancies and major companies.

Further Study

Students can pursue further studies at honours level or undertake a specialist master's degree such as the Master of Economics. They can also choose to complete a generalist master's degree such as the Master of Commerce or (after appropriate work experience) the Master of Business Administration.

Fees and Scholarships

Domestic Student Fees

For Commonwealth-supported places, student contribution amounts are charged by unit, based on area of study. For a fee estimate, go to the Fee Calculator and select "I want to price my units". Fees are subject to annual indexation. Refer to the Handbook to identify the units required.

International Student Fees

Annual course fee: $48,000.00 (2025)

Onshore international students are charged an annual course fee, charged per credit point at a rate dependent on the course in which the student is enrolled. Annual course fees are calculated based on an annual study load. Check the handbook to confirm the annual study load for your course.

Scholarships

Scholarships are available to students from a diverse range of backgrounds, including academic achievement, financial need, educational disadvantage, leadership, and community service, artistic or sporting achievements, and being from a rural or remote area.

Admission Requirements

Minimum Entry Requirements

Below you'll find a list of admission equivalencies for this course's Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR).

• All India Senior School Certificate (CBSE): 14
• Canadian High School (except Quebec): 75
• French Baccalaureate: 12.5
• Gao Kao (PR China NCEE)/750: 544
• GCE A-Levels: 10
• German Abitur: 3
• Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education: 16.5
• Indian Senior School Certificate (CISCE): 69
• Indonesian Sekolah Menengah Atas (SMA) - Pass of 65: 82.5
• International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB): 28
• Malaysian STPM: 13
• Monash University Foundation Year: 288
• NCUK Foundation Program: 10
• Norwegian Vitnemål: 4.2
• Singapore - Cambridge A Levels: 10
• South African National Senior Certificate: 5.2
• South Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT): 336
• Sweden Slutbetyg: 16
• Trinity College Foundation: 320
• Unified Examination Certificate (UEC): 10
• University of Western Australia College (UWAC) Foundation Program: 70
• US College Board Advanced Placements: 10
• US College Board SAT: 1220
• Western Australian Universities' Foundation Program (WAUFP): 64
• Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) 2016 onwards: 85

Maths Requirement

• Prerequisite subjects: Mathematics Applications ATAR

English Competency

• Minimum overall IELTS score of 6.5, with no band less than 6.0.

How to Apply

The application process to this course is different for the assured and graduate entry pathways, and for international and domestic applicants.

Domestic Pathways

• Domestic Assured Pathway/School Leaver Entry: Applications are lodged via TISC. Refer to TISC Online for current course codes and application deadlines.
• Domestic Graduate Entry: Applications are lodged via GEMSAS, which open and close in accordance with the GEMSAS timeline. All domestic applicants must submit a valid GAMSAT score by the application closing date.

International Pathways

• International Assured Pathway/School Leaver Entry: Applications are lodged via UWA's online application system or via an authorised international education agent.
• International Graduate Entry: Applications are lodged via UWA's online application system or via an authorised international education agent.

Course Structure

Our undergraduate degrees offer you a broad range of options allowing you to combine subjects in a way that matches your career goals and personal interests.

Level 1

• Core: Take all units (24 points):
  • ECON1101 Microeconomics: Prices and Markets (6)
  • ECON1102 Macroeconomics: Money and Finance (6)
  • FINA1221 Introduction to Finance (6)
  • STAT1520 Economic and Business Statistics (6)
• Bridging: Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in Mathematics Methods ATAR or equivalent or higher are required to complete ECON1111.
  • ECON1111 Quantitative Methods for Business and Economics (6)

Level 2

• Core: Take all units (24 points):
  • ECON2233 Microeconomics: Policy and Applications (6)
  • ECON2234 Macroeconomics: Policy and Applications (6)
  • ECON2271 Introductory Econometrics (6)
  • ECON2272 Intermediate Mathematics for Economists (6)
• Option: Take unit(s) to the value of 6 points:
  • ECON2105 Rise of the Global Economy (6)
  • ECON2106 Asia in the World Economy (6)
  • ECON2210 Monetary Economics (6)
  • ECON2245 Business Economics (6)
  • FINA2205 Practical Finance Analytics (6)

Level 3

• Core: Take all units (18 points):
  • ECON3302 Applied Microeconomics (6)
  • ECON3303 Applied Macroeconomics (6)
  • ECON3371 Applied Econometric Methods and Data Analysis (6)
• Option - Electives: Take unit(s) to the value of 18 points:
  • ECON3205 Health Economics (6)
  • ECON3206 Economic Analysis Project (6)
  • ECON3220 Development Economics (6)
  • ECON3235 International Trade (6)
  • ECON3236 International Finance (6)
  • ECON3301 Game Theory and Strategic Thinking (6)
  • ECON3310 History of Economic Ideas (6)
  • ECON3350 Money, Banking and Financial Markets (6)
  • ECON3395 Economic Policy (6)
  • WILG3001 Work Integrated Learning Internship Program (6)

Outcomes

Students will learn to:

• Employ the framework of micro and macro economics to rationally analyse general economic problems and arrive at analytically sound conclusions
• Interpret and undertake quantitative economic research
• Identify and critically reflect on landmark events in Australia's economic history and in the rise of the global economy
• Undertake specific economic research that critically evaluates theoretical and/or applied issues in the area of economics
• Communicate the results of economic research to fellow economists as well as to a range of potential stakeholders including other business professionals, policymakers in government and the public at large
• Achieve the preceding objectives irrespective of whether they are working as an individual analyst or as a member of a team of professionals
• Demonstrate an awareness of, and sensitivity to, the personal, social, ethnic and/or international backgrounds of other team members as well as stakeholders

Accreditation

The UWA Business School is accredited by EQUIS and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and is a Communicating Signatory to Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME).

Student Stories

Tyler Reysenbach

"Studying economics has led to such interesting opportunities for me. It is more than dollars and cents and can be applied to so many different and interesting problems.

With my economics degree, I have thought about 'how does the government assess the effectiveness of policies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people', 'how to better target the COVID-19 vaccine rollout' and, now I am thinking about 'how to set up our migration system for success once borders open'.

Economics has so many different applications – you’re never limited to just one area.

An economics degree also gives me the flexibility to work a variety of different jobs. At the Productivity Commission, I worked on long-term policy research, summarising the evidence to produce recommendations for government. At the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, I was working on quick-turnaround data analytics to track the vaccine rollout. There’s no end to what you can do with an economics degree – it gives such a strong grounding to think through different problems (both in theory and empirically)."

Sophie Harwood

"After finishing my Bachelor of Commerce at UWA, I completed an Honours in Economics. I was interested in assessing how the economy affects mental wellbeing, and my thesis investigated links between job insecurity, macroeconomic conditions and the mental wellbeing of employed Australians (using the HILDA and ABS data).

In 2019, I moved to Canberra to participate in the Productivity Commission’s graduate program. The Commission is the Australian Government’s independent research and advisory body, which is largely focused on economic issues that affect the welfare of Australians. As a graduate at the Commission, I worked on the Mental Health Inquiry (released in 2020), assessing government-run income and employment support programs for people with mental ill-health. From this work, a recommendation for the government to trial further expansion of the Individual Placement and Support program to assist people with mental illness to participate in the workforce was given $5.7 million in funding in the federal budget.

For the last two years, my work has focused on electrical and electronic waste, such as waste TVs, computers and small appliances. This has included a chapter in the Commission’s Right to Repair inquiry on electrical and electronic waste, which looked into how this waste stream is managed. I continued to work on this waste stream as a secondee to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment as part of the Waste Reform and Integration Taskforce. Once my secondment has finished at the end of June, I will be returning to the Commission to work on the Closing the Gap reporting and data repository."