Many students find studying a joint honours stimulating and rewarding as they are able to observe both similarities and differences between the two subjects. By combining Economics and German, you will gain a variety of transferable skills and knowledge beneficial to the world of employment, making you competitive and attractive in an increasingly global workforce and opening the doors to a variety of career paths.     

Our Economics programme will equip you with a thorough grounding in the theory, concepts, principles and techniques of the core subject areas of the discipline: macroeconomics, microeconomics and quantitative analysis. It aims to provide you with knowledge of the workings of the UK economy and the ability to use that knowledge in a range of contexts.

We will introduce you to the breadth and depth of economic analysis and offer you the opportunity to acquire knowledge and technique across a number of specialised areas. Economics degree Cardiff University provides you with a thorough understanding of economic analysis and aims to stimulate you to value this analysis in understanding economic problems and a wider range of social and political issues. Studying Economics provides a rigorous training that can be a useful foundation for future careers.

German is the native language of nearly one hundred million people. To speak German is to be part of a crucially important political, economic and cultural world. A recent survey by the UK's leading employers' organisation, the CBI, rated German as the language most valued by UK managers. Germany is considered to be the lynchpin of the European Union, making knowledge of the language as important in Brussels as in Berlin.

We offer German for both advanced students and beginners. In terms of language acquisition, this course will enable you to develop your writing, oral and aural skills through a range of learning activities, and using a variety of audio-visual materials. In your first year, in addition to your language tuition, an introduction to history and culture seeks to provide a solid foundation for more specialised studies as you progress through your course.  Your understanding of the German language will be further developed and refined during your year abroad, when you will experience life in a German-speaking country at first hand.   

It is important to remember that studying languages is not just about the language itself. It involves examining many aspects of a country and its culture, its social structures and institutions, politics, history, literature and cinema. Through the study of such areas you are able to gain a better understanding of German culture and of how it has evolved over the centuries, becoming what it is today.

On completion of this four-year programme, you will have a high level of language proficiency, as well as a critical understanding of key aspects of German history, culture, literature, politics and contemporary society.   

Distinctive features

The distinctive features of the course include:

• core modules that provide a solid base for all, but then allow you, with advice from your personal tutor, to carve out a programme that will best fit your interests and career aspirations
• a pathway into this degree for beginners who do not have German A-level
• a year spent studying or working in a German-speaking country
• the opportunity to specialise in economic analysis through all three years of study and therefore to build up considerable knowledge and skills in the discipline;
• the intellectual challenge derived from exposure to recent developments in economic theory;
• the development of substantial quantitative and empirical research skills