Mathematics and Business BSc (Hons)

Level: Undergraduate

Subject: Mathematics

Year of entry: 2026

Key facts

UCAS Code

GN11

Award

BSc (Hons)

Duration of study

4 years

Delivery

Full-time

Study location

Multiple campuses

Start date

September 2026

School

School of Mathematics

College

College of Science and Engineering

Study abroad

Available

Accreditation

Available

Placement

No

Open days and events

About the degree programme

Studying mathematics at university encourages you to think in an entirely different way. Through the introduction to new mathematical concepts not explored at school level, you will develop a rigorous mindset, and gain invaluable problem-solving skills and analytical skills.

Your business, management and economics courses will teach you how to apply these skills in a business setting. 

Areas of study

Your time will be split evenly between mathematics and business. You may also have time to explore an additional subject in Year 1.

Mathematics

Through your mathematics courses, you will learn new ways of approaching and analysing complex problems, a particularly valuable skill that will serve you well throughout your degree and beyond.

Later in this programme, you can choose to:

  • specialise in particular aspects of mathematics or business
  • examine the links between the two subjects
  • study a broad range of topics

Business

Studying business will prepare you for the social, political and cultural challenges facing contemporary businesses, governments and not-for-profit organisations.

You will develop the personal and professional competencies required to work across a range of roles in contemporary business including:

  • finance
  • strategy
  • marketing
  • human resource management
  • data analytics
  • entrepreneurship and innovation

The Business School's Student Development team provides opportunities for you to develop a range of essential business graduate competencies. You may participate in versions of the undergraduate Edinburgh Award programme supported by an alumni professional mentor and trained coaches:

  • Personal and Professional Development (Year 2)
  • Effective and Responsible Leadership (Year 3 or 4)

Edinburgh Award

You can also participate in a large number of business societies, business events and peer-support schemes.

How long it takes to complete this degree programme

This programme is studied over 4 years.

A key benefit to studying a 4-year degree programme is that you have the flexibility to study a range of subjects, outside your chosen degree programme, in Year 1 and Year 2.

This allows you the opportunity to study other courses that interest you or enhance your degree. By the end of Year 2, you can decide which of these subject areas you want to focus on in the honours years of your programme.

How long it takes to complete our degree programmes

How a joint degree programme works

A joint programme allows you to gain a well-rounded learning experience. You will have more exposure to different disciplines, allowing you to expand your knowledge and expertise.

Teaching on joint programmes is split across the two subject areas, and teaching will take place in locations associated with both subjects.

You will gain a different perspective through studying more than one subject and have a wider skill set that is highly attractive to future employers.

Programme rankings

  • 5th in the UK for mathematics and statistics (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025 by Subject)
  • 5th in the UK for mathematics in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025

Programme benefits

  • Develop your mathematical skills and learn how to apply them in a business setting with this joint programme.
  • Our teaching fosters interactive engagement that promotes long-term understanding.
  • Teaching is enhanced by technology, including voting systems and online quizzes, and we actively encourage collaborative learning.
  • Our programmes focus on employability skills. Our Student Development team and the University's Careers Service give students employability support. This includes presentations from industry employers and alumni career showcases, which demonstrate the range of careers open to mathematics graduates.
  • We host regular workshops to help you prepare for applying to internships, jobs and further study.
  • Tailor your degree in your honours years to your particular area of mathematical and business interest.

Find your entry requirements

Use the dropdowns to find out your entry requirements.

  1. Select the country where you are studying or where you studied your qualification.
  2. Select the qualification you are studying or studied.
United Kingdom,

Tuition fees for BSc (Hons) Mathematics and Business

View the tuition fees for one academic year of BSc (Hons) Mathematics and Business.

Tuition fees for this programme

Additional costs

You should expect to buy the necessary textbooks for some components of your programme. 

In Year 4, you may decide to complete a management honours dissertation and, depending on the field of study you choose, there may be costs associated with:

  • undertaking surveys
  • travel
  • conducting interviews

Accommodation and living costs

You need to cover your accommodation and living costs for the duration of your programme.

We estimate that a single student can potentially spend a maximum of £920 to £2,257 on living costs each month, depending on your accommodation.

This estimate covers the costs of:

  • accommodation
  • food
  • utility bills
  • travel within Edinburgh
  • health and wellbeing costs

See a breakdown of living costs

Scholarships and funding

Funding information

You can find detailed information on financial support available, based on where you are living, in our funding section.

Funding

Featured funding

School of Mathematics Scholarships

Scholarships are available for full-time undergraduates studying in the School of Mathematics. These are offered to students of outstanding ability and cover the duration of their studies, subject to satisfactory academic progress each year.

What you will study

In Years 1 and 2, you will study mathematics and business courses, with the potential to study additional outside subjects.

At pre-honours, the mathematics courses are compulsory. This allows you to develop as a well-rounded mathematician and widens your options for specialisation later on.

You have more choices in your business-related course selections. 

From Year 3 onwards, you will only study mathematics and business. Your time will be split evenly across the two subjects. This is where you can begin to specialise and pursue areas of interest, while still taking some core compulsory courses.

The courses listed for the individual years of study may be subject to change.

Mathematics courses

You will take a number of compulsory mathematics courses:

  • Introduction to Mathematics at University
  • Introduction to Mathematical Analysis
  • Linear Algebra 1

These are common to all mathematics programmes and will take up half of your timetable. These courses are designed to build on your knowledge of mathematics from school, introducing you to more rigorous ways of mathematical thinking required at university level. They cover a wide range of mathematics, including some applications of mathematics, so you can make informed choices at honours level.

Business courses

You will also take two compulsory business courses:

  • Global Challenges for Business
  • The Business of Edinburgh

These courses will introduce key concepts of management and business, including:

  • strategy
  • finance
  • marketing
  • people management
Outside and option courses

The rest of your time will be spent studying option courses from the Business School (subject to availability and timetabling constraints) or the School of Mathematics, such as Introduction to Data Science. You may also take 20 credits of courses outside the Business School or the School of Mathematics.

Some students also take our online mathematics course, Fundamentals of Algebra and Calculus. This introductory course provides extra preparation in key topics from advanced high school level mathematics and supports your transition to university.

Find Year 1 courses (2024-2025 academic year)

In Year 2, you will spend between half and two-thirds of your time on mathematics. 

You will take a number of compulsory mathematics courses that will extend your knowledge of analysis and calculus and generalise what you have seen in linear algebra. They also introduce you to probability and statistics, as well as to computational mathematics, motivated by examples from applied mathematics and optimization.

  • Linear Algebra 2
  • Elementary Probability and Statistics
  • Further Analysis and Several Variable Calculus
  • Modelling and Computing

You can choose two option courses from the Business School in a range of disciplines such as:

  • finance
  • marketing
  • innovation and entrepreneurship
  • organisation studies
  • international business
  • business analytics
  • understanding and delivering public services
  • human resource management
  • business economics
  • business simulation
Find Year 2 courses (2024-2025 academic year)

From Year 3 onwards, you will focus solely on mathematics and business. 

Previous compulsory courses have included:

  • Honours Differential Equations
  • Strategic Management

You will also study an additional honours mathematics course, such as:

  • Honours Complex Variables
  • Honours Analysis

Each honours course contains a skills component. This enables you to develop valuable employability skills such as:

  • programming
  • group work
  • presentation skills

If you decide to write the management honours dissertation, you will take a compulsory course in business research methods training to help prepare for your dissertation.

These courses provide an excellent grounding and prepare you for the options available later on.

Option courses

The rest of your time will be spent studying option mathematics or business courses, and you will have the chance to begin specialising in each subject. 

Previous mathematics option courses have included:

  • Financial Mathematics
  • Introduction to Number Theory
  • Statistical Computing
     

Option business courses build on the knowledge and skills you gained in previous years, for example:

  • global business
  • finance
  • marketing
  • innovation and entrepreneurship
  • business economics
  • human resource management
  • business analytics
Find Year 3 courses (2024-2025 academic year)

In Year 4, you will complete a substantial research project in either mathematics or business management. This will account for a third of your final-year grade. 

You will also choose from a wide range of courses from each school to create a programme that suits your particular interests and career aspirations. Our course selection is influenced by our schools' varied research interests and you will be learning from those at the forefront of their fields. 

Mathematics offers a large selection of courses in:

  • pure mathematics
  • applied mathematics
  • statistics
  • operational research
  • financial mathematics
  • mathematical physics
  • mathematical education

Current course examples include:

  • General Topology
  • Numerical Ordinary Differential Equations and Applications
  • Stochastic Modelling
  • Mathematical Education
  • Entrepreneurship in the Mathematical Sciences

You will also continue to study courses from the Business School. Current examples include:

  • Decision Analytics
  • Mathematical Programming in Advanced Analytics
  • Management Science and Operations Analytics
  • Behavioural Finance and Market Efficiency
  • Corporate Finance
  • Business Ethics
Find Year 4 courses (2024-2025 academic year)

Study abroad

You will have opportunities to study abroad through exchange programmes. Students have recently completed placements in:

  • California
  • Sydney
  • British Columbia

Exchanges are typically taken in Year 3, before returning to Edinburgh to complete Year 4. 

What are my options for going abroad?

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

Mathematics teaching

Mathematics is taught through a mixture of lectures and workshops. 

You will have approximately 15 hours of teaching each week. However, this will vary depending on your year of study and your chosen outside subjects.

Lectures

In Year 1, lectures are usually interactive, and lecturers use online voting systems and encourage small-group discussions to improve your understanding of core material. 

These lectures are linked to your subject reading, so you will be familiar with the content before you attend. Lectures in later years follow a more 'traditional' lecturing style but occasionally include the voting system or other innovative teaching methods.

Workshops

Lectures are supported by small-group workshops. These sessions give you the opportunity to apply the concepts you have learned in lectures and to develop your understanding. You will work with five to six other students, with a tutor on hand to support you and answer questions.

Interactive learning

Our teaching fosters interactive engagement that promotes long-term understanding. Teaching is enhanced by technology, including voting systems and online quizzes, and we actively encourage collaborative learning.

Business teaching

Business courses are taught through a combination of:

  • lectures
  • tutorials
  • seminars
  • practical exercises
  • computer-based learning

In later years, business courses move to a more specialised, seminar-based teaching style, supported by independent study. 

The Business School offers a supportive and encouraging environment where you can grow and develop as an independent learner. Our student experience team offers extensive pastoral and professional support and is committed to supporting you on your undergraduate journey.

Year 1 students also have the option of taking part in the peer-assisted learning scheme, BizPALS.

Assessment

Mathematics assessments

Mathematics courses are mostly assessed through exams.

In your first and second year, these exams are primarily 'open book' exams, where you can use your textbook and notes. This allows you to concentrate on understanding and using the ideas and concepts involved, rather than memorising procedures.

In later years, there is a mixture of open and closed-book exams, depending on the course.

Most mathematics courses have regular assessments throughout the year, both written and online, so you can get feedback on your progress. These typically count for a small part of your course grade.

Later in the degree programme, there are some courses available which are entirely assessed by coursework, usually in the form of reports, posters, projects or presentations.

Business assessments

Some of the assessment methods you may experience in the Business School are:

  • blogs (written and/or video)
  • business plan and/or feasibility analysis
  • case study analysis
  • computer-based timed assignments
  • consultancy reports
  • reflective diaries/journals
  • essays
  • presentations (face-to-face/video, group and individual)

You may also have different types of exams, such as:

  • closed book or open book
  • multiple choice
  • oral (group or individual)
  • short questions
  • seen case study or unseen exam question
  • timed submission

Support for your studies

You will have access to broad-ranging support from within the School of Mathematics, including:

  • drop-in Year 1 mathematics support
  • the option to take part in our peer-assisted learning scheme, MathPALS
  • Mathematics Student Services team
  • Student Development team

Our academic staff

Our courses are taught by top-class researchers as well as world-leading industry professionals.

The School of Mathematics has expertise in a variety of research areas, allowing you to tailor your degree programme to your area of mathematical interest. To find out more about our research and its applications, take a look at our Researchers on Record video series.

Researchers on Record

Where you will study

Study location

The School of Mathematics is based in the James Clerk Maxwell Building at the King's Buildings campus. Your mathematics teaching will take place at the King's Buildings campus throughout your degree programme.

The Business School is located in a dedicated building in George Square, in the middle of the central campus. Teaching for business courses usually takes place in the Central Area. 

It is worth noting that as these two degree subjects are based on different campuses, you will need to travel between campuses for classes.

Academic facilities

Mathematics facilities

Undergraduate students in the School of Mathematics have access to dedicated study spaces at the King's Buildings campus, MathsBase and MathsHub.

MathsBase is a drop-in study space staffed by tutors on weekdays during the semester.

MathsHub is a suite of rooms in the James Clerk Maxwell Building for the sole use of undergraduate mathematicians as a study space.

Business School facilities

You will have access to:

  • specialist business resources in the central Main Library (books, journals, databases)
  • student experience and student development support
  • teaching labs (and associated software and databases) for specialist business analytics, business research and finance-related courses
  • Business School café

Accreditation

This programme holds double accreditation from international ranking bodies:

  • Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
  • European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS)

Our Business School programmes are accredited by a range of world-leading business education organisations and professional bodies, and we have strong links to the world of practice through research, consultancy and teaching.

Details of Business School accreditations and rankings

Career paths

Our programmes focus on employability skills.

The business and finance sectors are popular destinations for our graduates. A joint honours degree also opens the door to a broader set of opportunities. 

You will develop skills that are highly sought-after by employers:

  • logical and analytic abilities
  • programming
  • data analysis
  • presentation skills
  • practical problem-solving

Our graduates

Our graduates are highly valued by employers across the world and graduates of our programmes are highly sought after by a wide range of employers. 

Recent graduates have gone into fields including:

  • finance (accountancy, actuarial, banking, insurance, risk, tax)
  • data science and statistics
  • IT (for example, software engineering and programming)
  • operational research
  • education

We regularly invite alumni back to share their experiences and showcase the range of careers available to you.

Enhance your CV

Within the School of Mathematics, you will have many opportunities to develop your skills and enhance your CV. For example, you can:

  • become a Student Ambassador and inspire prospective students
  • work with the wider community as a member of the mathematics outreach team
  • apply for a project scholarship to work with a University lecturer during the summer

Employability support

Working in partnership with the Careers Service, academics, alumni and the business community, the Student Development Team provides activities, events and resources focused on developing skills, engaging with opportunities and building networks:

  • applications support (for example, CV writing, interview preparation, how to network)
  • specific career advice (for example, insights into actuarial careers, how to apply for PhDs)
  • interactions with recruiting organisations and alumni (for example, annual careers showcase and presentations with employers)

Careers Service

Our Careers Service can help you to fully develop your potential and achieve your future goals.

The Careers Service supports you not only while you are studying at the University, but also for up to two years after you finish your studies.

With the Careers Service, you can:

  • access digital resources to help you understand your skills and strengths
  • try different types of experiences and reflect on how and what you develop
  • get help finding work, including part-time jobs, vacation work, internships and graduate jobs
  • attend careers events and practice interviews
  • get information and advice to help you make informed decisions

Visit the Careers Service website

Further study

Further study is also a popular option. You can progress from this programme into masters or PhD level study in mathematics or physics, or apply your training to postgraduate study in another subject.

Graduate profiles

Read stories on our blog from recent graduates who shared their memories of studying in Edinburgh and how it shaped their careers.

Mathematics graduate profiles

How to apply

You must submit a full application through UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) before the relevant deadline.

Guidance on applying through UCAS

Apply to one Mathematics degree  

Apply for only one degree in the School of Mathematics as we are only able to consider one application to this subject area. You will have the opportunity to switch between degrees in later years provided the required courses have been passed.

What you need to apply

As part of your application, you will need:

  • your academic qualifications
  • a personal statement
  • evidence of your English language skills (with relevant qualifications)
  • a reference

How we select

If you have met, or are predicted to meet, all our entry requirements by the relevant deadline, then your application will go into our selection process.

As part of this selection process, we will review all the information you submit in your UCAS application when we decide who to select for this degree programme.

How we select applicants

When to apply

  • 2026 entry UCAS deadline: 14 January 2026 (6:00pm GMT)

This is the deadline for all UK, EU and international applicants to non-medicine and veterinary medicine programmes.

To find out if any degree programmes have spaces after 14 January 2026, search the University of Edinburgh on the UCAS website.

Search degrees that are open on the UCAS website

Key application dates and deadlines

After you apply

After you have applied for your degree programme, we suggest you have a look at the following information to help you prepare for university:

Applying as an international student

As an international student, you apply for this degree programme through UCAS.  

Find out more about applying through UCAS  

Visas and immigration 

If you do not have the right to live in the UK, you will need to apply for and secure a Student visa before the start date of your degree programme.  

Our Student Immigration Service can help you with the Student visa application process. 

Applying for a visa  

Agents  

An education agent is someone who can help you with the application process as an international student. 

We work with education agents around the world and have a list of local offices you can contact.  

Find contact details for an education agent

What our students say

Hear from some of our current undergraduate students about their experience studying in the School of Mathematics.

Accommodation

We guarantee an offer of University accommodation for all new, single undergraduate students from outside Edinburgh. To be eligible, you need to meet all criteria and apply for accommodation by 16 August in the year of your entry to the University.

University accommodation website

Accommodation guarantee criteria

If you prefer to live elsewhere, we can offer you advice on finding accommodation in Edinburgh.

Accommodation information from the Edinburgh University Students' Association Advice Place

Societies and clubs

MathSoc is the University’s Mathematics Society. The society hosts a mixture of both academic and social events throughout the year, including quizzes, bitesize lectures and collaborative events with the School of Mathematics.

Learn more about MathSoc

BizPALs, short for Peer Assisted Learning Scheme, is a team of dedicated undergraduate volunteers, spanning across Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 students in the Business School. The PALs aim to support fellow students, particularly first and second years during their transition into university study, life, and academics.

Follow BizPALs on Instagram

The city of Edinburgh

Scotland's inspiring capital will form the background to your studies — a city with an irresistible blend of history, natural beauty and modern city life.

Find out more about living in Edinburgh

Health and wellbeing support

You will have access to free health and wellbeing services throughout your time at university if you need them.

The support services we offer include:

  • a student counselling service
  • a health centre (doctor's surgery)
  • support if you're living in University accommodation
  • dedicated help and support if you have a disability or need adjustment

Health and wellbeing support services

Contact us

Contact us through our enquiry team if you have any questions about this programme.

Open days, events and visits

Find out when our next open days will be taking place

Open days, events and visits

Chat to our students on Unibuddy

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It is one of many sources of information which will enable you to make an informed decision on what and where to study.

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