Business, Economics and Social Studies

What is Business, Economic and Social Studies (B.E.S.S.)?

B.E.S.S. is a uniquely flexible degree programme offering you different degree options across the disciplines of Business, Economics, Political Science and Sociology. It provides students with a broad education and you specialise and graduate with a Single Honours or Joint Honours degree with another subject, or a Major with a Minor. It also offers a high level of flexibility in two very important ways: from the second year onwards students are allowed to (a) choose the specific degree they wish to take and, (b) choose individual modules within their chosen degree path. Students, therefore, have an opportunity to adjust their study programmes in accordance with their academic results, interests, aptitudes and emerging career aspirations.

B.E.S.S.: The course for you?

The disciplines of Business, Economics, Political Science and Sociology all examine the world around us, analysing how it works and asking the big questions.

Where they differ is in the things they look at and the way they examine them. In your first year as a B.E.S.S. student, you will be introduced to each discipline’s unique but complimentary approach to studying the complex world that we live in. From the second year onwards, the flexible programme structure allows you to choose the disciplines that appeal to you, along with the specific topics that interest you, through a wide range of modules within each discipline. Graduates invariably tell us that it is this broad, flexible approach that allowed them to build the knowledge and insights that they rely on progressively as they advance to more senior positions in their careers.

B.E.S.S. at Trinity

BESS is jointly delivered by the Trinity Business School and the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy:

Business

Top international professors and leading business people engage with the students, challenge them and guide them into top roles within the business world. Past students are now leaders in the world of business, government, entertainment, technology, innovation and non-profit businesses.

Economics

Many of the economic problems which dominate the headlines are explored within this discipline. Economics blends together theory, data and statistical techniques to help understand economic problems and to make policy recommendations.

Trinity is ranked 1st in Ireland and 101st in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2021). The Economics Department is ranked joint first In Ireland, in the top 50 in Europe and in the top 150 in the world for Economics and Econometrics (QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2020).

Political Science

Politics affects us all in our daily lives. Should government tax the rich for greater equality? Should the amount of money the EU spends on agriculture be cut? Questions such as these, along with analysis of political systems and how democracy works, are at the heart of the study of politics.

Sociology

Sociology is the study of social change and the consequences of human behaviour. When you study Sociology you will get the opportunity to analyse people and societies, exploring areas as diverse as migration, race and gender, conflict studies, digitalisation, identities and employment studies.

Trinity is ranked 1st in Ireland and the Sociology Department is ranked 1st in Ireland and in the top 150 in the world (QS World Rankings By Subject, 2020).

Graduate skills and career opportunities

From a career perspective B.E.S.S. is an extremely flexible and practical degree programme. Graduates are also highly sought after by employers in a range of fields, such as in finance and banking, politics, research, management consulting, teaching, public service, journalism, within both national and international organisations within the profit, not for profit and public sector. Graduates have gone on to successful and rewarding careers in varied roles around the globe. The following are just a few examples of the organisations that have recruited B.E.S.S. graduates: Accenture, Alcatel, Cisco, Barclay’s Bank, Commission for Energy Regulation, Enterprise Ireland, Google, KPMG, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Tesco, Topshop, Channel 4 and Atlantic Philanthropies.

Your degree and what you’ll study:

First year

In the first year you will take all four subjects: business, economics, political science and sociology

Second year

In second year you can choose to continue with one, two or even introduce a third subject and could, for example, take modules ranging from Intermediate Economics to International Politics, to an Introduction to Social Theory and modules from a list of available Trinity Electives or complementary/open modules

Third and fourth years

In third year, following on from your second year, you continue to pursue either three of the four subjects, two of the four subjects, or one of the four subjects.

In the fourth year you may choose to take one or two subject and can exit with a Single Honours, Major with Minor or Joint Honours award. All students will complete a capstone project in their final year.

Current module descriptors for all four years of the programme can be found on the BESS website: www.tcd.ie/bess.

Choosing modules for a Single Honours degree option

In second year, Single Honours students, as well as taking modules from their preferred discipline, also select modules from one or more of the other three disciplines. In third and fourth years, students take the majority of their modules from their chosen discipline but, in keeping with the B.E.S.S. philosophy of flexibility, there is significant scope to choose modules which appeal most from the range of available modules.

Choosing modules for the Joint Honours degree options

Throughout second, third and fourth year Joint Honours students take approximately half of their modules from each of the two disciplines they select. Since module choices may be made from among the full range available in two disciplines, the Joint Honours programmes offer exceptionally high flexibility with regard to programme design and module choice.

Assessment

Most B.E.S.S. modules involve a system of continuous assessment, essays, projects and/or presentations contributing between 30% to 50% of the overall grade per module. The remainder is based on the results of a written end-of-semester examination. Module Descriptors for all four years of the programme can be accessed via the Course Handbook www.tcd.ie/ssp/undergraduate/bess/current/handbook

There are QQI/FET routes available for this course. Please see www.cao.ie for details.

Study abroad and language options

First and second year B.E.S.S. students have the option to study French, German, Spanish, Russian or Polish. Students also have the opportunity to study abroad in their third year at leading universities in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium or Spain, as well as English-speaking international exchange programmes to prestigious universities in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia (China, Hong Kong and Japan). Some of the more popular universities are Uppsala University, Sweden; Emory University, Georgia, Senshu University, Japan; IEP – Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris, France; QUT Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.