Bachelor of Science in Economics and Policy

The Bachelor of Science in Economics and Policy degree is an innovative cross-disciplinary program that provides students with an understanding of the analytical and policy skills they need to address key problems in public policy. The curriculum is multidisciplinary, including courses in economics, political science, statistics, econometrics, political economy, organizational theory and program evaluation. It is designed to prepare students to analyze policy issues and design effective data driven solutions. Graduates will be prepared to become leaders and managers in a wide range of fulfilling careers in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors or to pursue graduate study.

Stuart School of Business is a global leader in bridging technology and business, offering distinctive education that provides students with the knowledge and skillsets to become outstanding professionals.

Economics and Policy at Illinois Tech have a prestigious history that dates back to the late 1800s, with some of the nation’s first courses in “Family and Consumer Science” (including “Home Economics” and “Household Management”), and the subsequent formation of the university’s Department of Business and Economics in 1926. The Department Business and Economics ultimately grew into a separate school at Illinois Tech – the Stuart School of Business, with a gift from university alum and renowned financier Harold Leonard Stuart. Harold L. Stuart himself was a national leader in finance in the first half of the 20th century, and his Chicago investment bank played a pivotal role in establishing the city as a global hub for business.

Over a period of more than 125 years, harnessing curricular innovations and incredible scholarly works by trailblazing Illinois Tech scholars, including Herb A. Simon (author of Administrative Behavior, later awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics), Karl Menger (developer of the St. Petersburg paradox in economics) and Abe Sklar (developer of the Copula in financial and statistical modeling), the Stuart School of Business and the university's Department of Social Sciences at its Lewis College of Science and Letters have refined economics and policy education. A long-standing leader in curricular innovation, in 1990, building on the foundational works of numerous Illinois Tech scholars, and Harold L. Stuart’s own contributions to finance and the broader business community, the Stuart School of Business established quantitative finance as an academic discipline, with a world’s first postgraduate Master’s program in Financial Markets and Trading – a program that highlighted a new model for embedding into a postgraduate academic program the emphases on career readiness and connectedness with the business community, and transformed business education.

The Bachelor of Science in Economics and Policy brings together world-class faculty from the Lewis College of Science and Letters and the Stuart School of Business, offering students an incredible opportunity to complete a core set of courses in both disciplines, with expanded access to subject matter experts from both colleges. As with all Stuart majors, the program emphasizes co-curricular opportunities that place students on the path to self-actualization and career success. Leadership, entrepreneurship, experiential learning, positive societal impact, and connectedness to the business community, combined with a human-centered approach to student development, and an unyielding focus on student success, are core pillars of all Stuart programs. Stuart is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) – an accreditation achieved by fewer than 6% of business schools worldwide.

The Bachelor of Science in Economics and Policy builds on Stuart's and Lewis's prestige in economics and the social sciences, as well as a tradition of impactful undergraduate education that leads to career success for graduates. The innovative program, which offers students both economics and policy perspectives, requires the successful completion of 126 credit hours.

Required Courses

Bachelor of Science in Economics and Policy Curriculum