Academic/Subject Departments

Economics

Economics education gives you broad intellectual training, providing you with the foundations of knowledge of how the economy works and helping you to develop the relevant skills for the constructive use of that knowledge.

As such you look at wider macro economy as well as the individual elements of the micro economy. Studying Economics gives you a good starting point for your career and a whole new different perspective on everyday life. Once you learn how to think like an economist, you will apply it to everything you do from reading the newspaper to watching TV!

At AS-level the emphasis is on developing a firm foundation of micro economics concepts. Students learn about how the world’s precious resources are allocated to the various groups within the economy. In Macro Economics the focus is on how the government manages the economy and what its primary objectives are.
At A2, these topics are logically extended to the global economy with the emphasis on trade, integration, development and sustainability. Students also learn about the economics of transport.

Studying economics encourages students to acquire a range of important and transferable skills:
• Data skills: students are expected to manipulate data in a variety of forms and to interpret their results
• Presenting arguments, making judgments and justifying recommendations on the basis of the available evidence
• Challenging their own assumptions using evidence that has become available
• Political awareness

Economics graduates are employed in a range of posts which may or may not be related to the discipline they studied. They work in manufacturing, transport, communications, banking, insurance, education, investment and retailing industries, as well as in government agencies, consulting and charitable organisations.

In all these settings employers value economics students’ understanding of decision-making, their research and analytical skills and their experience of viewing problems in their national and international contexts.