Economics at Warwick
Open Day April 22nd 2009
Dennis Leech
Professor of Economics
This talk
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Programme for today
The Economics department
Research
Teaching and learning
Our degree courses
What our students go on to do
Notable Warwick economics graduates
Open Day programme
• 2.00-2.45 Talk in ACCR
• 2.50-3.30 Small group Q&A meetings
with academic staff and students in
Social Studies Building
• 3.55-4.45 Campus tours led by students
from Social Studies foyer
• 4.45 Final questions in Arts Centre Café
Economics department
• Academic Staff
– Professors
– Associate Prof (SL/Reader)
– Assistant Prof (Lecturer)
29
13
10
• Graduate Students
– Doctoral
– Masters
• Undergraduates
60
80
600
Distinguished ex Warwick
economists
• Nick Stern (Lord Stern)
– Author of Stern Report on Economics of Climate Change
• Robert Skidelsky (Lord Skidelsky)
– Biographer of Keynes
• John Williamson
– Influential International Economist. Coiner of term “Washington
Consensus”
• Avinash Dixit
– President of the American Economic Association 2008
High quality research
• Research Assessment Exercise 2008 (official
rating): ranked in the top five
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Third equal with Oxford and Essex
LSE and UCL ranked first and second
40% of research assessed rated as 4* (‘world leading’)
95% either 4* or 3* (‘internationally excellent’) – equal
first place
Why research matters
• Our reputation brings a lot of cash
– Research income subsidises our teaching
• More resources for learning
– Better campus, library, computing facilities …..
• Better academic staff, more of them
• Better class tutors, etc
• Teaching more authoritative
High quality teaching
• QAA Teaching Quality Assessment:
highest grade = 24/24
Our degree courses
1. Economics department based
– Economics
– Econ, Politics & International Studies (EPAIS)
– Industrial Economics
– Economics and Economic History
Our degrees are popular
• Student numbers for Economics degrees
2009/10
Home/EU
Overseas
Places
130
110
Applications
2466
1282 (so far)
Our degree courses
2. Joint degrees based in other departments
– Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE)
– Maths, OR, Stats & Econ (MORSE)
– Maths and Economics
BSc Economics course
• A professional training
• A specialised programme
– aims to make you think like an economist
– also develop transferable skills
• Flexibility is limited
– Only a little each year that’s NOT economics
• no more than 25% of load can be non-economic
• E.g. finance, maths, a language, …..
• But: possibility of a year of study abroad
Teaching
• We teach from first principles
– A-level Economics is NOT required
• We assume that you are clever
– and mathematically competent (geometry,
algebra, calculus)
• So it moves fast
– You have to work hard to keep up
• But support is available
– Staff are generally accessible
The course structure
• Year 1: Foundations (5 modules)
– Micro, Macro, Quant Tech, Econ Hist
– Option: eg Industrial Econ, Math Econ,
Language, WBS …
• Year 2: Core (4 modules)
– Micro, Macro, Econometrics
– Option: eg Industrial, Public, …, Language, WBS
…
• Year 3: Specialisation (4 modules)
– Research Project
– 3 options: Labour, Econometrics, Development,
Game Theory, International, Industrial,
Language, WBS …
Year of study abroad
• After second year (making 4 year degree)
• Good partner institutions
– EU
• Amsterdam , Madrid , Munich, Paris, Barcelona,
Milan, Lille, Antwerp
– USA
• California
• Complements regular Warwick studies
• Some help with fees and expenses
• Numbers limited therefore selective
Employment by sector
Some distinguished alumni
• Cabinet Secretary: Gus O’Donnell
• Chief Economist, BOE: Spencer Dale
• Professors: 2 @ Harvard; many other leading
academics
• Christian Wolmar, Writer, transport policy
• Liam Halligan, economics journalist
• Steve Heighway, Liverpool footballer
Economics Open Day
Questions