Post-Crash Economics Society – Written evidence (HFV0081)
1.1. The Post-Crash Economics Society was set up by a group of students at the University of Manchester in December 2012. The society’s purpose is to campaign for changes to the existing economics curriculum which dictates how the discipline is taught to students in higher education.
1.2. Since the inception of the society, our movement has had many successes and an expansive reach. Andrew Haldane, the current Chief Economist and Executive Director at the Bank of England, wrote the foreword to our report on the failings of the economics curriculum. We have been frequently featured in a variety of national media outlets. Also, some of the society’s members have since reported on the current failings of the economics education and captured our movement in The Econocracy: On the Perils of Leaving Economics to the Experts, a book which looks at the economics curricula of several of the U.K.’s prestigious Russell Group universities in order to document the issues on a wider scale.
1.3. In addition to what we have achieved alone, our future success lies in what we will achieve together with other similar groups. There are currently 16 groups like us in the U.K. who represent students from each of their respective universities across the country, and this number is still growing. Our umbrella group, Rethinking Economics, brings these individual campaigns together and is a registered charity based in Manchester.
2.1. Economics as a discipline is hugely influential, not least because it impacts every one of us. Furthermore, many economics graduates enter positions of power and authority both inside and outside government, so the way economics is taught has a direct link to the world around us.
2.2. In its current form, the way economics is taught is not appropriate for the modern British economy. We believe this is principally caused by three main issues: a lack of real world-application, a lack of alternative perspectives, and an extensive use of certain types of assessment methods (such as multiple choice questions).
2.2.1. A lack of real-world application refers to the way in which economics courses are taught in isolation from the events happening in the economy. Modules are predominately taught on a certain set of assumptions or axioms about the way economic actors (and economies) function. While these assumptions can have a useful purpose (such as allowing economists to isolate and analyse the impacts of economic policies on certain variables), too many or too unrealistic assumptions shift the content away from the real-world. Additionally, the study of economics in this respect is slow to react to changes in the world around us, manifesting in the neglect of certain current issues on the syllabus: financial crises, the impact of new technologies on the labour market, and the influence of politics in our economy. The Econocracy found that only 3% of exam questions about economic models attempted to link them to the real world.
2.2.2. A lack of alternative perspectives refers to the dominance of the neoclassical school of thought. Students can be taught theory with roots in this school of thought throughout their degree without ever acknowledging other influential branches of economics like Austrian, Feminist, or Institutional. The lack of this diversity in approaching economic issues limits students’ ability to engage critically with their content. This critical thinking element is vital for students who go onto hold positions in the labour market where their expertise are used to approach issues involving a myriad of different approaches. The extent of this issue has been documented in The Econocracy, which found that only 17 out of 172 modules assessed mentioned a perspective other than neoclassical economics.
2.2.3. Finally, there is a focus on certain types of assessment methods, depriving students from cultivating skills they need to thrive in the modern economy. This applies to universities across the country, with The Econocracy reporting that out of 172 assessed modules, only 8% of core module marks are for critical thinking (24% for all modules), while most marks are given for operating a mathematical model which represents an abstract view of the economy.
2.3. Together, the issues with the existing curriculum mean that students are disconnected from the world around them and the skills which they require. Consequently, students increasingly seek ways to plug these gaps outside of the classroom through non-credited seminars that groups like us put on, writing classes, and other materials. While this demonstrates a positive reaction from students, it does not resemble value for money for the government, enterprise and most importantly for the students themselves.
3.1. A principal point can be made about financing from our perspective and campaign. Underpinning the success and appointment of academics within higher education are the journals which publish their research. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) assesses the quality of UK higher educations by ranking the submissions of academics in journals that range from 1 star (recognised nationally) to 4 star (world-leading). As it currently stands, the overwhelming majority of these journals strictly produce work that is from the neoclassical school of thought. Because funding for universities is linked to how many submissions are featured in these journals, academics have an incentive not just to produce research that fits within the parameters of the journals, but to produce work that reaches the highest ranking (4 star).
3.2. This funding system further acts to support homogeneity of content within the classroom, stifling debate and discussion. It disincentives academics from pursuing research that expands beyond these boundaries, which feeds into the type of content academics teach to their students.
4.1. A straightforward way of developing a better system is to stimulate a stronger connection between enterprise and students. This will lead to better value for money for the government through greater returns from an improved curriculum. Enterprise should be able to communicate the skills required for students to thrive in the modern British economy through higher education. This necessitates a stronger connection between the academic environment and the workplace. In doing so, ideas and recommendations can feed into the curriculum, making it more appropriate for the modern economy and allowing students to cultivate the skills required for them to succeed.
4.2. A further step to be taken by government in collaboration with higher education is to make progress in the removal of structures that give preferential treatment to certain content at the expense of other content. The principal one discussed here is the impact the REF has on the way the subject is taught, linking teaching and research to a metric designed to signify academic excellence, but which has the adverse effect of creating and reinforcing homogeneity in content.
5.1. Speaking from the perspective of our campaign, PCES believes that higher education in economics is not fit for purpose and the way that it is funded needs to be reconsidered. The steps required to improve the existing system are partially a matter of greater communication and responsiveness on the part of Government, enterprise, and higher educational institutions. When any one of these three works in silo, or fail to bridge the events happening in our economy to the way we learn about economics, it is only the students which lose out.
5.2. To make higher education in economics more suitable for enterprise, and better value for students and Government (while meeting the demands of the labour market), we need to rethink the way this important subject is taught. This must be done by encouraging diversity in approaches, diversity in assessment, and an encouragement of real-world applications. To achieve this sustainably, the funding structures which underpin higher education in economics need to be re-thought in order to channel finances towards teaching that is reactive, dynamic and connected, and away from that which is impervious, homogenous, and isolated.
21 September 2017