Department of Economics - Royal Holloway, University of London

Why choose Economics at Royal Holloway?WelcomeThe financial crisis and the new age of austerity have increased interestin Economics degrees. The new normal will involve a re-thinking ofeconomic policies to adjust to a heightened sense of reality about thefuture. This is a particularly exciting time to be studying Economics.Royal Holloway is a particularly exciting place to do these studies.Our staff are researching at the boundaries of economic analysis.We are exploring the interactions of financial markets with the realeconomy; how education needs to be adjusted to meet the demandsfor higher skilled workers; the role for immigration in a slowergrowth economy; how the public sector needs to be organised torun efficiently; natural resources and the limits to growth; how toorganise an economy where individuals do not always behave in aself-interested manner; and political economy questions such as howinsurgencies develop in countries.In the next decade, the best education is not just about learningstandard materials and preparing for standard examinations. Studentswill need to have a deeper understanding of the models and methodsof Economics, and about how to apply those models in the real world.We think Royal Holloway is the ideal place for you to engage in thatchallenging, and exciting future.Professor Jeff FrankHead of DepartmentRoyal Holloway is one of the largest colleges in the University ofLondon, which is one of the leading teaching and research universitiesin the world. Royal Holloway’s Economics Department is one of thetop research centres for Economics. It is committed to providing one ofthe best undergraduate programmes in the UK.Staff in the department have teaching experience at some ofthe leading research universities in the world including: Brown,Cambridge, LSE, Yale and Harvard. Teaching in the departmentwas given a score of 22 out of 24 in the latest rating of the QualityAssurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). The EconomicsDepartment is recognised as joint 9th in the country in terms ofproducing the highest quality research. Eighty percent of its researchsubmitted in the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) isranked world-leading or internationally excellent (rated 3* and 4*).What distinguishes Economics at Royal Holloway? There are threemain features:• Royal Holloway has chosen to emphasise its undergraduateprogramme. While it maintains a small and select taught Mastersand research student programme of about 60 students, its primaryfocus is upon establishing the best undergraduate Economicsdegrees in the UK.• We have the advantage of being located on an exceptionallyattractive wooded campus in Surrey, 20 miles from central London.• We were established as a new department relatively recently in1995. This provided a unique opportunity to develop degree coursesfrom scratch. Each course, and its place within the degree structure,was planned without preconceptions. This has led to somedifferences in the course structure from those of other Economicsdepartments. For example, we give equal weight to the quantitative,theoretical and the political economy aspects of the subject. Evenmore fundamental features of the programme – the quality of thestaff, their enthusiasm, and the preparation of up-to-date lecturesbased upon the latest research – will be apparent when you visitduring an Open Day or when you attend your first lectures, classes,workshops and tutorials.5