Economics Department Jazz Up the Catalogue with Two New Concentrations

By: Dina Eid
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Starting this semester, economics students can now choose between two new specializations: Economic Development and Policy in the Middle East Concentration and Quantitative and Financial Economics Concentration.

The department’s catalogue has also undergone many changes, which include increases to the core requirements, new courses and updates to existing courses.

“We were very careful that the specializations do not take away from this broad brush that an economist should have, so we increased our core requirements to include the most important courses that we think anyone with an economics degree must have,” Chair of the Economics Department Mona Said told The Caravan.

The specialization initiative was driven by the Representation Committee of the Economics Association (EA) in Fall 2016 and received approval from the University Senate in Spring 2017.

“The aim of the specialization project was to cater to the students’ needs. We were searching for their demands even if they did not explicitly say they want specializations,” said Farah Kaddah, EA’s Associate Representation Head for Fall 2016.

“It began with communicating with students,” she added. “There were students who were interested in policymaking and development […] Other students were very passionate about financial economics and quantitative economics and wanted to pursue master [degrees] in those fields.”

The process of changing the catalogue began with multiple meetings between the EA Representation Committee and the department. The Committee first proposed a tentative catalogue that did not require adding new courses, but only changed the structure based on the existing courses.

“We decided that the Representation Committee was not enough at this point. We needed to get the rest of the student body’s input. So we held a focus group and invited economics students,” said Kaddah.

“After doing this, Dr. Mona began drafting new courses, changing the names of existing courses to fit into the specializations and assess which professors currently at the department can teach new courses to [add in] the specializations the way they are now in the catalogue.”

The department also made sure to get input from major employers. They held a focus group with employers from commercial banks, investment banks and developmental organizations to find out the skill sets they require from economics graduates.

“Both [specializations] are equally technical with different competencies and skills and both open up particular and specific jobs that are needed in the labor market as per our discussions with alumni, employers and students,” Said added.

While she thinks the new specializations will give economics graduates a competitive edge in both the job market and post-graduate studies, she acknowledges that “it is only a first step.”

“What’s more important is the actual content improvements we will do in the courses,” she said. “We are adding practical components: case studies, simulations, field visits and so on.”

Students who wish to declare economics starting this semester should expect it to be more selective, especially with the increase in demand the department is currently witnessing.

Said explained that the department will not only look at a student’s GPA, but will also scrutinize their transcripts when deciding to accept a declaration request.

“When you have increased demand, you can afford to be selective, […] but the door is open for them to prove themselves in the introductory courses,” Said added.