Hello, and welcome
to the Economics talk at
the University of Southampton.
My name is Dr Helen Paul,
and I’m the Admissions Tutor.
If you would like a copy
of the slides or have
any other questions,
then you can email me.
My email address is
on this slide,
along with a link
to my staff page.
I’m an economic historian,
and specialise in the study of
financial history and slavery.
These are the topics
which we are going
to cover in today’s talk.
There’s also a taster lecture
on behavioural economics
for you to listen to.
This talk will last
for around 15 minutes.
I’ll begin by introducing
economics to you,
as some of you have
not studied it before.
I’ll go through the courses
which we offer
here at Southampton,
I’ll mention a few of
the modules which you can study,
and then talk
about the facilities
which you can use
when you come here.
For those of you
who are interested in careers
as accountants or actuaries,
there are exceptions which
you should know about.
I’ll also explain
how you can add value
to your degree with internships,
student societies
and university schemes.
I’ll finish by discussing
what your next steps could be
after you finish
your degree with us.
If you have any questions,
you can talk to us today
or you can email me later.
Some of you will have
studied economics before,
and some will not have.
We take into account
of that by streaming you into
different first year modules.
Economics is about making
decisions under uncertainty
and allocating scarce resources.
We need to understand
various theories of
how the world works,
for instance how a market works
under different conditions.
We need to be aware
of the assumptions
that we are using,
and be critical of them.
We also need to investigate
whether our theories hold up
in the real world.
Applied economics requires
us to collect data and use
it to test whether
our model is appropriate,
and if we should use
a better one.
We need advanced mathematical
methods and software
to be able to do that.
You will learn
those skills with us.
You will have been trained
in quantitative and qualitative
methods after finishing
a degree with us.
This combination makes
you highly employable,
and can lead on
to a wide variety of careers.
For instance, health economists
use their training
as economists to assess
how resources should
be allocated within the NHS.
They also need to be familiar
with medical ethics
and political issues.
You may not know
what you want to do right now,
but choose modules
which interest you.
This could lead on to a career
which uses economics
alongside another subject.
Everyone will study
microeconomics, macroeconomics,
mathematics and statistics,
however you can decide
if you want to do a single
honours economics degree,
or a joint honours.
The courses listed
on this slide are the ones
which I oversee,
as admissions tutor.
You will find more information
about each one
on the course pages.
Please download and read
the programme specification.
This is the best way to see
how each course
is structured between core
and optional modules.
A few tips.
If you can’t decide
between two courses with
the same entry requirements,
we can easily swap you over.
For example,
if you were given an offer
for single honours
but want to do
the four-year MEcon course,
just contact us
before you arrive.
We’re the only university
to offer Economics and Actuarial
Science in combination.
We also have a brand new degree
with Data Science.
This will train you
how to handle large datasets
and use machine learning.
There are other
joint honours degrees.
I’ve put the home department
for each degree in brackets.
I can answer questions
about these degrees,
but I do not control
entry to them.
Please contact the
relevant home department.
Everyone can take modules
from outside the department.
You can decide to keep up
your language studies or do
an interdisciplinary module,
like global health,
which looks at the economic
issues caused by
global challenges like COVID.
You could pick
a demography module
if you like applied statistics,
or perhaps one in criminology.
If you’re studying
single honours,
you can choose to take
a minor subject as well.
You can find out more
by following the link.
Everyone learns how to use
the Bloomberg Suite as part
of the core first year module
in macroeconomics.
You’ll have the opportunity
to take the Bloomberg
Market Concepts course,
and can use the suite
as part of your studies,
for instance for
a dissertation project
or to run trading games
with a student society.
Bloomberg is a key provider
of data to city firms,
and our alumni often tell us
that it gave them a head
start in interviews
when they said they
were familiar with it.
You can find out more about
Bloomberg by following the link.
We have our own
experimental lab,
which we use for
teaching and research.
Please see our taster lecture
video to learn about it
and the Experiments
in Economics module.
You can apply for exemptions
from professional examinations.
Actuarial students can get
the maximum number
of exemptions from the Institute
and Faculty of Actuaries.
If you want to be an accountant,
then we offer exemptions from
a range of accounting bodies.
You have a lot
of opportunities to consider,
and we help guide you
with our own in-house
Employability module.
This provides training
and advertises deadlines,
for instance for
first-year city firms
or short-term internships.
You can decide
if you want to do
a year in employment
when you are in second year.
You can also decide
if you want to spend
a semester abroad.
If you want to run projects,
then look at the university’s
Social Impact Lab.
They run their own module
in social enterprise.
Plus, we have a highly
successful student
society called Enactus,
which also runs student
social enterprise projects.
Enactus has won national prizes,
and even a global prize,
for their development projects.
You will find a wide
range of societies
to suit your interests,
but you should think
about joining one
which gives hands-on experience
and has links to employers.
The university also
runs a successful
entrepreneurship scheme,
called Future Worlds,
and business projects
over teaching weeks
through a scheme
run with Santander.
You’ll find more information
on the course pages.
Alex studied in Germany
for a semester,
and also went to China,
to a summer school.
We run our own Chinese summer
school with Xiamen University,
and it’s heavily subsidised
by both universities.
Another recent graduate,
Yasmin, spent a year
at the Home Office
and then went to Rome
for a semester.
Yasmin learned how to use
specialist software called
Stata at Southampton,
and then was able to use it
when she was working
at the Home Office.
You’ll have your own
personal tutor to help you
throughout your degree.
You can use
our careers service even
after you graduate.
My personal tutees
have contacted me
for advice and help years
after they graduated.
You stay part
of our alumni family.
Around 40% of our graduates go
on to graduate study,
the rest begin their careers.
However, a lot of people go
into city jobs and,
after ten years or so,
they decide to retrain.
As economics is such
a broad subject,
it can lead on to a wide variety
of career paths.
If you have
any further questions,
I’ll be around today,
or you can email me.
Thank you very much for coming
along to our open day.
