Employability is a key concern for students, educators and employers in the UK. Indeed, many students want to see employability playing a bigger role in their courses. One way in which universities can foster graduate employability is through work-based learning (WBL) programmes, such as work placements.

In 2019, the University of Bristol became the first UK university to formally declare a climate emergency. In the following year, a further 36 institutions in the UK followed suit. Beyond their own climate research and agendas to achieve carbon neutrality, universities play a key role in educating their students and the public about the climate crisis.

Given the increase in data availability worldwide and the surge in demand for data literacy in the labour market, more and more economics courses are including data analysis skills in their intended learning outcomes. As a result, helping students to develop these skills in the classroom is increasingly important for economics educators.

The higher education (HE) sector is under increasing pressure to embed employability skills within the curriculum to prepare students for the real world and create responsible graduates and citizens. This article reflects on how (and why) we, as educators, can better incorporate highly-demanded employability skills into the economics curriculum.

The Graduate Record Examinations, more commonly known as the GRE, is one of the most important standardized tests in the world for admission to post-Baccalaureate programs. It’s very often required by universities when considering admission into their Master’s or even PhD programs.

At the undergraduate level, environmental economics is typically taught as an applied microeconomics course. However, while topics like externalities and common property resources are great for emphasizing efficiency, they don’t always prepare students to consider environmental concerns as part of the broader economy. Incorporating macroeconomics into these courses can help students understand problems that deal with both scale and efficiency, such as how to reconcile economic growth with environmental quality.

Teaching is an honorable, but difficult, job to do. Economics instructors working in higher education must rapidly and thoroughly communicate complex concepts and theories within tight semester time frames, effectively enough that most students will learn the concepts and pass the course.

Real-world data in their varied forms are the authentic artifacts through which we observe economic phenomena. Such data can be used in economics courses as part of learning and assessment activities to help students construct economic meaning and develop important employment skills in organizing, interpreting and presenting quantitative data.

Economics is a popular major in the US, but relatively few women and historically underrepresented minority students choose it as their field of study. This reality is reflected in stagnant US graduation trends; women earn approximately 30% of bachelor’s degrees in economics, and Black, Hispanic, and Native American students earn less than 15%.

The increasing importance of evidencing teaching effectiveness In recent years, the UK higher education environment has noticeably changed. Research Assessment Exercises and then the Research Excellence Framework have highlighted the importance of academics not only being research- active but regularly publishing high quality outputs in internationally recognised academic journals.

The playing of simple, short games has become an increasingly common way to teach a range of key concepts and theories in economics.

Good feedback helps students to understand the scale of any weaknesses in their understanding. To be effective, it will also be timely, encourage students and provide useful tips for how to improve in the future.

The following article first appeared in the INOMICS Handbook 2022. Download the INOMICS Handbook While every generation claims its problems are the most formidable and pressing in the annals of humankind, our generation certainly has a strong case: a global pandemic that has already taken five million lives, and a world seemingly headed toward catastrophe, unable to keep global temperatures from rising and thus contain climate change.

In spite of all its distracting qualities, your phone is one of the most useful tools you’ve got, whether you’re studying or working in the field. It’s simply a question of how you use it. With this in mind, we have compiled a list of apps that are helpful for economists to have. They can help you find data, stay up to date, and crunch numbers on the go. INOMICS takes part in the Apple affiliate program. This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn money through any qualifying purchases made after you click through. However, this is not a sponsored post.

This article was produced in cooperation with the Economics Network, the largest and longest-established academic organisation devoted to improving the teaching and learning of economics in higher education. Learn more about the Economics Network here. When you enter the job market for teaching economics, the institutions that you are applying for may well have different characteristics. Therefore, you may need to tailor your application to the type of institution and the role specifications in the job advert.

As you develop your career in higher education economics, you will likely be carrying out research within a field in economics. But you will also likely be involved in delivering and developing teaching within your department. As a result, you may be interested in developing and disseminating an understanding of what students should learn and how they learn.

Online learning is not a novelty anymore. During the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown, many institutions were forced to invest in their online program offerings - or simply adjust their courses to be online-friendly. But sometimes it’s nice to learn without having to fully commit to a long program. Other times, learning from a different source can help new concepts make sense, or can refresh the memory.

As an academic economist, it is likely that you will be engaged in both research and teaching. As you develop your skills, it will be important to think about what makes good teaching, and how the discussion about pedagogy in economics education develops over time. Knowledge and appreciation of the debates in pedagogy may also be important as you apply for external certification, such as an Advance HE fellowship. You may even want to develop and write for publication about economics pedagogy. There are a range of journals and conferences for those interested in higher education pedagogy. 

Being a Teaching Assistant (TA) at a university is rewarding, but also tough, particularly when you’re just starting out and learning the ropes. Perhaps you might appreciate some guidance - roll on INOMICS top tips for econ TAs who are preparing for their first role. Oh, and congratulations by the way! 

Lecturers, professors, and teachers spend ever-increasing amounts of time dealing with bureaucracy, box ticking and completing performance reviews, and ever-dwindling time doing the things they joined the profession to do: namely teaching and researching. While this should, and hopefully will, be addressed, for now, at least, it’s the way things are.

Whether you’re a graduate student giving a presentation for a course or a researcher presenting at a conference, being able to give an engaging and well-prepared presentation is a valuable skill for anyone in academia – in COVID times it is invaluable. Today, hardly a talk is given without an accompanying PowerPoint presentation full of flashy graphs, images, exploding sub-titles, and often far too many bullet points.

There are many excellent economics blogs out there. Whether you want to read commentaries on economic policy, find out what people are currently researching, or simply keep up-to-date with the latest economic happenings across the world, there are blogs for all tastes.

Whether you are a seasoned researcher or a new economics student, it pays to know which journals are the most prestigious and well-known for certain topics. They can help you find the right papers for a literature review, stay on top of the latest research in the field, and even help you set your own publishing goals.

Teaching in any capacity, let alone in economics, can be a daunting prospect: the prepping, marking, not to mention the actual teaching. It’s hard work. This reality is most acutely felt when you are starting out or moving institutions and having to settle in somewhere new. In both instances, the pressure and workload can feel intense. That is why it's useful – if not essential – to be aware of all the support that's out there, most of which – conveniently – is free and accessible online. So, without further ado, here are ten of our favourite tools for helping teach economics.