Program Overview

CHILDHOOD & YOUTH

Childhood & Youth is an exciting, multidisciplinary subject in which you will explore a range of issues and challenges faced by children and young people in contemporary society, both here in the UK and on a global level. Drawing on key ideas from sociology, politics, history, social policy and cultural studies, the degree examines important questions about children and young people and the social contexts in which they live.

Topics studied include: how children and young people’s place in society has changed over time; how social class, poverty, gender, ethnicity, disability, social policy and so on impact children and young people’s lives; the role of risk and risk-taking in children and young people’s everyday lives and; how children and young people make sense of and help to shape their social worlds. In exploring such issues you will also look at various political debates and policy initiatives, as well as learning about various ways of researching with children and young people that aim to help them overcome the many challenges that they face.

With its strong emphasis on social justice and welfare, the degree will enable you to develop as critical social scientists who value their role within the academic community at Hope and who, as graduates, will be able to use their skills and knowledge to the benefit of their local community and society more broadly.

ECONOMICS

This is an exciting time to study Economics: great ideological debates, policy decisions and technological changes are taking place that impact our lives, ranging from the direction of globalisation and international trade and trade restrictions, to trends in economic inequality, the environment and climate change, the gender pay-gap, migration flows, economic integration, financial crises, and the challenges posed by the recent Covid-19 crisis..

Our Economics programme will delve in to an in-depth study of real economic issues like the above, based on a solid foundation of an eclectic economic theory, and an understanding of how economic policy is formulated. This will enable students to gain the analytical and critical evaluation skills needed to recognise how national and global issues affect a society’s welfare.

The course is designed to provide students with the experience, knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the job market, by putting a strong emphasis on analytical, quantitative and research skills highly valued by employers. It will also develop a student’s ability to apply the concepts, theories and quantitative methods to business and public policy decisions, in a diverse range of settings. As we believe your ability to gain meaningful employment after you graduate is really important, there is also a strong focus on helping you to develop your more general and transferable employability skills.

In this course, students will study a range of areas, including Quantitative Methods, Econometrics, Intermediate Micro and Macroeconomics, History of Economic Thought, Banking & Finance, and International Economics and Finance.