Exactly a week on from the launch of the Association of Quality Economics (AQE) in Westminster, I am reflecting how exciting it was to be in a room with so many people committed to economics education and to making economics the best it can be.
The event started with a fascinating panel with people from across the economics discipline chaired by Yuan Yang, MP for Earley and Woodley, former economics journalist, and cofounder of Rethinking Economics. Shloka Murarka, a current AQE board member and economics master’s student, who has been the driving force behind AQE and a key voice in its inception, started the discussion. She reflected on the issues within economics, the significant gamble economics education is for all students, and how economics as a discipline needs to better reflect student expectations and support all students to thrive. Her contribution was followed by Wendy Carlin, an eminent economist at UCL whose textbook CORE Econ has brought greater plurality and new research to undergraduate economics education. Carlin focused on how economics education can keep up to date with cutting edge research and bring a diversity of case studies and focuses to the students’ learning.
The focus then moved to how economics education could meet the needs of employers, and we heard from Andy Ross, who provided illuminating insight into his personal commitment to plurality and emphasised the need for economics graduates to be better equipped with critical thinking and communication skills through their education. The panel finished with a vital outside perspective from Andy Smith, the Quality and Standards Manager at the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) which oversees standards in higher education. Smith discussed the importance of cultivating a strong subject community and coming together to continue to progress standards, centre student experience, and provide students with the education they need to thrive in a complex world.
We then took questions and contributions from the guests. We heard really interesting comments ranging from how to embed cutting edge methods into education, to reflections on the need for economics education to respond to modern challenges (such as generative AI) and embrace broader approaches outside of neoclassical economics. Following the plenary, we headed upstairs for wine, snacks and deeper discussion about the role for AQE in economics education. I really enjoyed discussing the project I have been part of for a year with so many people from across the discipline. It was a real pleasure hearing their thoughts on how we could make AQE the best it can be.
The conversations I was involved in centred around the role of AQE as a convening space to bring and develop a strong subject community in which employers, educators and students can also learn from and contribute to each other’s and the discipline’s growth. I also discussed and took feedback on the membership offering, and I am excited we have already welcomed our first members to the AQE. Find out more through browsing our membership offering. We are excited to work towards creating a better economics together with our members.
I am looking forward to continuing discussing and developing the work of AQE with the wider economics community at our upcoming online introduction to AQE. If you weren’t able to make it to the launch in person and would like to attend, please email us at hello@associationforqualityeconomics.org. We would love to see you there and hear your ideas.