Education and Economics
Combining education with economics opens a distinctive and practically useful intellectual territory. Education as a field of study examines how learning takes place, how educational systems are organised and governed, and how education relates to broader questions of equality, social mobility, and human development. Economics provides the analytical tools for understanding how resources are allocated, how incentives shape behaviour, and how the economic dimensions of educational policy, including the returns to education, the funding of schools and universities, and the relationship between education and labour markets, can be studied rigorously.
At Strathclyde this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, which adds an international dimension to your understanding of both educational systems and economic frameworks. The education component develops your knowledge and understanding of Scottish education and educational systems beyond Scotland, engaging with policy, psychology of learning, and the sociological dimensions of how educational opportunity is distributed. You will have the opportunity to put theory into practice through a community placement, which gives you direct experience in an educational setting and enhances your professional development alongside your academic study.
The economics component develops quantitative analytical skills and the conceptual frameworks needed to understand how economic forces shape educational outcomes and policy choices.
Graduates of this combination find careers in education policy, educational research, teaching and school leadership (where further qualification is often pursued), youth work, social research, government, the civil service, and international development organisations working on education systems. The economics training opens additional paths in consultancy, finance, and policy analysis. The community placement experience is particularly valuable for roles working directly with children and young people.
Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study in education policy, economics, or related social science fields.