The University’s economics and foreign affairs departments both recently decided to change their major requirements and required classes for those majors.
The economics department has been discussing the changes to its major requirements for quite some time, said Ron Michener, director of undergraduate studies in the economics department.
The most significant change to the economics major requires students to take a second statistics class, which will be ECON 372, “Introduction to Regression Analysis for most students,” Michener said. Previously, STAT 212, “Introduction to Statistical Analysis” was the only required statistics course.
“Economics is a fairly quantitative major, as most social sciences are,” Michener said. “How can you take an economics major and not take two stat courses?”
He noted that the addition of this course has long been considered.
“This was literally discussed in a faculty meeting over 30 years ago when I came to U.Va.,” Michener said, adding that the techniques taught in this class are very practical in the field of economics.
“You would run into some of the same techniques in the Commerce School as well,” he said.
The department hopes that this additional course will help “to teach people the tools that economists make common use of in the real world,” Michener noted.
In addition to the new course, there are a host of smaller major requirement changes that Michener described as “housekeeping.” The full list of new requirements can be found on the economic department’s Web site. Students now must receive at least grades of a C-plus or above in all prerequisite math and statistic courses, as opposed to the prior C prerequisite requirement. The department, though, is now allowing students to retake the same prerequisite course if they fail to achieve the required minimum grade.
Students, however, can only take the same course twice and students who declare the major under the new rules will only need to complete four elective courses instead of the previously required five.
Third-year economics major Rachael Roueche said she believes the new requirements may make the major more selective and thus more appealing to some University students. She also said, though, the changes could prevent many students from declaring economics as their major.
“I think in the long run, it will make the major and department more prestigious,” Roueche said. “But I don’t think gaining that prestige is worth taking the opportunity away form students.“
Unlike the changes to the economics major, the modifications made to the foreign affairs major were a direct result of recent budget cuts encountered by the politics department, said Leonard Schoppa, the undergraduate director of the politics department.
Students who declare a foreign affairs major will now be able to choose “any combination of international relations and comparative politics” when choosing specialization classes, he added.
Additionally, the department has also changed how it defines the regions of the world for its required “area courses.” Students are now required to achieve at least six credits in two different classes, both of which must specialize in one region.
Eastern and Western Europe, formerly two separate areas students could study, have now been grouped together as one area of study. Similarly, Asia, which is now considered one area of study, was formerly separated into several different regions.
“The old rules required us to offer courses on every region in every year, but with budget cuts, we realized this would be difficult to do,” Schoppa said. He noted, however, that this could give students more flexibility in what cultures they study.
“There is a general trend away from focusing on one region,” he added. “The department hopes to be able to sustain our traditional focus on training our students [to] focus on one region in an era of budget cuts.”
Third-year foreign affairs major Leyla Babaoglu said she believes the new foreign affairs requirements could have both positive and negative consequences for students.
“Some students would really like this change because it’s sometimes hard to choose one specific region,” she said, also noting, however, that it could be harder for other students who may want to focus on more distinct regions for future jobs or careers.
The changes to the economics major will apply only to students who declare their major after Feb. 1, 2010. The changes to the foreign affairs major, meanwhile, will go into effect next semester.
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