The Department of Economics added this standard to require students to have adequate understanding of the subject and to ascertain whether they have an aptitude for economics or not.
According to the Office of Register, the number of students who double major or minor in economics increased over the years, recording 900 this year. This number exceeded that of students who only major in economics by 232. However, many of them hardly caught up with advanced courses due to the lack of basic knowledge, which could be obtained in the introductory economics courses.
“A lot of students who double major or minor in economics skip basic courses and then take advanced ones, which often leads to poor academic performance,” said Kim Sung-hyun, dean of the Department of Economics. “To prevent such situation, we set up new requirements. This way, students can also see how much they fit with economics.”
This adjustment will provide more course capacity in advanced economics courses as well. As students who double major or minor should take pre-requisite classes and achieve certain grades, the number of students taking economics courses is expected to decrease.
“Such requirement is very reasonable and should have been made earlier. Since the three classes teach the very basics of economics,” Kim Su-hyeon (Economics, 2) said, welcoming the requirement.
On the other hand, the requirement seems to be a burden for students who plan to double major in economics.
“Signing up for those three classes will be more competitive. Also, it will be quite challenging to earn grades better than B-, especially for those who study economics for the first time,” Moon Seo-young (Media Studies, 1) said.
Moon Bo-ra
boramoon@ewhain.net