The establishment of the University of Guyana Economics Society is an initiative that was undertaken by students of the Faculty with the support of the Faculty Head and Directors to foster a culture of intellectual discourse on issues relating to business and the economy in Guyana and further afield.
One of the current aims of the society is to develop a body of work on current topics that go beyond mere academic perusal, exploring them as matters of public interest.
Part of the challenge associated with undertaking economics as an academic discipline, the students say, is seeking to steer the experience in the direction of a balance between coming to understand the orthodoxies of economic principles and securing an enhanced knowledge of how the economy works in practice. There are differences of opinion between students regarding the extent to which their courses of study strikes that balance though they are all of the view that what the Economics Society could do is to provide them with public platforms on which to express their views.
Society members Said Khalil, Kimberley Samaroo and Clive Constantin told Stabroek Business in an interview last week that their academic pursuits at the University must have a relevance in the context of “the real world.” They say that as students they have opinions on economic and business issues and would welcome the opportunity to share these with the society as a whole.
Constantin, a third year student told Stabroek Business that around 80 per cent of the University’s graduates leave Guyana and that while there was a need for economists in both the public and private sectors the country’s economy was not growing quickly enough to keep pace with the graduation rate at UG.
The Society members say that part of their focus is on exploring media opportunities through which their views can come to public attention.
