School of Economics

First Year Experience (Bachelor of Economics) - What to Expect and Tips for Success

Welcome to the School of Economics and your first year in the Bachelor of Economics program. The first year will bring you face-to-face with a variety of new experiences and challenges, and a great opportunity to learn from your fellow students, many of whom come from every corner of the globe. Success in this program will be greatly assisted by effective time-management, application and through adapting to a co-operative teaching and learning environment.

This is a list of the first year courses available in the School of Economics. For assistance in selecting which courses to enrol in for your first year please access this page bel.uq.edu.au/program-plans

The following four first year economics courses are compulsory for all BEcon students:

These courses have large enrolments (up to or over 1000 students) with large lectures (up to 500), including many students enrolled in programs offered by other schools. The University’s expectation is that students should expect to spend 10 hours per week per standard (2 unit) course. Therefore, full-time enrolment involves 40 hours per week of attendance and study time. For some first year courses, large enrolments require the scheduling of several lectures and tutorials per week. Students only attend one lecture and one tutorial per week in each course.

Administrative Staff (First Year Courses) – Specialist administrative staff provide support to the large first year courses including ECON1010, ECON1020, ECON1310 and ECON1320. Students with queries regarding these courses (e.g. tutorial sign-on, timetable queries, assessment requirements and results) may contact the administrative staff in the first instance via the respective course email address, published in the respective course profiles.

Initiatives to Assist First Year Students

Tutorial Classes

  • weekly tutorials (<25 students)
  • closely linked with lectures
  • small interactive groups – can make friends, work cooperatively
  • tutors are graduate students (Honours, Masters or PhD)
  • tutors help students understand the topics and work through the tutorial exercises
  • each tutorial covers the work presented in the previous week’s lecture
  • the main aim of all tutors is to help students to learn

Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)

  • informal, interactive, fun, student-led study groups
  • voluntary student attendance
  • leaders are undergraduates who have been high achievers in the course in the previous one or two years
  • aimed particularly at students who feel extra help is advantageous for understanding
  • covers work discussed in the previous week’s tutorial

Consultation Times (lecturers and tutors)

All tutors and lecturers are rostered for a consultation period each week where they are available in a particular room for students to ask any questions about the subject matter or their preparation for tutorials or assessment. These times often are equivalent to one-on-one private tutoring. No appointment is necessary. At times just prior to assessment, expect the consultation sessions to be busy.

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