Economics Summer Programme: 30 June - 26 July 2025
Applications for 2025 are now open!
This intense four-week academic summer programme will give ambitious students in the field of economics and related subjects the extraordinary opportunity to experience Cambridge academic life in the context of a programme specifically designed for high-achieving university students.
Girton College is one of the larger constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1869, Girton is a vibrant community of scholars, from all walks of life, united in their passion for learning. The College’s beautiful buildings, excellent facilities and spacious grounds are located just outside the city centre, and Girton is well known for its relaxed and friendly atmosphere – the perfect place in which to meet like-minded students from around the world.
Like many other courses in economics this course consists of microeconomic and macroeconomic components. However, it takes a unique approach in that the microeconomic component is based on a selection of Nobel Prize winners while the macroeconomic components take a historical perspective or introduces the key theories of income distribution in this context. This combination of microeconomics and macroeconomics should make this a course of equal interest, both to those with a knowledge of economics and those with little background. Students will have 45 hours of contact time over the course of three modules, and they will receive a grade for the work they complete at Girton.
Economics Summer Programme Outline
This programme comprises three parts:
This part of the course provides students with fundamental insights within macroeconomic theory by emphasising its historical development. It expands on the critique of main macroeconomic theories and on issues regarding policy prescriptions. The course also explores the current content of textbooks on macroeconomics and their shortfalls.
This part of the course provides students with fundamental insights into microeconomic analysis by studying a selection of Nobel Prize winners in economics. Each lecture outlines a key theoretical insight developed by the Nobel Prize winners studied. To provide students with a more rounded perspective, the course also provides some background into the Nobel prize winners themselves (including their life story, motivations, and their times).
This part of the course introduces students to the key theories of income distribution within a macroeconomic framework, which permits economic analyses that respect accounting identities. Students will be able to combine theories of growth and the business cycle from “Macroeconomics and Its Economic, Political and Social Factors”, to explore distributive cycles. Moreover, the course presents the macro-distributional effects of microeconomic behaviour surveyed in “Nobel Prize Winners”.
Evening talks
In addition to the academic course there will be a series of weekly evening lectures covering topics on Cambridge research or general interest.
Past Lectures have included:
- Graduate Studies at Cambridge.
- The Cambridge Experience: Past and Present by Dr Devlin.
- International Trade by Dr Reinsberg.
- Nanotechnology in the Oil Industry by Dr Durkan.
- Brexit by Dr Gray.
Apply for Summer 2025
Applications for 2025 are now open. Click the button below to find out how to apply.
How to apply
Girton stories
Hao Guang, Singapore
Girton Summer Programmes
This program provided not only a holistic approach to studying Economics, but a platform for me to interact and build a rapport with friends from different countries, predispositions and experiences; truly a great way to spend the summer!