Jordan Buchanan from the Economic Policy Centre Speaks to Sixth Form Economics and Business Studies

On Thursday 17th March Jordan Buchanan, who works for the Economic Policy Centre based at the University of Ulster, spoke to Sixth Form pupils.  The centre is an independent research centre focused on producing evidence based research to inform policy development and implementation.  The Centre’s work is relevant to government, business and the wider general public with the aim of engaging those who may previously have been disengaged from economic debate. 

In addition, staff from the centre equip students with practical skills required in the workplace, which complements the existing provision of economics teaching at the Ulster University.

He started his talk by telling pupils how important skills are and that employment prospects increase with higher qualifications.  He then did a quick quiz on the Northern Ireland Economy to see what pupils knew.  Jordan then spent the rest of his time explaining the state of the NI, UK and Global economy.  He backed up what he was saying with lots of graphs and figures. 

This was a very informative session for Sixth Form pupils, who found it relevant to their A Level course.