Summer at LSE

A.B. Prasannaa Venkatesh fondly recalls his stay at LSE and writes on why its summer school courses are special.

October 06, 2013 02:48 pm | Updated 03:57 pm IST - chennai

Prasannaa Venkatesh

Prasannaa Venkatesh

London School of Economics (LSE) is top-ranked in the world for study of economics. Way back in 1989, LSE started offering summer school courses. At that time, only 10 courses were offered in Economics and it attracted just about 100 students. The LSE summer school has grown by leaps and bounds and has just celebrated its 25th year. With the participation of over 5000 students from 100 countries, this makes it the biggest summer academic extravaganza in the U.K.

Over 60 three-week courses are taught by world renowned faculty at the LSE campus in the heart of Central London. Summer School courses are drawn from across the university, and are divided into six subject areas: Accounting and Finance, Economics, English language, International Relations, Government & Society, Law and Management.

Being a student of Economics and Electronics and Instrumentation, I choose to attend a course on Intermediate Macroeconomics. There were over 150 students from Europe, Americas, Asia and other parts of the globe as well.

Lectures galore

Being the silver jubilee summer school, there are many special lectures under public events where eminent persons deliver lectures. Lord Meghnad Desai and Prof. Jeffery Sachs are some of the many reputed speakers who spoke this year.

London provides an unparalleled environment to live and study, being the centre for government and law, Europe's leading financial market and a trend setter in culture. The West End, the Royal Opera House, the British Library and British Museum are in the vicinity of the university.

This being my first visit to London, the temptation to take a deep dive and immerse in the cultural milieu is overbearing indeed, but then true to its academic rigour the summer school has two mid-term tests which keeps one on his toes.

A number of social events and tours are arranged on weekends. The LSE organised visits to the River Boat Disco and trips to Stonehenge, Oxford and Cambridge universities. All summer school students are given free pass for public events, which are otherwise ticketed.

Attending the LSE summer school was an eye-opening experience.

The writer is a fourth-year student at BITS, Pilani, pursuing a dual degree in Economics and Electronics and Instrumentation.

Email: prasannaa.bits@gmail.com

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