A Student-Led Initiative for Collaborative Learning and Professional Growth

This case study presents and reflects on a collaborative student-led symposium. It is designed as an experiential learning initiative to cultivate intellectual curiosity, encourage economic thinking, and stimulate critical discussion of real-world economic issues. Aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students in economics and business, it offers a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement with industry professionals. Organised by students for students, the symposium enhances the academic experience while fostering key academic and professional skills. The project team, formed through a competitive selection process, consists of up to five students, with two serving as project leads.

Recruitment

Student-organisers of the symposium are recruited in a multi-stage competitive selection process. At the start of the semester, a call for expressions of interest is released. The call invites students to outline their plans for the symposium including ideas for industry speakers, interactive games, quizzes, storytelling, and other activities and submit their CVs. Candidates with innovative ideas and potential to contribute to the project progress to the next stage of the selection process.

In the next stage, each candidate presents their ideas and proposals for games and speakers to the other candidates in a presentation session chaired by the instructor. Candidates are asked to evaluate each other’s presentations and engage by asking questions. After the session, each candidate emails their ranking of fellow candidates to the instructor, who then announces the top five candidates selected to form the project team. 

In the final recruitment stage, each candidate is asked to choose the peer they would most like to co-lead the project with, assuming they themselves are one of the co-leaders. Two candidates with the most votes are selected to co-lead the project. The instructor does not participate in the selection process but acts solely as a coordinator.

Involvement in every aspect of the project helps students enhance their learning experience and develop skills highly valued by graduate employers. The selection process is rich in skills-fostering activities that are essential for academic success and highly transferable to professional settings. Students develop a wide range of skills including communication and presentation skills, a sense of responsibility, and improve their confidence and self-awareness. 

Planning and Execution

During the planning and execution phase, the instructor serves as an advisor and mentor to the project team. Under the advisor’s guidance, the team develops a project plan, designs the symposium programme, sets a timeline, and allocates tasks to leverage each member’s strengths and skills. Based on the workload, members form sub-teams focused on operations, marketing and outreach. The team holds weekly meetings to review progress, address challenges, and adjust plans as needed.

The marketing sub-team is responsible for designing promotional materials, coordinating with the university’s marketing department, and promoting the event on social media platforms. The operations sub-team liaises with the school’s operations and catering teams to book rooms, arrange catering, and procure materials for games and prizes. The project leaders are responsible for developing the symposium programme, selecting interactive games, planning the economics quiz competition, and preparing a list of questions for the industry speakers. In addition, the team compiles a list of potential speakers and reaches out to them. If they are unable to secure speakers through their own networks, they may form a sub-team to work with the university’s employability and careers team to identify and invite industry professionals for the event. At the end of the planning phase, students conduct mock runs of the selected interactive economics games to address issues and challenges of hosting them, and to ensure that the games are educational and enjoyable for the participants.

Project planning and execution equip students with skills in problem-solving, collaboration and teamwork, leadership and decision-making, digital literacy, and professional networking. Beyond skills development, the project team benefits from interdisciplinary learning due to its diverse composition, with students majoring in various humanities and social sciences disciplines. Team members have opportunities to share insights from their disciplines and apply them to the symposium’s planning and execution. This interdisciplinary approach enables students to develop holistic solutions to project’s multifaceted challenges and problems.

The Budding Economists’ Symposium

The initiative, titled The Budding Economists’ Symposium, was first introduced in 2023 within first-year economics courses at Northeastern University London. It has since been delivered by two successive student cohorts. These courses primarily served non-economics majors, as well as students pursuing business and non-business minors. This made the symposium a valuable opportunity to promote experiential learning in economics education among a diverse student body.

Following the process outlined above, project teams were successfully formed, and symposiums were delivered within the defined timeline and budget. Throughout the process, the teams worked in close collaboration with the university’s marketing and student engagement departments.

The student organisers actively engaged the audience through a range of interactive economics games, including the tennis ball game, donut-eating challenge, and the free rider problem, among others. Winners of the economics quiz competition were awarded university merchandise and certificates.

Distinguished panel speakers included economists from the Bank of England and Ofgem, an investment banker, director of an economic consultancy, and a CEO of a London-based start-up. They shared valuable career insights with students and offered advice on pursuing a PhD in economics, as well as reflections on studying economics more broadly.

In the following video, Olivia Graham, who served as the marketing and outreach sub-team lead in the 2025 symposium, shares her experience and insights about the symposium.