engleski

Geography Courses in the University Studies of Economics in the Context of Globalization

The research explores the need of introducing geography courses into the university studies of economics, particularly into management studies, and proposes a model for the implementation of geography courses into the undergraduate and graduate study programs of management in the Department of Economics at the University of Zadar, Croatia. The paper presents a detailed description of the two proposed courses—Economic Geography and Political Geography—including the course goals and learning outcomes, as well as factual insights, theoretical knowledge, social and cognitive skills, independence, responsibility, and other competences that the students will acquire in both courses. The syllabi containing these data are in line with the Bologna process and Croatian qualifications framework whose implementation into the educational system was accepted by Croatia when signing the Bologna declaration principles. The paper deals with a number of essential research issues: How to carry out the modelled implementation and introduce a necessary level of multi- disciplinary quality to the economics study programs? What are the obstacles and constraints that may arise in the process? In what way are the post-transition countries specific in this regard? How may these changes affect the learning outcomes and competencies that management students have to acquire in the field of geography? Is the significance of the described implementation even greater—and to what extent—with regard to the forthcoming accession of Croatia to the European Union? The methodology that was used in the research is related to successful cases of similar implementation of geography courses into economics study programs in the world, but also to the observation during teaching in the Department of Economics at the University of Zadar. The information collected by the observation revealed that the students’ knowledge and competencies in this area were insufficient. The results gathered over the first two years of the implementation of the two geography courses—Economic Geography and Political Geography—proved that the students entirely satisfied the criteria set by the syllabi of the respective courses and that they successfully met the course requirements, thereby acquiring the desired competencies. This leads to the conclusion that the thesis set forth in this paper proved to be correct, and that this paper’s model for the implementation of geography courses in the area of management studies produced first good and promising results.

geography ; geopolitics ; economic studies ; study of management ; learning outcomes ; geography courses

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