*PLEASE DO NOT FILL THIS IN IF YOU ARE NOT AN ECONOMICS STUDENT AT MANCHESTER. IT IS SUPPOSED TO SHOW STUDENT SUPPORT FOR THE MODULE*

To Manchester Economics Department

We the undersigned express our dissatisfaction at the fact that the module ‘Bubbles, Panics and Crashes’ was not adopted as an official university module for 2014/15. This course has been presented by the university lecturer, Sakir Yilmaz, and has enjoyed huge success with consistently large turnouts and dedicated students attending every lecture. The course has achieved this despite no official credits being awarded for this module.

Students have commented on the engaging, passionate quality of Sakir Yilmaz' teaching. They have also noted on how refreshing it has to been to study the business cycle through the different theoretical perspectives considered by the course, especially when the recent recession is so relevant to our lives. Fundamentally, by engaging with competing ideas of what causes an economic downturn, the course is achieving a degree of honest, open and critical study that many other courses on the syllabus fail to manage.  

For these reasons, we are surprised and disappointed at the department’s decision. Having been told by the department that the concerns of the Post-Crash Society were being taken seriously and steps were being taken to change the curriculum, this decision gives a clear indication that this is not the case.We therefore call on the department to reconsider their decision and appoint the module as an official one at the earliest possible opportunity.

Yours faithfully,