Course leader: Dr. Ingrid Majerova

Home Institution: Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic

Course Overview

The course acquaints students with the issue of the world economy, its elements and relations and with the distribution of economic potential in particular regions of the world. Further it acquaints students with the basic tendencies of development in the global economy and their influence on national economies. The course provides fundamental information about international institutions, economic relations and their role in the world economy, as well as information about integration processes, which take place in it. Lectures are also devoted to the characteristic and the identification of countries headed the center of the world economy as well as developing countries and centrally planned economies. The course also acquaints with the issue related to the comparison of subjects in the global economy.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course students should be able to synthesize information from the field of the world economy, including of historical development and its influence on current problems in the world economy. Based on the acquired knowledge, they can better understand and analyze the issues of the world economy and make predictions of its further development.

Course Content

Course will be divided into two parts – lectures and group projects which will be connected into one complex. The lectures/lessons will be interactive with the high degree of students involvement; the projects will be created by students (divided into the groups according to the numbers of participants) directly in the classroom using information obtained from Internet sources.

The course content will be as follows:

1. Introduction into the world economy – interactive lesson
2. Development of the world economy – interactive lesson
3. Is globalization the basis of main global problems? – group projects
4. International trade and its main problems – interactive lesson
5. What is the role of international institutions in today's world? – group projects
6. How the world moves? The international movement of labor, capital and technology – interactive lesson
7. Centers of the world economy – will be changed soon? – group projects
8. Development of the international monetary system – interactive lesson
9. What do the centrally planned economies look like – interactive lesson
10. Is possible to solve the differences between the advanced and developing world? – group projects.

Instructional Method

During the course the lectures with group projects will be combined.

Required Course Materials

Required technics are computers (for PowerPoint presentations) with internet connection (for students´ projects), in the case of online courses the software MS Teams is needed.

Assessment

Means of evaluation are divided into two groups:

1. According to the activity during the lectures (students receive the extra-points if they react on my questions during the lecture) – maximum 10 points
2. According to the quality of group projects – for every project maximum 20 points.