The Graduate Diploma was a fast-track into economics for me coming from outside the discipline. It gave me a comprehensive introduction to the complex ideas and concepts straight away. Although, the taught course is only one year in length is covers both second and third year units to capture the core syllabus in economics. At times I felt a little out of my depth in the first semester because it was all completely new to me, but by the end of the second semester I had won a scholarship to do a Masters.

I am now on the verge of completing a PhD in economics at UEA and I teach part-time. One advantage to such a fast-track entry to economics is that I will never forget how different economics appeared to me when I first started.  This has helped me tremendously in my teaching because I can empathise with non-economics students and use examples from my own experience to help them to understand.