Why study Economics at Selwyn College?
Selwyn is one of the strongest colleges in Cambridge for Economics. We consistently finish first or second for exam results, and around half of our undergraduates achieve First Class Honours. These results are driven by an innovative teaching method developed at Selwyn and by faculty who have won some of the world's top teaching awards – including from the European Economic Association, QS, Advance HE and Cambridge University Press, and from students themselves. Beyond the classroom, we support our students with paid summer internships that no other Cambridge college offers, giving them hands-on experience of research and data analysis. With this combination of award-winning teaching, research experience and support behind them, our students go on to further study at leading universities such as Harvard, MIT and Stanford, and to careers at top firms such as McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Outstanding exam results
Selwyn has finished first or second among Cambridge colleges for Economics exam results in every one of the last five years. Around half of our undergraduates achieve First Class Honours, the highest degree class. Our students have also won University prizes for the very top marks, including the Adam Smith Prize for the best overall performance in the Economics degree exams (Harrison Emery, 2026) and the H.A. Turner Prize for the best performance in Labour Economics (Joseph Baxendale, 2025).
We believe much of this comes down to how we teach.
Award-winning teaching
At Selwyn, you learn Economics in the ways that research shows work best, from teachers who have won awards in Cambridge and around the world.
Who teaches you. Your lectures are given by the University at the Faculty of Economics and the Lecture Block, both right next door to Selwyn. Alongside them, the College arranges your supervisions: small-group sessions, usually with two or three students, led by an expert in the subject. Unlike most colleges, Selwyn can provide all Economics supervisions with its own team. With 5 fellows and many affiliated lecturers, we have one of the largest Economics teaching teams in Cambridge, including a former Head of the Faculty of Economics and the Convener of Undergraduate Admissions in Economics for the whole University. So you are taught by people who know you and follow your progress from one year to the next.
How you learn. Your supervisions are part of an innovative teaching method developed at Selwyn by our Director of Studies, Oleg Kitov. Alongside traditional supervisions, you take regular practice tests and mock exams, work on group projects and assess your own work. You get regular feedback and learn to judge the quality of your own work, so you know exactly where to improve. This helps you understand the material more deeply, remember it for longer and do better in exams. It also teaches you to study independently – a skill you will use long after Cambridge. Because it was developed here, Selwyn is where the method is used in full.
Recognised worldwide. Within Cambridge, the method has won the Teaching and Learning Innovation Award from the Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning (2020) and the Cambridge University Press & Assessment Prize for Technology-enabled Learning (2021). Internationally, it has won a QS Reimagine Education Award (2025) and the Encoura Eduventures Program Innovation Award (2026). Oleg Kitov, our Director of Studies, who pioneered this method, has also won some of the most prestigeous individual teaching awards – most recently, in 2026, the European Economic Association's Senior Award for Exceptional Teaching, Europe's principal award for teaching economics, and Cambridge's Pilkington Prize for Teaching Excellence, which no member of the Faculty of Economics had received in more than a decade.
Unique research internships
Excellent teaching and top exam results are only part of what Selwyn offers. We also support your career development, helping you build the practical skills that employers and graduate schools look for. Every summer, up to eight of our undergraduates are chosen for a paid, 10-week Robert Martin Research Internship. The scheme is supported by Selwyn alumnus Robert Martin and run by our Economics fellows. If you are chosen, you work one-to-one with a fellow on a real research project and learn modern research and data analysis skills by putting them into practice. No other Cambridge college offers a scheme like this. You finish the summer with real research experience for your CV and a strong preparation for your final-year dissertation.
Top careers
Strong exam results and real research experience open doors. Our fellows know you well and support you as you plan your next step, and careers talks at the Hicks Economics Society put you in touch with Selwyn alumni across many careers. Many of our graduates continue their studies, either staying on at Cambridge or moving to other leading universities such as Oxford, LSE, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Stanford and Berkeley. Many others work in banking and consulting, at firms such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey and Frontier Economics. Others work in public service, at organisations such as the Bank of England, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the International Monetary Fund.
Applying to Selwyn
Key facts
- Minimum A-level offer: A\*A\*A – A\*A\*A\*.
- Minimum IB offer: 43–44, with 776 to 777 in Higher Levels.
- Subject required: Mathematics (Further Mathematics strongly encouraged).
- Admissions test: TMUA, first sitting in October.
- Interviews: two subject-based and one general.
- Average offers made per year: 10.2.
What do you look for in applicants?
As John Maynard Keynes, who by the way studied and taught at Cambridge, put it, economics is "an easy subject, at which very few excel!", because a good economist must be "mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher – in some degree". We look for a similar mix of strengths: students who think analytically, have strong maths skills, can use both intuition and numbers to judge an economic question, and are genuinely interested in economics.
What subjects do I need?
A-level Mathematics (or equivalent) is essential, and we strongly encourage Further Mathematics. IB students need Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches. If your school does not offer the maths you need, please contact us. You do not need to have formally studied economics before.
Do I need to take an admissions test?
Yes. All applicants take the Test of Mathematics for University Admissions (TMUA) at the first sitting. You register for it separately from your UCAS application and take it at a Pearson VUE test centre. You can find details on the [TMUA website](https://esat-tmua.ac.uk).
What are the interviews like?
You will have two subject interviews and one general interview. In the subject interviews, we want to see how you think logically about an economic question, how you work through the consequences of facts and assumptions, and how you use maths. You may be given some problems to look at beforehand. The general interview is about why you want to study Economics at Cambridge, and your wider interests. If you come to one of our open days, you will receive a handout with real interview questions from past years to help you prepare.
How many students do you admit?
We usually extend around ten offers and admit about eight Economics undergraduates each year. The number of applicants changes from year to year, but the standard we need for an offer does not.
Does my choice of college affect my chances?
No. Research across the University has consistently shown that your choice of college does not affect your chances of getting a Cambridge offer. Strong applicants who do not get a place at their first-choice college can still receive an offer from another college through the intercollegiate pool. So choose the college where you think you will feel at home and do your best work.
Does Selwyn offer funding for Economics students?
For postgraduate economists, Selwyn offers two studentships:
- Selwyn Janzarik TCRS PhD Studentship in Economics: covers full fees and living costs for four years for a home student. International students can also apply, if the Faculty of Economics provides extra funding.
- Cambridge Trust Selwyn Patrick Cross MPhil Studentship in Economics: open to home and international students on any of the Faculty of Economics' taught postgraduate courses.
Next steps
- Read about the course on the Faculty of Economics website and the University's Economics course page.
- Download the Selwyn College prospectus.
- Come and see Selwyn at an open day.
- Questions about studying Economics at Selwyn? Email our Undergraduate Admissions Office at admissions@sel.cam.ac.uk.
Selwyn Economics Community
Selwyn's Economics community is one of the largest in Cambridge, with around 24 undergraduates, 8 master's students and 4 PhD students. Current and recent Selwyn economists have come from places including Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Lithuania, Malaysia, Moldova, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, the USA, Vietnam and Wales.
Hicks Economics Society
The Hicks Economics Society brings together Selwyn economists – students, fellows and alumni – for drinks, lunches, formal dinners, garden parties and careers talks. It is an easy way to make friends across year groups and to meet graduates who work in the jobs you might want.
Fellows and Bye-Fellows
Oleg Kitov joined Selwyn in 2016. He is Robert Martin Fellow, Associate Professor, Director of Studies, Postgraduate Tutor, and Convener of Undergraduate Admissions in Economics. A Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Oleg is one of the world's most award-winning Economics educators. Since 2018, he has won a major teaching prize almost every year, including the European Economic Association's Senior Award for Exceptional Teaching (2026), the Pilkington Prize for Teaching Excellence (2026) and a QS Reimagine Education Award (2025). He holds postgraduate degrees in Mathematics, Economics, and Finance from Warwick, Oxford, and Cambridge. His research on income distribution and applied econometrics is funded by the Keynes Fund and the Isaac Newton Trust. Oleg teaches Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Macroeconomics, and Public Economics.
Myungun Kim joined Selwyn in 2018 and is a College Associate Professor, Director of Studies in Economics at Selwyn and Robinson colleges, and a Bye-Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College. He received his PhD in Economics from Cambridge, where he won the Faculty's Best Teaching Prize three times. His research in applied microeconomics focuses on firm productivity, innovation, and technology adoption. He is currently studying the costs and benefits of AI adoption in UK manufacturing, combining large-scale firm data with evidence from firm visits. His work sits between economics and engineering, examining how new technologies change the way firms perform and are organised. Myungun teaches Macroeconomics, Econometrics, and Statistics.
Weilong Zhang joined Selwyn in 2021. He is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics. He received a PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MPhil in Economics and a BA in Mathematics from Renmin University of China. His research spans labour, education, family and health economics, from personality and the gender pay gap to minimum wages and universal preschool. He has published widely in leading journals, including the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Labor Economics, the Review of Financial Studies and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is an Associate Editor of the International Economic Review. Weilong teaches Microeconomics and Labour Economics.
Jeffrey Tse joined Selwyn in 2026 as the Abdey Isaac Newton Trust Academic Career Development Fellow in Economics. He studied Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Waterloo, and completed a master's in Mathematical Sciences and his doctoral research in Statistics at the University of Oxford, supervised by Professor Frank Windmeijer. His research is in econometric theory for causal inference, including instrumental variables estimation, instrument selection and Mendelian randomisation. At Oxford, Jeffrey taught Computational Statistics, Statistical Machine Learning, and Simulation and Statistical Programming, and was a Stipendiary Lecturer at Merton College. At Cambridge, Jeffrey teaches courses in Mathematics, Statistics, and Econometrics.
Chander Velu is Director of Studies in Management at Selwyn and Professor of Innovation and Economics at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) in the Cambridge University Engineering Department, where he heads the Business Model Innovation Research Group. His research explores how adopting digital technologies drives business model innovation and affects productivity. He teaches Industrial Economics and Strategy in the Engineering Department. Before joining the IfM, Chander was a member of the faculty at Cambridge Judge Business School, and he previously worked as a consultant with PwC and Booz Allen & Hamilton in London. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Kai Liu joined Selwyn in 2023 as a Bye-Fellow and is a Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge. He holds a PhD in Economics from Johns Hopkins University and degrees from Peking University and the University of Hong Kong. Before joining Cambridge in 2015, he was an Assistant Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics. His research in applied microeconomics focuses on Labour and Public Economics, including the long-term effects of childcare and preschool programmes, how parents shape their children's development, and how education reforms affect technological change and the labour market. Kai teaches Microeconomics, Labour Economics, and Public Economics.
Affiliated Lecturers
Ruohan Qin joined Selwyn in 2022 as a College Teaching Associate. He is also a College Assistant Professor of Economics at Murray Edwards College, a Bye-Fellow at Downing College, and a Senior Teaching Member at Robinson College. He has taught Microeconomics, Labour Economics, Industrial Organisation, and the Economics of Networks, and has won the Faculty of Economics Best Teaching Prize several times. Ruohan holds postgraduate degrees from Cambridge, the LSE, and the University of Nottingham. His research explores the "dark side" of economics, where weak property rights lead people not only to produce but also to seize resources through theft, raiding, and war. He studies how conflict networks form and which institutions can reduce conflict.
David Fowler joined Selwyn in 2025 as a supervisor for the Part I papers in Political and Social Aspects of Economics and in Economic History. He is also a Senior Member of Robinson College, a part-time lecturer at Cardiff University, and a Visiting Faculty Member at Amherst College, Massachusetts. He is the author of The First Teenagers (Routledge, 1995) and Youth Culture in Modern Britain, c.1920–c.1970 (Macmillan, 2008). His new book, Oxford and Revolution, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2026, and he is editing a Routledge Handbook on Margaret Thatcher's Britain. His research focuses on the student movements of the 1960s in Britain, Europe, and the USA.
Vittoria Franzini joined Selwyn in 2025 as a supervisor in Public Economics and Macroeconomics. She holds an MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge, following a BSc in Economics at Queen Mary University of London, where she was the sole recipient of the Constance Maynard Prize for outstanding academic achievement. Vittoria has experience teaching Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and Econometrics. Alongside her teaching at Selwyn, she works as a Research Assistant at the Faculty of Economics, Cambridge, and as a Teaching Fellow in Economics in London. Her research interests lie at the intersection of Applied Microeconomics and Econometrics.
PhD Postgraduate Supervisors
Dmitrii Petrukhin joined Selwyn as a supervisor in 2023 and is currently a PhD student in Economics at the University of Cambridge, supervised by Professor Sriya Iyer. He completed his undergraduate studies at the LSE, followed by an Advanced Diploma in Economics and an MPhil in Economic Research at Cambridge. His research interests are in Development Economics and Political Economy -- he examines how politics and institutions shape development, employing econometric and machine learning in empirical analysis. Dmitrii supervises Econometrics at Selwyn and a few other colleges.
Roman Berlanger joined Selwyn in 2023. He is a PhD student in Economics supervised by Professor Peter Bossaerts and a researcher at the Leverhulme International Professorship Lab, studying how people make decisions when problems are computationally complex. He is among the few PhD students to be a co-investigator on a Keynes Fund research grant. The project links complexity, AI, firm size and inequality. He holds master's degrees in Economic Research (Cambridge), Business Engineering (Solvay Brussels School), and Economics and Finance (HEC Paris), and a bachelor's degree in Psychology (Université libre de Bruxelles). He teaches Industrial Organisation, and Banking and Finance.
Rob Sapsford joined Selwyn in 2023 and is currently a PhD student at the Faculty of Economics, where he holds the inaugural Trinity--Cambridge Research Studentship and is supervised by Professor Bryony Reich. Rob completed his MPhil in Economics at the University of Cambridge and his BSc in Economics at the University of Warwick. He also has professional experience in economic consulting. Rob's research interests are in economic theory and particularly network economics. Rob supervises Microeconomics, Mathematics, and Statistics at Selwyn and a few other colleges.
Cong Minh Nguyen joined Selwyn in 2026 as a PhD student and Gates Cambridge Scholar. He is a member of the Computational Cognitive Economics Lab led by his supervisor, Dr Stefan Bucher. He works on Behavioural and Information Economics, Industrial Organisation, and AI & Digital Economics. Cong Minh studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the LSE, then completed a Master of Research in Analysis and Policy in Economics at École Normale Supérieure and the Paris School of Economics, and the MPhil in Economics and Data Science at Cambridge as a Jardine Cambridge Graduate Scholar. He supervises Econometrics at Selwyn.
Afonso Alves Monteiro joined Selwyn in 2026 and is a PhD student at the Faculty of Economics, where he holds the Selwyn Janzarik Trinity--Cambridge Research Studentship in Economics and is supervised by Professor Constantine Yannelis. He previously studied at the Barcelona School of Economics. His research interests are in Macroeconomics, Monetary Policy and Labour Economics, including heterogeneous agent models.
Emeritus and Honorary Fellows
Ken Coutts is an Emeritus Fellow in Economics and a past Director of Studies at Selwyn. He was a member of the Cambridge Economic Policy Group in the Department of Applied Economics and Assistant Director of Research in the Faculty of Economics from 1988 until retirement. His published works are in the area of industrial pricing behaviour and in macroeconomic policy. He lectured and supervised in Macroeconomics.
Leonardo Felli joined Selwyn and the University of Cambridge in 2019 as Head of the Faculty of Economics. He is now Emeritus Professor of Economics at Cambridge, and was formerly the J. M. Keynes Senior Fellow in Financial Economics. He is also a Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London) and the Centre for Economic Studies (Munich). Before joining Cambridge, Professor Felli was Head of the Economics Faculty at the LSE. Professor Felli's research has focused on Microeconomics and, in particular, on contract theory.
