INTERNATIONAL TRADE - 2021/2

Module Overview

This module provides students with both a theoretical and practical understanding of International Trade, considered from an international political economy (IPE) perspective.  This is done through the assessment of International Trade from different angles, predominantly from the state’s perspective, the international trade regime perspective (the GATT and WTO) as well as from the perspectives of regional cooperation and of business and industry

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

CAIRO Raymond (SII DUFE)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Taught from an International Political Economy angle, some knowledge of the international system, political economy and how governments interact is desirable.

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• The role of governments in international trade and tools at their disposal


• Factors affecting national trade patterns


• Relations between foreign direct investment and trade


• Transnational institutions that govern trade (GATT, WTO)


• Regional Trading Blocs including the NAFTA, ASEAN and EU

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Not applicable

Assessment Strategy

he assessment strategy is designed to encourage students to demonstrate critical understanding of the perspectives of international trade covered in the module. The coursework component and the mandatory seminar sessions will facilitate formative assessment and feedback.

The assessments offer a clear relationship between lectures, tutorials, subject resources, and what students are expected to demonstrate they know and can do. Hence, the expectations are unambiguous. They also embody the nature of knowledge and skills that students are expected to demonstrate. The talks mirror the skills needed in the workplace.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• 2-hour examination which aims to assess students’ familiarity with and knowledge of various aspects of International Trade 


• Coursework (individual, max 1000 words, 35%) which aims to provide students with the opportunity to apply international trade theories to a contemporary global problem at hand in.

Formative assessment and feedback

 Feedback will be provided in print within two weeks of submission of the assignment. It will be constructive, identifying areas that can be strengthened. It will offer guidance on what students can do to improve in the future in the light of links to clear assessment criteria. The students will have the opportunity to discuss comments on assessments after they have received feedback.

Module aims

• provide an understanding of the theoretical foundations of international trade;
• provide a practical overview of the most important issues in international trade, partly through highlighting those in previous trading regimes but predominantly through featuring the current international trading regime; 
• enable students to identify the main actors in contemporary international trade issues and assess their interaction and the consequences of such interactions for the world economy;
• feature the interests of and national dynamics involving politics and business in order to enable students to critically assess various aspects of international trade.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The teaching and learning strategy is based on weekly 2-hour lecture sessions and  1-hour seminar classes (on a bi-weekly basis) designed with the aim to provide students with the necessary tools to familiarise themselves with, as well as to understand and evaluate, the forces that play a role in the field of international trade.  Rather than a predominantly theoretical economic approach, the strategy draws on a more practice-oriented IPE approach.

The teaching and learning methods to support the aforementioned strategy are woven into lectures. Depending on the size of the group, the lectures will take a more (small group) or less (larger cohort) seminarial character. Due to the fact that much of the content of this module includes actors whom the students have not come across during their previous modules, students are REQUIRED to read the texts (chapters and/or articles) recommended for each individual lecture.

Furthermore, the lectures will be supported by mandatory bi-weekly seminar classes where attendance shall be monitored.

SurreyLearn will be used in support of the above.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN3100

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2021/2 academic year.