Jargon Jungle (E)
Economics:
Economists will tell you that their subject is 'the study of the allocation of scarce resources'. In fact, they mean it's about the way money changes hands, affecting society (and managing never to reach you and me).
Education:
A Bachelor of Education degree trains teachers to teach, within a specialised field at any rate (usually determined by age group, academic subject, or both). Some take a 'normal' first degree (BA, BSc, etc) instead and study for a further year to get a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE). Either way, after four years of being a student, they know how to work for low pay and look moth-eaten.
Engineering:
Engineering is the study of how to create things that make people's lives easier/healthier/safer/better. There are sub-divisions such as: Chemical Engineering (studying how materials change); Civil Engineering (transport, sewage, public buildings, etc); Electrical Engineering and so on. Engineers usually work phenomenally hard, play 'Quake' for hours, and tell you that their subject is 'really interesting, actually'.
Ents:
Short for entertainments, which are usually run by the students' union and include such larks as gigs, hypnotists and, if you're unlucky, karaoke.
Environmental Studies:
A relatively new discipline that takes bits of biology, chemistry, geology and social sciences and investigates how environmental problems occur, how to prevent them and how to chain yourself to a bulldozer.
European Studies:
French, Spanish and Italian aren't just languages, nowadays there are courses which combine learning how to talk with learning something to talk about. A French course might include bits about French culture, business, law, history and Thierry Henri's tackling techniques.
Last updated on: 23 April 2008