Majored FinanceAn increase in students __31__ to study economics at university is being attributed to （归因于）the global economic crisis awakening a public thirst for knowledge about how the __32__ system works.Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn were up by 15% this January, according to UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A __33__ for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at A-level were also up.Professor John Beath, the president of the society and a leading lecturer at St Andrews University, said his first-year lectures—which are open to students from all departments—were __34__ crowds of 400, rather than the usual 250."There are a large number of students who are not __35__ majors, who would like to learn something about it. One of the things I have done this year is to relate my teaching to contemporary __36__ in a way that one hasn't traditionally done," he added.University applications rose 7% last year. But there were rises above average in several subjects. Nursing saw a 15% jump, with people's renewed interest in __37__ in the public sector （部门） ,which are seen as more secure in economic crisis.A recent study showed almost two thirds of parents __38__ schools should do more to teach pupils about financial matters, and almost half said their children had asked them what was going on, although a __39__ of parents felt they did not understand it themselves well enough to explain.Zack Hocking, the head of child trust funds, said: "It's possible that one good thing to __40__ from the downturn will be a generation that's financially wiser and better equipped to manage their money through times of economic uncertainty."