Beyond the theory: navigating student engagement in perceived as dry subjects

Business and management degree programmes equip undergraduates with strategic, operational, and transferable competencies essential for diverse organizational environments. Within this curriculum, foundational subjects such as economics and finance provide the analytical frameworks necessary for organizational decision-making; however, their theoretical density often leads students to perceive the content as abstract, dry, and unengaging. This pedagogical paper reflects on undergraduate classroom dynamics, examining the tension between institutional syllabus completion and the delivery of interactive, high-retention instruction. Drawing from classroom observations, the study identifies behavioural indicators of disengagement, including persistent absenteeism, lack of preparation, incomplete tasks, and passive class participation, and analyses their underlying drivers, such as perceived curricular irrelevance, diminished intrinsic motivation, and disrupted study habits following post-pandemic transitions. To mitigate academic underperformance and high failure rates, the paper underscores the need for contextualised, active learning pedagogies that bridge abstract business theories with practical, real-world applications.