Following Adam Smith's footsteps: students travel to Scotland to learn about economic freedom

Earlier this summer, five students packed their bags and headed to Scotland for the trip of a lifetime. The students joined FIU's Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom on a journey to the birthplace of Adam Smith, the pioneering economist and philosopher who is often considered the father of economics.

The trip marked the 250th anniversary of Smith's landmark work, The Wealth of Nations. It also allowed the students to witness as FIU forged a new academic partnership with Heriot-Watt University in the same building that Smith once called home.

“The Adam Smith Center was founded on the very principles Adam Smith gave the world 250 years ago,” said Carlos Díaz-Rosillo, founding director of the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom. “To stand with our students in the place where those ideas were first articulated, where the principles of economic freedom took shape, is to see that legacy come full circle. I am confident our students will carry that legacy forward.”

The trip gave students a close look at Scotland's political institutions and history, and at the enduring reach of Smith's ideas in economics and public policy. Their first stop was the Scottish Parliament, where students toured the chamber where Members of the Scottish Parliament debate, ask questions and make decisions. For many, it was a first look at how another country's government works up close.

“I was surprised to learn the United Kingdom has no single written constitution, but it ultimately made me appreciate the protections our own Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantee,” said Sebastian Priante, a business administration in finance major.

The students also visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse, King Charles III's official residence in Edinburgh. Students explored the palace's history and learned about figures central to Scotland's past, including Mary, Queen of Scots.

“It’s one thing to read about history in a textbook; it’s another to be walking through and become enveloped by years of preserved history,” said Veronica De Moya, a business and government leadership major. “This was an extraordinary experience to learn about Scotland and the overall United Kingdom’s history from their own royal perspective.”

During the trip, FIU and Heriot-Watt University signed a Letter of Friendship at Panmure House, Smith's home from 1778 until 1790. This letter affirms the relationship between the two institutions, united by a shared belief in academic rigor and in Smith's intellectual legacy. The agreement sets a framework for cooperation in the study of free markets, moral philosophy and political economy, while building on the longstanding ties between Florida and Scotland that go back through the centuries to when Scottish immigrants first came to the region. 

FIU President Jeanette M. Nuñez and Carlos Díaz-Rosillo, founding director of the Adam Smith Center, signed on behalf of FIU, joined by Heriot-Watt's Deputy Principal for Research and Impact Chris Turney and University Secretary Ruth Moir. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis presided over the signing.

“This partnership is just the beginning of what promises to be a lasting commitment to pursuing and promoting the ideas Adam Smith left behind,” said President Jeanette M. Nuñez. “Together, our two universities will deepen our shared pursuit of innovation, scholarship and academic excellence, and I look forward to all that lies ahead for FIU and Heriot-Watt.”

Alyssa Mederos, FIU's student body president, was among those representing the university at the ceremony. “Serving as FIU's student body president has given me the privilege of representing our students in many meaningful ways, but representing our university in Scotland was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Mederos, a political science major. “I left with an even greater appreciation for the opportunities FIU provides and the responsibility of representing our student body wherever those opportunities take us.”

The setting carried its own significance. Panmure House was central to Smith's later life. While living there, he produced four more editions of The Wealth of Nations and two more of his first major work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. That the partnership was signed in the same rooms where he wrote his works gave the agreement added weight — a shared commitment, as both universities framed it, to academic excellence, innovation and global engagement.

“Witnessing the signing of this academic partnership made me proud to represent FIU, not only in Scotland but wherever my career takes me after graduation,” said Natalie Nuñez, a business and government leadership major. “It showed me how education can bring people and institutions together, and as a student at the Adam Smith Center, I see firsthand the impact these collaborations are making.”

Students also traveled to Glasgow to view Smith's work at the University of Glasgow archives, where they had the rare chance to see two original copies of The Wealth of Nations and a handwritten letter Smith sent his mother. 

“The trip allowed us to follow Adam Smith’s life and work from Edinburgh to Glasgow,” said Brad Malick-Beltran, a mechanical engineering major. “We visited where he lived, studied, taught and wrote, and saw original editions of The Wealth of Nations. I returned to FIU with a deeper appreciation for how Smith connected economic freedom, moral philosophy and the institutions of a free society. His ideas remain alive in how we think about economics, government and society today."