Bachelor of Science in Economics
The Economics programme is a broad study of how the economy as a whole functions. Whereas Business Economics focuses mostly on the ‘inside’ of the company, the Economics programme studies the ‘outside’: the socio-economic or social environment in which the companies operate.
This program is accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB is a global nonprofit association whose accreditation processes are ISO 9001:2015 certified.
What
The Economics programme broadly studies how the economy as a whole functions. The programme takes into account all economic actors and their mutual interaction: households, companies, financial institutions, government and foreign nations. The essence of the programme is to study how these different actors each make economic choices (e.g. consumption, production, labour, investment, import and export, …), what the consequences are for society, and how problems in that context can best be solved. It goes without saying that all topics dealt with – e.g. economic growth, prosperity, income generation, income distribution, money, inflation, monetary policy, employment and unemployment, efficient government policy, social security, taxes and government debt, international economic relations, globalization, the problems of developing countries, environmental pollution, poverty, etc... - are all socially relevant.
Remarks
Take a look at our website for more information in the form of video clips, presentations, student testimonials etc.
For whom
Do you have an interest in broad socio-economic issues? Are you eager to know what were the causes of the financial crisis and how international regulations have been tightened? Do you want to gain insight into how the behaviour of central banks and financial markets influences the returns of investments? Do you want to participate in drawing up the government budget or do you have ambitions to help shape energy policy? Are you wondering about Europe’s economic future in a globalized world? If the answer to all of these questions is a resounding ‘yes’, then Economics is the right choice for you! A prior education of at least five to six hours of mathematics per week is recommended. Specific prior knowledge of economics is not required.
Structure
- Bachelor
Our programme shares its first-year curriculum with the Economics and Business Engineering programmes. This ensures that students make an informed choice in subsequent years. The first year gives you a thorough basis of general economics and business economics, and in a number of supporting and related fields. The second year contains a number of typical basic economics course units, but there is still a link with business economics. Your quantitative skills are honed, so that you learn to describe and research economic problems in an academic way. In the third year, the focus shifts to the major domains of macroeconomic analysis: the role of government, labour market trends, economic analysis of climate and energy issues and the monetary policy of central banks. The international dimension of all of the above is also extensively discussed.
- Master
Our one-year Master’s programme starts with a common core of in-depth microeconomics and macroeconomics course units with an outspoken focus on application and topical issues, and is as of now English-taught. In the Econometrics course unit, you further practice your quantitative skills. In addition to the common core, a choice of two majors (Financial Institutions or Markets and Economic Policy) allows for a certain degree of specialization. Via the elective course units you can either continue your specialization, or choose to broaden your scope by choosing a course unit from another discipline. At least one elective course unit can be replaced by a work placement in the relevant field. The Master’s programme is concluded with a Master’s dissertation, under the close supervision of professors and researchers in Economics.
In addition to the (domain) Master’s programme described above, you can also choose a Master’s Programme in Teaching (in Dutch: Educatieve Master). (90 ECTS-credits).
Labour Market
Economics graduates can be found in macroeconomic organisations with a need for experts with social-financial-international-economic insights. In the financial sector (banks, insurance companies and central banks), economists are employed in research services, management, credit analysis, economic analysis, asset management, etc. In addition, many Economics graduates can be found in governmental organisations, international institutions, social partners (trade unions and employers’ associations), education and research. In governmental organisations they hold numerous positions related to economic and socio-economic policy (preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation). A number of specific examples are procurement analyst, chief economist of a bank, economic analyst at the National Bank, policy advisor to the Flemish Government, investment specialist and environmental economist at an NGO.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Multiperspectivism: we train our students to become critical economists who keep close track of economic evolutions. We teach our students the necessary skills to work creatively and solve problems.
- Talent development: our students have a certain degree of curricular freedom but the ultimate aim remains becoming an economist with a broad vision.
- Knowledge creation: we place great store by a gradual build-up of knowledge. We constantly encourage our students to reflect critically on themselves. Our graduates are Masters with a thorough analytical and quantitative specialization.
- Programme: our curriculum focuses on the core domains of the economy; the majors have a clear finality and there is room for international exchange.
- Integration theory and skills: the curriculum strongly focuses on group assignments in which economic problems are analysed. In doing so, we sharpen our students’ critical sense and problem-solving thinking, and keep abreast of new economic developments.
Strengths
- Preparation: be off to a good start by participating in our elective summer courses and the introduction week.
- Our study programme boasts a dedicated team of lecturers from various economic disciplines, who combine their passion for teaching with their research expertise and a commitment to premium-quality lectures.
- Room for practical experience: a continued emphasis on exercises, case studies and group work facilitates a translation theoretical knowledge about economic issues into specific cases, taken from national as well as international contexts. By means of papers and the Master’s dissertation, we want to involve our students continuously in academic research in the field of economics.
- Assessment: our students appreciate that they are well informed about the form and content of the assessments so that they clearly know what to expect when studying.
- Approachability: being a small study programme, we focus on low-threshold contact between our lecturers and our students.
Challenges
- Internationalization: we aim to increase the number of foreign degree students enrolling in our programme.
- Embedding the external perspective: together with the faculty, we aim to achieve the international accreditation awarded by AACSB.
Tailored coaching programme: As stipulated in the quality improvement plan, the study programme in liaison with the faculty and the Education Department, is set to eliminate the weaknesses within a reasonable time frame. The study programme delivers regular progress reports to the Education Quality Board.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This program is accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB is a global nonprofit association whose accreditation processes are ISO 9001:2015 certified.
This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.