About the Department

Brief Overview

The establishment of the Department is believed to contribute greatly to the effort of the government and the community to alleviate the prevailing shortage of qualified economists in the country. As an independent department, it became operational in 2003 by offering courses in regular and evening programmes.

Besides this, the Department has launched a Continuing and Distance Education Programme that covers major regions such as: Oromia, South Western Ethiopia Region, South middle Ethiopian Region and Addis Ababa administrative city. The Department also has launched an MSc programme in six areas: MSc in International Economics, MSc in Economic Policy Analysis, MSc in Development Economics, MSc in Transport Economics, MSc in Industrial Economics and MSc in Energy Economics. The department has been launching two PhD programs; PhD in Financial Economics and PhD in Industrial Economics. Over the coming  years, the Department intends to increase its MSc and PhD programmes in line with the national demand.

In recent years, the issue of development has become the concern of academicians, donors, policy makers, researchers and governments in all economies. Thus, the issue of development is not limited to developing countries; it has attracted the interest of everybody. This is because development in one part of the world has implications for others. Although the issue of development is principally the concern of the world as a whole, developing countries are the major players.

Experiences reveal that human capital is the major determinant of the development status of countries along with the availability and quality of other economic recourses at their disposal. One of the feasible ways of enhancing this essential factor is through producing highly qualified individuals in different fields of studies, as development is multidisciplinary by its nature. In line with this, economics is one that deserves considerable attention as it is concerned with how to allocate economic resources to alternative uses to enhance human material wants.

In the Ethiopian context, little attention has been given to the field despite the fact that the country is low in its capacity to effectively allocate its available economic recourses among alternative uses. It was with this in mind that the Department of Economics was opened under the then College of Business and Economics of Jimma University to mitigate the manpower shortage in the country.

Vision:

Vision of the department is to be one of the top departments in Africa by 2030 and be exemplary through the provision of quality education in subject areas of economics, undertaking research & consultancy service.

Mission:

The mission of the department is enhancing the intellectual and economic strength of our country through our academic program, research and community outreach activities.

Objective of the Department
General Objective:

• The aim of the program is to produce high level professionals in Economics and high-level qualified experts in different professions that will benefit the country’s sustainable economic development and foster growth and transformation process of Ethiopia to reach the middle-income countries in the near future, through offering students a comprehensive basis for professional and academic careers and further education in any economics specializations, and thesis work. The program will equip students with a solid knowledge of economic theory as applied to development issues, natural resources, and other socio-economic issues concerning the developing countries in particular and the globe in general.

Specific Objectives:

With these general objectives, the prime and specific focuses of the program is:

• To produce Economists (Economic thinkers) with basic skills that would help to teach and do research in areas of economics.
• To better acquaint the students with solid understanding of microeconomic theories, macroeconomic theories, and other economic issues for intelligent applications of economics in a way that improve the quality, relevance and output of undergraduates in economics in Ethiopia.
• To equip the students with the necessary methodologies in economics that enable them explain the economic phenomenon, undertake economic analysis and design economic policy.
• To highlight the different applications of economic theories in various sectors and expose the students to the different sub-disciplines of economics [labour economics, agricultural economics, industrial economics, environmental economics, financial economics, etc]
• Produce graduates with a skill of planning, project preparation, monitoring and evaluation.
• To enable the students, undertake theoretical and applied researches relevant to the overall development strategy and vision of the country and address national problems of socio-economic roots; and disseminate research findings through outreach program.
• To promote interdisciplinary collaboration among the various programs in training, research and extension.
• To offer short term training courses and to provide consultancy service for different organizations and community.
• To show students how economic science evolved, its present and future vision of the field and make them up-to-date with the dynamism of the field.

Programs:

• Under-graduate:

1. Bachelor of Art (BA) in Economics (In Regular, Extension and Distance
2. • Postgraduate:
   1. Masters of Science in Economic Policy Analysis (Regular, Extension and Weekend)
   2. Masters of Science in Development Economics (Regular, Extension and Weekend)
   3. Masters of Science in Industrial Economics (Regular, Extension and Weekend)
   4. Masters of Science in Transport Economics(Regular, Extension and Weekend)
   5. Masters of Science in International Economics(Regular, Extension and Weekend)
   6. Masters of Science in Energy Economics (Regular, Extension and Weekend)
   7. PhD in Financial Economics (in Regular)
   8. PhD In Industrial Economics (in Regular)