Bachelor of Science in Economics

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.

• 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).

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.