It is an honour and privilege for me to serve as the Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance. Since joining the department in 2004, it has been a joy to work alongside such extraordinary colleagues. While Economics has long attracted students interested in finance and policy making, we offer a vast array of subjects, from Banking to Business Analytics. Expertise includes chartered financial analysts, chartered bankers, development economists, spatial economists, history economists, experimental economists, health economists, behavioural economists, education economists, poverty economists, financial economists, data analysts, macroeconomists, microeconomists, and specialists in inclusive economics in the global context. We are a diverse team and immensely proud of it.
The Department of Economics and Finance is a place of inspiration and collegiality. We believe that every student deserves the best possible education in economics, finance, banking, and business analytics. At our core, we believe that the study of these disciplines can address many of society's most pressing issues, and in a country such as South Africa, this challenge is magnified. We also acknowledge that graduates need to be equipped with skills befitting of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and have thus introduced a flagship specialisation in Business Analytics.
We are proud of our achievements. Over the past two decades, five PhD students and academics from our department have been honoured with the Founder’s Medal of the Economic Society of South Africa for the best doctoral thesis in Economics from a South African university. Four more of our master’s students received the same award at master’s level. Our BCom in Finance is also part of the prestigious ‘University Affiliation Programme’ by the CFA Institute in the US. Moreover, as social scientists we thrive on relationships and collaboration and have established longstanding academic relationships with universities across Europe, including the innovative and one-of-a-kind Consecutive Master’s Degree Programme in International Finance in collaboration with the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences in Austria.
I hope our graduates find joy not only in acquiring the technical skills we teach, but also in conducting research. There are few pleasures as great as the process of discovery and knowledge creation. That is our mission. If our graduates come to appreciate the power at their disposal to analyse and transform the world as we know it, the future they create has the potential to elevate society to a better place.
We look forward to welcoming you.
Prof Johan Coetzee
MCBI CMBE