The Department of Economics is as old as the University of Dhaka since its inception in 1921.It has been contributing in several areas of economics both nationally and internationally.
The Department of Economics has three consistent objectives: 1) to provide the theoretical and empirical knowledge based highest quality education to the students; 2) to conduct pioneering research in economics; and 3) to provide direction and service to the professional communities and cooperate in national policy making for the overall development of Bangladesh and its people.
To serve those objectives and to include the relevant fields required for overall development of the country the department has enriched its syllabi. A modern computer lab, a well decorated seminar room and multimedia classrooms have modernized the education system here. And above all it tries its best to have the best boys and girls as its faculties. Currently the Department offers a four years Bachelor of Social Sciences (B.S.S.) degree, and a one year Master of Social Sciences (M.S.S.) degree. Besides, the department offers M.Phil. and Ph.D. programs in different branches of economics. Under different programs the Department currently endowed with almost 760 meritorious students who are being instructed by 39 faculty members specialized in a range of areas of economic interests. There are five officers and seven staffs in the Department.
The Department has a reputation for outstanding teaching and research and the faculty members have worldwide recognition and appreciation for their academic and research activities.
Chairman of the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka
Professor MahbubulMokaddem( popularly known as M.M. Akash) has been working as the chairman of the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka since 28 July, 2020. Professor Mokaddem obtained his M.Sc. from Dhaka University and Ph.D. jointly from Dhaka University and IRRI, Social Science Department, Philippines. In his vast experience as an academician and researcher of social sciences he has worked with many national, international and government bodies and has been engaged actively in policy consultations Along with an excellent academic career, he has contributed in many socio-economic research and development initiatives where he worked with BIDS, CPD, NDC, Asiatic Society, Bureau of Economic Research, University of Dhaka, National Planning Commission of Bangladesh, Bangla Academy, and many other government and non-government organizations. He is currently a fellow of the BIDS and also currently serving as the chairman of the Bureau of Economic Research—Dhaka University. He is also a freedom fighter and a socially-politically active citizen of the country.
Achievements and Co-Curricular Activities of the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka
The department has a vast profile in organizing and holding extra-curricular activities. The department holds three clubs, namely – Economics Study Center, Economics Career Alliance and Economics Cultural Club. The objective of these clubs are to groom the students up for their academic life ahead and to equip them with cultural and other leadership capabilities. The Economics Study Center (ESC), the oldest club of the department concentrates on relating the classroom economics with the real life activities. ESC regularly organizes events like ‘Talk Research’, ‘Building Bridge’ between the current and ex-students of the department to share their views and ideas on academics; ‘Learning to Excel’ for students which is aimed at professional skill development; ‘Speakonomics’ – an intra department presentation competition; ‘Quizinius’ - an intra department quiz competition etc. In recent years, ESC has successfully organized many joint seminars with reputed research organizations like Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), SANEM, PPRC, BIDS, etc. The Debating Wing of ESC secured championships in two consecutive inter-department debate festivals organized respectively by Sangskrit Department and Philosophy Department of the University of Dhaka in December 2016. Among others, the career alliance club of the department organizes regular sessions on career planning and professional skill development while the cultural club of the department is focused on arranging and holding cultural activities in the department.
The Department of Economics regularly holds inter-batch tournaments of football, cricket etc. Thebasketball team of the department became champion in the inter department basketball tournament in 2016 beating IBA. The Dhaka University Basketball Team placed second in Inter University Basketball Tournament with 4 members from the Department of Economics. The team from the department became champion of EconProdigy 2.0, a prestigious inter-university economics competition organized by NSU Young Economists’ Forum in December 2016. The students of this department marveled in many extracurricular activities including debate, social awareness competitions, various Olympiads at national and international stages. The Bangladeshi delegation attained unprecedented success in the South Asian Economics Students’ Meet (SAESM) 2015, an international competition held in Sri Lanka with participants from all over South Asia. The students of the department earned “Best Paper Award” for two papers. A student of the Department won the “Budding Economist” title while the quiz team won the Economics Quiz Competition by a big margin in that event. Not only that, the students from this department has a long tradition of excelling at SAESM (South Asian Economic Summit Meeting) where they earned the “Budding Economist” title for several terms, got best papers almost in all the sessions and won the quiz competition on a regular basis. Our team still continues to maintain this tradition and has lastly won six best paper awards in the SAESM of 2018 and 2019.
The past students of this department has marveled in many curricular and extra-curricular activities. A large number of students from this department get enrolled in world famous universities in USA, Australia and Europe every year. Many alumni of this Department are working in different government and non-government organizations in the country as well as in many reputed Universities of North-America, Europe and Australia. An alumnus of the Department, Professor Dr. Md. Yunus has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.