The Department of Economics at the College of Business Administration, King Saud University was the first economics department to be established in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The history of the Department dates back to 1957 when the College of Commerce was founded. Economics and Political Science shared a single department then, and only two majors were offered: Economics & Political Science; and Accounting & Management.
Since 1989, the Bachelor`s Program has consisted of eight successive academic levels. For each level, specific courses must be covered in a semester before proceeding up to the next level. The number of credit hours required for graduation with the baccalaureate degree is 128.
The first semester of the academic year 1987-1988 marked the initiation of the Graduate Program in Economics (A Master`s Degree), which was the first program of a Master of Economics to be offered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In 2014, a new Bachelor`s Program in the Department was initiated and its curriculum consisted of three main tracks: Economics, Islamic Banking, and Trade and International Finance. The overall duration of the program is nine successive academic levels. For each level, specific courses must be covered in a semester before proceeding up to the next level. The number of credit hours required for graduation in the new program is 136.
Attention to studying Economics dates back to the early phases of the Kingdom’s development process where the demand for qualified Economists and Economic Researchers to set up and participate in the implementation and monitoring of the ambitious economic and social development plans was high. Studying Economics is also a key to having an adequate level of knowledge of the National Economy for the students of other disciplines, and it is of equal importance to government and the private sector personnel engaged in pursuing the objectives of the development plans.
The Department of Economics is responsible for teaching economics subjects to Economics majors and to students of other disciplines at the College and University levels. The Department also extends cooperation with several independent colleges and high institutes whenever the need for teaching and research arises.
In addition to teaching, the Staff Members of the Department have opportunity to carry out their individual researches and/or participate in the research activities of the College's Research Center. Additionally, the Department regularly engages in community activities such as public lectures, economic symposia and seminars side by side with other academics and businessmen.