The School of Economics, the successor of the former Department of Economics, is one of the oldest units in the University of Nairobi. Economics as a discipline has been taught since 1956, when the first students in the Royal Technical College of East Africa (the predecessor to the University of Nairobi) were admitted. The Royal Technical College of East Africa, in its early establishment, had to house some other younger departments in their formative years, for example:
- The Department of Government (1964-1966)
- The Department of Sociology (1968-1976)
- The Center for Economic Research, which later became the Institute for Development Studies in (1965).
The then Department of Economics was a department of the Faculty of Arts and an associate member of the Faulty of Commerce. The Department of Economics was converted into a School of Economics in 2006/7.
In addition to launching her own programs, the School continues to teach economics to Bachelor of Arts students as well as offering service courses and common undergraduate courses to all the Faculties in the University, except Agriculture and Law. It is one of the largest units in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. In any academic year, the School of Economics teaches and examines an average of 90 undergraduate, 40 postgraduate and 26 PhD course units. The annual average enrollment for the undergraduate programs is about 600 for Module I and Module II. The annual enrollment for all Masters and PhD programs is about 150 and 15 respectively.
Previous Directors:
Prof. Peter Kimuyu (Dec 2004 - Dec 2007)
Prof. Francis Mwega (Dec 2007 - Dec 2010)
Prof. Jane Mariara (Dec 2010 - 2016)
Dr. Anthony Wambugu (Dec 2016 - To Date)
Previous Associate Directors:
Prof. Jane Mariara (Aug 2007 - Dec 2010)
Mr. Maurice Awiti (Dec 2010 - June 2014)
Dr. Anthony Wambugu (July 2014 - 2016)
Prof. Damiano Kulundu (Dec 2016 - To Date)
Thematic Area Heads
(i)Economic Theory
(ii)Quantitative and Mathematics Economics
(iii)Applied Economics