The department of economics is one of the teaching and research departments in the Faculty of Social Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The department has the primary responsibility of developing manpower in the field of economics to serve the private and public sectors. Aside designing and running its own courses, the department provides elementary lessons in economics to students from other colleges in the university.

The Department was established in 1961 with the name as Department of Economics to service the undergraduate degree programmes of Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences. In 1973 the Department mounted a postgraduate degree programme in Industrial Management, and as such the Department was re-named Department of Economics and Industrial Management. In the 1990s, there was increased demand for postgraduate education in Ghana. Consequently, the Department introduced the MA Economics programme in 1997. At the same time the Department transformed the postgraduate degree programmes in Industrial Management to Master of Arts degree in Industrial Management. In 2005, the Industrial Management component was transferred to the then newly established KNUST School of Business. Hence, the name of the Department was changed to the current Department of Economics. It currently has a total staff strength of 13 who teach in the fields of Macroeconomics, Public Economics, Monetary Economics, Development Economic theory, Econometrics, Industrial Economics, managerial Economics, Health Economics, Research methods, Environmental Economics, Energy Economics, Oil and Gas Economics, International Economics, Finance, among others.

The department runs programmes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Current programmes in the department include Bachelor of Arts Economics, Master of Science (Economics) with options in Energy and resources, and Money, Banking and Finance, Master of Philosophy (Economics) and Doctor of Philosophy (Economics). Our programmes are designed to prepare our students with strong background in both economic theory and practice. In this regard, various opportunities are provided to students to serve as interns in various sectors of the economy. The linkages between academia and industry is also valued and strengthened through guest lectures, seminars and job fairs.  Our students have gone on to occupy positions in key sectors of the economy including Banking, Oil and Gas, Mining, Retail, Insurance and Manufacturing. As at 2018/2019 academic year, the department has a total of 978 undergraduate students and 203 students at the post graduate level.

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