Adout the Department
The Department of Economic History is one of six disciplines represented at the School of Economics and Management (LUSEM), which, in turn, is one of the faculties at Lund University. The department employs roughly 40 people, distributed between researchers, teachers, technical/administrative staff, and Ph.D. candidates.
The department's budget for the 2007 fiscal year amounts to SEK 23 million, including government contributions to both education and research, as well as contributions from external sources. The department sets itself apart from other departments at LUSEM through its relatively high share of faculty financed through research projects. Roughly two-thirds of the department's entire budget is devoted to research and the graduate program, with external funding of research amounting to SEK 8 million / year. The size of contributions to research serves as evidence that the department's activities are appreciated and encouraged by research councils. Two research groups with a strong connection to the department have recently been selected as recipients of the first round of Linneaus Grants, which are the Swedish Research Council's most prestigious grants for cutting edge research. The groups receiving these grants are the Centre for Economic Demography and CIRCLE (Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy).
The emphasis on research does not mean that teaching at the undergraduate level suffers, however. On the contrary, the department's strong research connection leads to an invaluable link being forged between state-of-the-art research and courses at all levels. The fact that active researchers participate in both course design and teaching guarantee a high quality and course content which reflects the research frontier. The diversity of the department's research interests has led to a wide range of courses being offered at the undergraduate level. An obligatory survey course in economic history has also been included in the curriculum for the Business Administration degree. The department is responsible for three different masters programs: Economic History, Economic Demography, and Economic Growth, Innovation, and Spatial Dynamics. In addition, the department provides considerable teaching within the program International Economics with a focus on China.
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