The UCalgary Advantage

The Economics Department at the University of Calgary offers the following advantages to prospective graduate students:

1. Our graduates have considerable success finding employment related to their training. Many of our PhDs receive offers of tenure track academic employment. Not only does Calgary have one of the fastest growing economies in Canada, it is now second only to Toronto in terms of the number of top 500 companies with their headquarters in our city. Many of these companies, plus the numerous federal and provincial agencies in Calgary, employ professional economists. The Calgary branch of the Canadian Association of Business Economists is one of the most active in the country a very high percentage of its members are graduates of the University of Calgary. Click here to see our recent PhD and MA placements.

2. We are a young and very dynamic department. All of our faculty members have a strong commitment to research and teaching – particularly at the graduate level.

3. The department is now particularly strong in research areas:

• Experimental Economics 
• Health Economics
• Industrial Organisation/Regulation
• International Trade
• Public Economics 
• Resource Economics

The facilities and financial assistance provided for graduate research rank among the best available. The MacKimmie Library and Management Resource Centre contain about 1.4 million bound volumes, 1.8 million units of microform and 240,000 volumes of government publications, all of which can be searched electronically. The Library and Resource Centre maintains the mainstream journals, books and government documents central to research in economics.

The computing facilities include a network of IBM RISC 6000 computers using the AIX (UNIX-based) operating system. These mainframes can be accessed from micro computers provided for Economics graduate students and located within the department. Graduate students have access to several micro computer labs containing Macintosh and IBM compatible personal computers, a variety of laser printers and a wide range of software. The software of interest to economics graduate students includes TSP, SHAZAM, RATS, a large number of word processing, spreadsheet and graphics packages.

We endeavour to provide office work space on the same floor as the Economics faculty, thus encouraging interaction between students and faculty members. This interaction is further encouraged through workshops, presentations by visiting speakers, and social gatherings.

The University campus is located in the northwest corner of Calgary, a city of approximately 1 million people situated in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. Calgary has all of the cultural amenities normally found in a large metropolis. The nearby mountain and resort areas also provide opportunities for activities such as skiing, hiking, mountaineering and sailing. A wide variety of collegiate and professional sports, along with an abundance of facilities for tennis, swimming, track and field, squash, racquetball, hockey, etc., provide ample outlet for the sports enthusiast.

The University is very modern and is easily accessed by auto, bus or light rail transit (LRT). Ample student parking is available on campus and at nearby McMahon Stadium for a nominal fee. There are numerous bus stops on campus and an LRT station on the east perimeter of campus. The University is also connected to an extensive bicycle path system that reaches most areas of the city.

Enrolment at The University of Calgary is about 22,000 students with about 2200 students registered in graduate study. Graduate enrolment in economics averages about 50 students.

There are a variety of on-campus facilities for students including married and single student housing, a large student union complex with cafeterias, shops, pubs, theatres and a variety of sports facilities including the Olympic Skating Oval. The University of Calgary has the finest combined athletic facilities in Canada.

For more information visit http://grad.ucalgary.ca/prospective/about-calgary