Economics and Business Economics

'After graduating I began an internship at NIBC, a Dutch merchant bank. Soon I could join the NIBC Infrastructure & Renewables team. We finance projects ranging from road and prison building to telecom infrastructure. We were one of the banks that financed the A15, a motorway connecting Maasvlakte 2 to Rotterdam. In my Master I specialized in corporate finance and quantitative skills. During my studies I was taught many aspects of the business environment. This was very useful in my work.'

Laurens-Jan Sipma

Groningen is the closest I have ever seen to a perfect student city. Everything from its atmosphere, affordability alongside its social and cultural offerings make it an incredible place to study. I was very impressed that the programme offered opportunities to focus on areas such as economic development and globalisation at an undergraduate level. The sheer depth of the material the course covers exceeds all my expectations. In the beginning, the mathematical level seemed difficult to me but thanks to the engaging manner, the course is taught I am able to manage it. The lecturers, as well as the tutorial teachers, always make sure that we understand the material and give us the opportunity to ask questions at all times.

I chose this programme because it allowed me to touch upon some main economic subjects such as Microeconomics and Macroeconomics but also on topics like Philosophy and Business Ethics. I particularly like that I could pick a specialization - ED&G - where I learned about the economic impact of a globalized world and how decisions and policies are made within such an environment. The lectures and tutorials enhance the learning process and make it easier to structure the theory and put it into practice.

I wanted to study economics because this field is more and more important nowadays and I was interested particularly in the policies that are being considered to prevent and handle the financial crisis. I liked the programme in Groningen because of its holistic approach to economics, you study not just the core macroeconomics and microeconomics subjects but also there is a heavy emphasis on development economics. I chose to follow the ED&G profile as one of my primary interests was researching uplifting marginalized communities as a driver in reaching a sustainable economy.