The Birla Institute of Technology & Science, BITS Pilani, is an all-India Institute for higher education. What started in the early 1900s as a small school blossomed into a set of colleges for higher education, ranging from the Humanities to Engineering, until 1964, when all these colleges amalgamated to culminate into a unique Indian University of International standing. It has been consistently ranked high by governmental and private ranking agencies for its innovative processes and capabilities, enabling it to impart quality education and emerge as the best private science and engineering institute in India. The primary motive of BITS is to "train young men and women able and eager to create and put into action such ideas, methods, techniques, and information.” Pioneering teaching-learning experiences like “Intensive Teaching Workshop” for the newly joined faculty, continuous faculty development programs, and cutting-edge research give BITS Pilani its name. In recognition of the high standard that BITS Pilani strives to uphold, University Grant Commission, in 2018, declared it an “Institute of Eminence” (IOE).
The Department of Economics & Finance at Pilani Campus is one of the oldest departments of the Institute. The current Master’ degree in Economics program started in 1964. At present, it is offering two-tier programs, Integrated M.Sc. Economics with dual Engineering Degree and Ph.D. program of the institute. The Department also offers a Minor in Finance, a Minor in Computational Economics, and Ph.D. (Both Full time and Part Time). The Department focuses on promoting quality education, nurturing young talents, and enriching intellectual contributions regarding research output in identified thrust areas. Our department programs coalesce academic excellence and incisive research with exceptional industry/business connections through a well-structured Practice School course, a university-industry program. The Department offers excellent career development opportunities through a comprehensive curriculum to prepare young minds for employment with Fintech companies, financial institutions, government, stock markets, financial management, investments, and corporate finance. The Department has a data base such as Bloomberg, EPWRF, and CMEI Prowess. The department has Fintech lab, which can accommodate more than 50 doctoral scholars. All the classrooms are equipped with updated technology which fosters opportunities for teaching and learning by integrating learning technology.
The Economics and Finance Association (EFA) BITS Pilani, aims to inculcate a strong culture in Economics and Finance among the students along with its practical applications. It consists of motivated and likeminded students who come together because of their shared interests and are bonded by experiences and complement each other’s growth and development. Growing and adapting to the ever dynamic field of economics and finance, EFA regularly holds internal as well as external events, sessions, talks, webinars, etc. related to various aspects of EFA. EFA conducted various activities this year: APOGEE 2022: The technical fest of BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus- APOGEE sees EFA take a major role in events handling and execution. Being held in offline mode after 3 years, EFA took the initiative to host multiple events during the fest. EFA introduced a new event Bidwiser. Other events included Entrepreneurship Conclave (EC), Stock Market Simulation (SMS), Monopilani. A pre-fest crypto trading challenge was held on the Roostoo app. EC took place 1 week after APOGEE and was home to a number of innovative startups from various tracks. SMS saw a participation of more than 450 students, which was held in collaboration with Coding Club. EFA Newsletter: Economica: The annual newsletter of EFA, named Economica for this edition included a comprehensive overview of major topics of the year such as Gatishakti Master Plan, Semiconductor Shortage among many others. Talks and Webinars: EFA successfully hosted numerous talks over the year. Starting the year with a session on Personal Finance and Investing by Mihir Patki, Co-Founder at Multipie taught attendees one of the core needs of the present time and the basics of investing along with importance of managing ones finances. EFA Internal Sessions: EFA has a reputation of inculcating a stupendous academic culture among its members. The sessions started with basics of economics and accounting. With further progress the members were introduced to futures, forwards, options and concepts such as time value of money, etc. Extensive discussions and assignments further toned members’ grasp on the concepts. Various other sessions to inculcate other technical skills such as graphic designing, video editing, etc. were taken up too. EFA External Sessions: EFA organized multiple sessions over the year for the external audience. A session in Feb attended by over 200 students saw EFA teach basic concepts of economics like Utility, Law of Demand and Supply. Later in the year, another session on working of Primary and Secondary Markets was taken up and it was attended by over 350 students. This session gave them an idea about the workings of stock market, leading the path for the stock market and finance enthusiasts. Outreach: EFA continued its news post series-Insights, keeping up with the current happenings in the economics and finance sector around the world. A new twitter account was set up to increase the outreach. The reach of EFA increased manifolds during this period.
©ICAEF-2023. All Rights Reserved. Designed by SDET Unit BITS Pilani, Pilani Rajasthan
