The Department of Economics is the oldest Department at the University of Zimbabwe. Although the University was officially incorporated by Royal Charter in 1955, part-time classes for accountancy students had started in 1952. Responsibility for these classes was given to the Economics Department when it was officially established.

The Department currently offers the BSc(Economics)(Honours) degree at the undergraduate level. In addition it teaches students from other Departments in the Faculties of Social Studies, Commerce and Arts. At the post-graduate level it offers the MSc(Economics) by coursework and dissertation and the MPhil and DPhil by thesis.
Currently the MSc is available only on a full-time basis, although work is underway to introduce a part-time Masters in Applied Economics.