CMAP - Joint facility for Electives

The CMAP Joint Facility for Electives (JFE) is based at the Kenya Commercial Bank Management Centre, in the scenic suburb of Karen on the outskirts of Nairobi. The inaugural class of CMAP-JFE was run in June 1993 with 58 students registered. Numbers increased in subsquent years and average around 120 students per year.

The 14-week programme is intensive and fast-paced. A distinctive feature of the JFE is its innovative focus and combination of intensive academic teaching to produce a cadre of qualified graduates for absorption in policy making positions in public and private sectors in their home countries. The CMAP-JFE is very positively rated among training centres in Africa and beyond. The depth of coverage and quality of the learning facility makes it a leading human capacity building effort. It differentiates CMAP products from all others in the region.

The CMAP-JFE is recognized by students, faculty and graduates alike as a significant contributor to the distinctiveness and higher value added of the CMAP degree. Benefits associated with the CMAP-JFE, such as access to better teaching materials that visiting faculty use to upgrade courses back home, and the opportunity for students to meet and network with other Africans in the discipline, add to the implicit benefits, which are not factored into its cost. Such considerations have led programme evaluators and the Academic Board members to the conclusion that the current management and set-up of the JFE remains, for now, the most viable option for assuring the quantitative and qualitative benefits of the programme.

Courses

Ten elective courses are currently on offer at the facility from a menu of 12 electives so far developed:

• Agricultural Economics
• Corporate Finance and Investment
• Econometrics Theory and Practice
• Environmental Economics
• Health Economics
• Industrial Economics
• International Economics
• Monetary Theory and Practice
• Public Finance
• Labour Economics

Each course is divided into two semesters of seven weeks each taught by two different lecturers per subject. Each semester is a complete course in itself with a final examination held at the end of the session.

All students are required to pursue two of the courses offered at the CMAP-JFE. In addition, the facility offers an optional course on Computer Applications and Research Methods whose primary objective is to equip students with the basic research techniques and computing skills that every student of economics must acquire, in order to be proficient in econometric estimation/data analysis, as well as in general economic research. This course is designed to go hand-in-hand with research methods, in order to introduce the general prerequisites for successful research and analytical skills.

Library

The JFE Library operates within the precincts of the KCB Management Centre Library. The CMAP-JFE Library operations are supported by a temporary staff complement employed for the duration of CMAP-JFE.

The JFE library has progressively grown since 1993 and currently houses approximately 170 different titles. Considerable effort has been made to acquire all books and journal articles recommended in the course outlines, and well over 90% have been made available. In addition, the library stock was substantially boosted by a donation of journals from Prof. Gerry Helleiner, including World Development, American Economic Review, IMF Staff Papers, IDS Bulletin, World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Research Observer, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of International Economics and Economic Journal, among others. These have been bound and constitute an important component of library reference material. Plans are underway to boost the collection further with new material to complement the newly revised Health Economics course.

Internet Connectivity

The JFE has a computer laboratory with all computers connected to the internet. This allows on-line communication as well as access to online academic and research databases. In addition the AERC electronic online journal facilities are also availed at the JFE so that students can download journal articles they may require.