The National Treasury is launching a Public Economics Winter School, on Monday, 11 July 2016 at the University of Pretoria’s campus.
The Winter School, a first for South Africa, will bring together top performing postgraduate economics students from various South African universities with local and international experts in a high-powered engagement on current South African public economics thinking and practice. Three parallel themes - tax policy, industrial economic competitiveness and health reform and social security policy – will come under the spotlight.
International and South African academics, specialists from the National Treasury and other government departments will give inputs and lead discussions. This unique mix of content, expertise and interaction will bring innovation, rigour and relevance to the complexities of South Africa’s key public policy challenge: how to increase economic growth while broadening participation in the economy and improving the distribution of incomes and opportunities.
The Winter School will host almost 100 postgraduate economic students from 14 universities. There will also be young economists from national and provincial treasuries, South African Revenue Services, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Social Development and other government departments.
Participants from universities were selected through an application process. The public is invited to attend on opening and closing days. Keynote speaker Professor Mthuli Ncube is Professor of Public Policy in the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government and was Chief Economist and Vice President of the African Development Bank Group.
The Winter School will close on Friday 15 July with Judge Dennis Davis chairing a discussion between students, the theme coordinators and senior officials from the National Treasury. The Winter School is the inaugural event of the new Public Economics Capacity Building Initiative managed by the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) on behalf of the National Treasury. From 2017, the Public Economics Capacity Building Initiative will include bursaries, internships, as well as the annual Winter School.
The Winter School programme is available from www.gtac.gov.za.
Enquiries:
Tel: (012) 315 5944
Email: media@treasury.gov.za
