The Econometric Institute at Erasmus University Rotterdam has a strong research tradition in econometrics, statistics, data science and operations research. It is the oldest research institute in the field of econometrics in the world.
Jan Tinbergen (first Nobel Prize winner in Economics), and Henri Theil founded the Institute in 1956, and "marked the beginning of undergraduate programmes in econometrics at universities in the Netherlands". “With the leading role of Rotterdam, universities in Amsterdam, Groningen, Tilburg and Maastricht followed and established their programmes in econometrics”, (Journal of Econometrics, Vol:138, Issue:1 (2007), Guest Editorial).
Today, the Econometric Institute offers several Bachelor and Master programmes in Econometrics and a substantial number of well-known econometricians have their roots in Rotterdam. The Econometric Institute is part of an active research community within Erasmus School of Economics - one of the largest and most successful economics schools in Europe. The Econometric Institute is also part of the research networks and graduate programmes: Tinbergen Institute and ERIM.