The Joint Higher School of Economics and New Economic School undergraduate program in economics
Duration of study: 4 years (8 semesters).
The academic program consists of the "core" of mandatory economic and mathematical courses and English language courses, as well as a set of special economic courses and a set of elective courses from a variety of disciplines.
The core of Economics and mathematics plus special courses make up about half of the course load in four years, and the other half are English courses and General elective courses.
Mathematics is the part of the core, as modern economic science is a rather heavily mathematized discipline. Special emphasis is made on the study of optimization methods necessary for the study of economic theory, as well as the theory of probability and mathematical statistics used intensively in econometric courses.
English is part of the core, as a modern economist cannot do without knowledge of English, no matter what field of activity he chooses. Fluency in English is a mandatory requirement for graduates of our program.
The core of the program provides the basic knowledge of the student in the field of Economics, Mathematics and English, sufficient to listen to special advanced courses offered in the third and fourth years of study, including taught in English.
Economics:
- Introduction to Economics (1st semester), 5 credits
- Microeconomics (2nd and 3rd semesters), 11 credits
- Macroeconomics (3rd and 4th semesters), 12 credits
- Econometrics (5th semester), 6 credits
Mathematics:
- Calculus (1st and 3rd semester), 13 credits
- Linear algebra (2nd semester), 6 credits
- Probability theory and mathematical statistics (4th semester), 6 credits
English:
- English for beginners, 12 credits
- Intermediate English, 12 credits
- Advanced English courses (at least two semesters of the student's choice), 12 credits
Courses for beginners and advanced students must be completed within the first two years of study. Students who are proficient in English at a sufficient level may be exempted from the first or first two levels of the according to the test results. In this case they must take other courses of their choice to the same extent. All students should take two advanced courses.
Special economic courses
These courses provide depth of knowledge in Economics, sufficient to enable the student to continue their studies at the master level or to start analytical work in the field of Economics immediately after the bachelor's degree. These courses are offered mainly in the third and fourth year, although some may be taken earlier, depending on what prior knowledge of microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics and mathematics the teacher of a particular course requires.
The student must complete at least seven courses from the following indicative list (6 credits each):
- Development Economics
- Economic Growth Theory
- Labor Economics
- International Macroeconomics
- International Trade
- Public Economics
- Introduction to Finance
- Institutional Economics
- The Theory of Industrial Organization
- Economic History
- Contracts, Information and Incentives in Organizations
- Behavioral and Experimental Economics
- Economics of Natural Resources
- Economics of Information
- Law and Economics
- Times Series Econometrics
- Financial Instruments and Portfolio Management
- Game Theory
- Recent Advances in Auction Theory
- Applied Microeconometrics
- Fundamentals of Business Analysis
Data Culture
The aim of Data Culture courses is to provide the undergrads insight into the latest technologies used in data analysis. The students of the Joint HSE & NES Program in Economics are offered with the following list of courses:
· Data Science – 6 credits, mandatory course at the 2nd year of study
· Machine Learning – 6 credits, elective course for 2nd-4th year students
General elective courses
General elective courses are designed to ensure that the student has a broad education and a good understanding of the disciplines beyond the economic and mathematical profile. This breadth is necessary for the overall development of the individual, and for his professional development – modern economic science and practice in contact with almost any sphere of activity.
The specific choice of courses and the time of their listening is determined by the student in the learning process.
The student must attend at least one course in history and one in philosophy. At the same time, several courses within these disciplines may be offered.
The student has the right to replace the rest of the General elective courses with additional special courses in Economics and mathematics, with the approval of the co-Directors of the program.
The list of General elective courses varies each year and is largely dependent on the research interests of the professors reading these courses (including visiting professors). These courses are social science disciplines (history, law, sociology, political science, psychology, demography), natural science and mathematical disciplines (logic, information computer systems, differential equations, optimal control, game theory, risk theory), Humanities (literature, history of religions, history of art).
Each General elective course weighs 6 credits and thus has the same weight and importance for each semester as the specialized courses.
General scheme of the program
The student must gain 60 credits each year. Thus, a student must take five courses each semester for the first three years and three courses for the fourth year.
During the first two years of study, a student can take no more than two courses in one field of study in each semester, including mandatory courses (to find the field of study for the courses please consult the course catalog of the program).
Requirements for the implementation of the academic program
The student in the process of learning creates an individual academic program, which must meet the following requirements.
To obtain a diploma, a student is obliged to gain 240 credits in four years.
The student is also required to meet the following requirements for academic courses:
Economics: ECON 110, 201-206 (in specific semesters specified in the catalog) and at least seven elective courses.
Mathematics: MATH 110, 112, 210-212 (in specific semesters specified in the catalog. The student may be exempted from the requirement to attend the course of MATH 110 (Calculus-1) based on the results of testing conducted before the start of training. In this case, he/she can instead of the course MATH 110 (Calculus-1) register for the course MAT-211 (Mathematical analysis-2), or take any other course of choice.
English: English 101-102 not later than the first year (12 credits), ENGLISH 201-202 not later than the second year (12 credits) and two courses of the 300th level at any time in the learning process (12 credits).
According to the results of testing conducted before the start of training, the student can be exempted from the requirement to listen to ENGLISH courses 101-102 and 201-202.
If a student is exempted from the courses of ENGLISH 101-102 on the results of testing, it is strongly recommended to take the courses of ENGLISH 201-202 in the first year of study.
If the test results the student was released from the courses of ENGLISH 201-202, he/she is obliged to take the course of ENGLISH 301 (Academic writing) to listen to other courses of the 300th level in English.
General courses: 6 credits in history (HIST) and philosophy (PHILOS).