Dear friends,

Classes for the joint HSE/NES Bachelor of Arts in Economics program started in September 2011. This is a major event for us, employees of the two universities, and it certainly a very important one for our first-year students as well.  

During the last 50 years the economic theory has faced dramatic change that has transformed it into a full-fledged science. Today’s economists conduct laboratory experiments and analyze massive amounts of data to prove their theories just like physicists, chemists and biologists do. A person needs to acquire a lot of technical skills to become a real economist. Because building economic models is impossible without an advanced knowledge of calculus and linear algebra, and testing how well they describe the economic reality is impossible without the knowledge of probability theory and mathematical statistics. In teaching the fundamental Mathematics courses our program will be guided by the great accomplishments of the Russian school of thought.

However, fundamental knowledge in Mathematics is not enough to become an economist. HSE and NES are recruiting their best professors selected from a pool of the world’s best economists to teach introductory and advanced courses in Economics. The effort and financial resources that are being spent on instructor search are by no means wasteful. Without doing scientific research, being published in international magazines, or speaking at international Economics forums such as conferences of the Econometric Society, assemblies of the American and European Economic Associations, participating in seminars by NBER and CEPR, it is impossible to teach the modern methods of economic and financial analysis. That is exactly why among our professors will be the leading scientists of the country – those who have extensive publications in the main international scientific magazines.

It is also impossible to be an economist without understanding how the world works. This is why our students will have an opportunity to take courses outside the areas of Economics and Mathematics. Among them will be Political Science, History, introductory college-level courses in Physics and Computer Science. We will devote a lot of time and effort to develop our students’ communication skills. That is because in modern society it is not enough to know something, it is just as important to learn constantly, to be informed of the accomplishments of the fellow scientists and to be able to communicate your own thoughts and developments quickly and efficiently.

What do we expect of our future graduates? After earning their bachelor’s degree they are supposed to be prepared for any path they might choose. Those who will decide to start a career – as an analyst for an industrial corporation or a trader for an investment bank or a government employee – will be fully prepared for that. One of the main advantages of our graduates will be the ability to learn. Those who will choose to continue their education at the graduate level and apply to master’s and PhD programs at universities worldwide will also be able to do that. That has been consistently proven by NES graduates of the Master of Economics program who have graduated or are still enrolled at Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Oxford and other universities. All the roads are open – all you need to do is choose one!

 

Sincerely,


Konstantin Sonin,
Joint Bachelor of Arts in Economics program co-director,
New Economic School, Professor of Economics, vice-rector.