RESEARCH
PROJECTS
Selection
of students and assistants
Second
year students may apply for participation in the projects of the Center from the
moment they are approved by the Research Committee, typically, by 10 September.
An applicant has to list his/her preferences with regard to the different projects.
To receive the necessary information, applicants may read the research proposals,
communicate with project leaders, and consult directors of the Center.
Applicants are offered admission by the decision of the Directorate of the Center
in accordance with their preferences and their ranking in the School, and subject
to the project leaders' consent.
Senior teaching assistants of NES (graduates of the School or other higher education
institutions) may apply for participation in the projects of the Center. Admission
is granted on the basis of the assistant's ranking at the School (in case s/he
is a graduate of NES), quality of her/his past research work and recommendation
of the Academic Committee of NES. Typically not more than one assistant is assigned
to each research group. An assistant participates in the research and coordinates
the work of students in the framework of the project.
Students/assistants may be released from a project by the decision of the Directorate
upon request of the project's leader, in case the student/assistant does not satisfactorily
performs his/her duties in the framework of the project.
Modalities
of operation
The
general duration of a research project is one year, typically starting in September.
Each research team runs a permanent weekly seminar where research proposals, research
at all stages of progress and papers relevant to the project topic are presented
by the project leaders, students, assistants and invited speakers. The weekly
seminar also supervises the writing of MA theses. The seminar is obligatory for
students participating in the project and they receive one credit for work in
the project in the corresponding modules. Visiting project leaders are
expected to spend at least 14 weeks in Russia, possibly in more than one period,
so that they can properly cooperate with their Russian partners and supervised
students.
Papers
produced by the project teams can be published in the working paper series of
the Center. The publication should be approved by the Research Committee.
Project
competition
The
projects, including the number of policy oriented ones, were devoted to the most
important problems of Russian economy and other economies in transition.
During
1995-2007 there were fulfilled 133 projects in the framework of the GET program.
Project
topics
The
broad spectrum of important research topics were covered by the projects. The
list includes strictly policy oriented projects like Pension Reform in Russia,
Reform of Social Protection in Russia, Health Policy and Management, empirical
projects (Banking and Finance, Government, Education and Science in Transition
Economies: Russia in a world context, Poverty in Russia: relative deprivation
and social exclusion, Banking and Central Banking in an Emerging Capital Market)
as well as theoretical research such as Russian Industry after Privatization,
Regulation, Rent-seeking and Growth, Financial Industrial Groups. Thus, the students
had the opportunities to choose a topic in accordance to their preferences.
As
a rule, four students were recruited to work on each project. Student participation
in the projects involved discussion of their individual research, provision of
research assistance to project leaders, participation in joint sessions of the
group and seminars. Weekly seminars for students were organized by each project.
In framework of the projects students wrote their term papers and master theses
under the leader guidance.
