UVA FEB masterbrochure 2010/2011

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‘A remarkable feature, not always found at top-level universities, is the excellent atmosphere and collaboration among students.’ Prof. Wouter den Haan

Tinbergen Institute Master of Philosophy in Economics (research) www.uva.nl/mphil_economics

Title: Master of Science (MSc) Duration: 2 years Credits: 120 ECTS credits Language: English Programme director: Prof. Erik Plug

The Tinbergen Institute (TI) is the Research and Graduate School of the economics faculties of the UvA, Erasmus University Rotterdam and VU University Amsterdam. The programme maintains its high standards by selecting teaching staff from amongst the best researchers of the TI’s three participating economics departments and by inviting internationally renowned experts as guest lecturers. The programme’s high quality is also maintained by carefully selecting only the best students from the large, international pool of applicants. Programme structure and curriculum

The first year of the Tinbergen Institute Master of Philosophy programme in Economics offers rigorous training in the core subjects and tools of economics, including: microeconomics, macroeconomics, mathematics, statistics and econometrics. The programme has two tracks: Economics and Finance. The Finance track is sponsored by

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the Duisenberg School of Finance. In the second year, students choose a specialisation from among one of the TI’s many fields of research, and complete course fieldwork and research for their Master’s thesis. Students can participate in a wide range of related activities organised at the Institute, such as reading groups, seminars and conferences. Career prospects

The Master’s programme is entirely dedicated to preparing students for PhD research in one of the TI’s three participating departments. Its courses are tailored to the needs and abilities of these students. The programme also gives students ample opportunity to become acquainted with the wide variety of potential PhD thesis supervisors and research fields before they commit to a PhD thesis research position. The PhD programme takes three years and leads to a PhD degree in Economics. Prof. Wouter den Haan (The Netherlands) Professor of Macro-Economics The structure of the TI’s programme resembles that of the best economics programmes in the world. Its core courses offer groundbreaking knowledge in the three main fields of economics and the programme offers a spectacular set of field courses. A remarkable feature, not always found at top-level universities, is the excellent atmosphere and collaboration

among students. This, together with the huge pool of potential advisers that the three participating universities offer, may be an important factor behind the success of so many TI graduates.

Bernd Schwaab from Germany Alumnus, Master of Philosophy in Economics ‘Given that I had already done very well in the first two years of an Economics PhD programme at a decent US university, I expected my MPhil life to be smooth sailing. Gee, was I wrong. I had to severely adjust my learning habits and foster the self-discipline that it takes to understand material at a fundamental level. Of course the effort and long weekends of the first year have been worth it; I know a lot more now than I did back then. And fortunately, secondyear students also have considerable freedom to choose their fields of interest and can pick specialised courses and be creative in writing and presenting their first field papers. My take on good reasons to come to TI, beyond the obvious ones, are the collegial atmosphere among the students (no cut-throat competition whatsoever), virtually no hierarchy, good facilities and a management that really cares about the quality of the programme.’

University of Amsterdam | Faculty of Economics and Business

16-09-09 16:01


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