Minimum curriculum requirements for Magister Programmes
in ECONOMICS

1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Magister programmes in Economics last at least 9 semesters. The minimum curriculum requirements cover a total of 1380 hours. The total course load for magister programmes in this field of study is ca. 3000 hours. Courses are not prescribed in terms of their form or sequence.

2. PROFILE OF THE GRADUATE

Students gain a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the theory of economics and social sciences. Graduates are qualified to work in all types of business institutions and organisations in management positions as well as in public administration agencies.

3. COURSE GROUPS AND COURSE LOAD

GENERAL COURSES	360 hours
BASIC COURSES	780 hours
MAJOR COURSES	240 hours
	1380 hours

4. COURSES BY GROUP

GENERAL COURSES	360 hours
Foreign Languages	120
General courses in social sciences (2-3) to be chosen from among the following: Philosophy, Sociology, Logic, History, Economic History, Psychology, Political Science	120
Economy and the Environment or Economic Geography	30
Physical Education	90
BASIC COURSES	780 hours
Microeconomics	90
Macroeconomics	90
International Economic Relations	75
Mathematics	90
Statistics	75
Econometrics	90
Computer Science	60
Accounting	60
Finance and Banking	60
Fundamentals of Management	30
Law	60
MAJOR COURSES	240 hours
History of Economic Thought	45
Mathematical Economics	60
Economic Policy	30
Social Policy	30
Methods for Evaluation of Business Projects	30
Forecasts and Simulations	45

5. CURRICULUM CONTENTS (BASIC COURSES: GROUP B, AND MAJOR COURSES: GROUP C)

2. BASIC COURSES

MICROECONOMICS

90

Market. Household. Theory of consumer behaviour. Theory of production. Perfect competition and monopoly. Equilibrium of the enterprise. Oligopoly. Alternative theories of the firm. Markets of production factors. Competitive equilibrium and elements of the theory of welfare.

MACROECONOMICS

90

National economy. Global demand and supply. Macroeconomic equilibrium. National output, national income. State budget, deficit and public debt. Money and the banking system. Money market. Keynesian macroeconomics and classical macroeconomics. Business cycle. Inflation, unemployment. Open economy. External equilibrium. Budgetary and monetary policy. Stabilisation policy and the IS-LM model. Economic growth.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS RELATIONS

75

International economic flows, theories of international trade, international capital flows and labour force migration. Mechanism of international payments and international balance of payments equilibrium. Foreign economic policy. Concepts of the New International Economic Deal.

MATHEMATICS

90

Functions of one, two or several variables and their applications to economics (marginal calculus, extremes). Elements of integral calculus. Introduction to differential and difference equations, and their applications to economics. Vector and matrix calculus. Systems of linear equations and inequalities - examples from economics.

STATISTICS

75

Statistical data and basic statistical standards. Random variable, basic distributions of random variables. Sample distributions. Confidence intervals. Testing statistical hypotheses. Statistical measure of correlation. Analysis of dynamics. Random sampling techniques. Designing statistical experiments.

ECONOMETRICS

90

Descriptive econometric models. Estimators, point and interval estimate. Regression Forecasting on the basis of single- and multi-equation models. Econometric analysis of demand, production and costs. Basic principles of operations research: linear programmes, typical optimisation problems, algorithms for problem-solving, and decision-making under conditions of risk and uncertainty.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

60

Computer equipment. Software (basic software, tools, and applications). Operating systems. Word processing programmes. Spreadsheets. Using statistical packages. Developing and using data bases.

ACCOUNTING

60

Legal regulations and international standards in accounting. Accounting principles and techniques. Business operations and their impact on the balance-sheet. Balancing assets, liabilities and equity. Asset valuation. Profit-and-loss account. Cash flow account. Analysis of economic efficiency and financial standing of the enterprise.

FINANCE AND BANKING

60

Structure of capital and the value of the firm. Financial management of working capital. Risk in business operations. Evaluating efficiency of investment. Diversification of investments – the portfolio theory. Financial markets.

Securities. Valuation of shares, bonds and share options. Exchange markets and rates. Risks in international finance. Financial institutions. Interest rate. Commercial banks. Central bank. Monetary policy. Scope and functions of public finance. Budget.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MANAGEMENT

30

Organisation – aims and measures of effectiveness. Strategies of organisational management. Strategic planning. Organisational structures. Organisational procedures. Human resources management. Human resources policy. Management styles. Organisational culture. Reorganisation. Change management.

LAW

60

Business entities and institutions. Legal structure of the economy. Legal conditions for pursuing economic activity. Role and types of business agreements. Commercial law company. Commercial activities (sale, agency, consignment, storage, shipping). Law on bills of exchange and cheques. Protection of industrial property.

3. MAJOR COURSES

HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

45

Pre-classical economic thought. Classical economics. Historical school and American institutionalism. Neo-institutionalism. Socialist thought. Utopian socialism. Marginal theories (neoclassical, Austrian and mathematical schools). Keynesianism. Liberal concepts: monetarism, new classical economics, neo-Austrian school, public choice theory. Neo- and post-Keynesianism. Keynesianism in the late 90-ties.

MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS

60

Mathematical theory of demand. Function of demand. Theory of production. Mathematical models of the enterprise. Models of market. Models of general equilibrium. General equilibrium and the Pareto-optimal. Simple models of economic growth. Models of the business cycle. Input-output models.

ECONOMIC POLICY

30

Budgetary, monetary and exchange rate policies. Stabilisation instruments. Stimulation, anti-cyclic anti-inflationary polices. Role of the State and economic policy in a period of systemic transformations.

SOCIAL POLICY

30

Concept of social policy. Social security for old age, illness and disability. Employment policy and unemployment. Education and culture. Social welfare. Economic determinants and implications of social policy. Social pathologies. Social policy in a period of systemic transformations.

METHODS OF EVALUATION OF BUSINESS PROJECTS

30

Selection and evaluation of business projects as an instrument of management and economic policy. Calculation techniques for measuring project effectiveness. Financial analysis. Analysis of social costs and benefits. Price distortions and shadow prices for commercial and non-commercial goods. Calculated exchange rates and wages. Social discount rate. Weightings of income distribution. Cost of domestic resources. Effective protection rate.

FORECASTS AND SIMULATIONS

45

Tools, methods and techniques for computer-aided building of simple forecasts, variant-based forecasts, forecasts based on growth tendency models, cause-and-effect models, multiple equation models, and econometric and non-econometric models. During the course, students are acquainted with at least one computer software package which they may use to carry out quantitative analysis of selected economic phenomena and to draw up forecasts on this basis.