Department of World Economy and World Finance Development Strategy for the Period of 2016 - 2020
The Department of World Economy and World Finance (hereinafter referred to as the Department) development strategy is in line with the Development Strategy-2020 of the Financial University, one of the leading Russian and international education, methodology and research center operating in the field of finance and economics. The Department is one of Financial University teaching and research departments. It trains highly-qualified experts, conducts applied research at the macroeconomic and microeconomic level in order to improve efficiency and competitiveness of international economic and financial cooperation departments in the country.
The key Department strategy is to preserve and increase the teaching and research potential of the Financial University, one of the leading competitive education and research centers, that promotes development of applied research through innovative programs of study and research projects.
The Department strategic development goal is to develop further the Russian scientific school of the world economy and world finance, to train world-class experts with flexible, creative thinking skills, who are capable of generating innovative ideas and resolving topical issues.
The Department development goals determine the main objectives in teaching, research, international cooperation and HR policy.
Teaching and Teaching Methodology
The Department main strategic goal is to teach. During the learning process, the personality of the would-be international studies expert/economist is formed, the basis of the professional competences and the future proactive civic stance is built. The Department staff efforts made to achieve the above depend on the level of the training program. They take into account the achievements and experience gained when training students majoring in World Economy and World Finance.
The bachelor training program-2020 has the following goals:
1. To participate in developing and updating the University own educational standards developed for the bachelor degree programs in Economics (with the concentration in World Economy and International Business; World Finance; International Business of Energy Companies).
2. To develop new and update curricula of the current bachelor degree programs in line with the Financial University own educational standards; to participate in developing curricula for bachelor degree programs in cooperation with other departments.
3. To introduce innovations in the learning process aimed at improving students' practical skills and to use research findings and best practices gained by business entities in the teaching process; to develop and put the Department electronic library that contains lectures of the leading Department instructors on the website; to develop a virtual Department work station in order to advise students on-line; to participate in the interdepartmental exchange of the available on-line teaching technologies.
4. To improve the curricula of the bachelor degree programs in Economics (with the concentrations in World Economy and World Finance) by taking employers' comments and suggestions and the labor market situation into account.
5. To continue writing and publishing the Future International Finance Expert's Library series of university textbooks for bachelor degree program students (World Finance, International Financial Market, International Banking, International Payment Systems, International Monetary Relations, National Exchange and Financial Systems of Foreign Countries, Workshop on Bank Exchange Operations).
6. To write and publish textbooks in World Economy, International Business, Customs Rules and Regulations, Foreign Trade.
7. To put learning materials related to the new training programs and other necessary documents on the University portal and the Department web page.
8. To ensure support of students' independent work by using interactive learning formats (case studies, simulations, audio- and video-conferencing, master classes); to conduct workshops, and put home assignments and creative assignments in e-format.
9. To build e-libraries of test assignments, case studies and other assignments for bachelor degree students.
10. To further expand interaction with the business community and the Financial University collaborative provision departments in order to improve practical teaching process aspects.
11. To participate in educational standard development in order to train experts who meet the financial market requirements.
As for the master students training strategy - 2020, the Department focuses on promoting independent students' research work.
The Department plans to do the following during the above period:
1. To modernize teaching process; to develop new topical competitive master programs.
2. To make the master program students' academic advisers play a more active part in the methodology development.
3. To improve research seminar quality, improve methodological recommendations developed for the research seminar, round table discussion session and researcher debate organizers.
4. To properly structure master students' research work that is an integral part of the Department's operations.
5. To increase the share of master and postgraduate training programs offered by the Department in the total amount of programs on offer in the University.
6. To develop a master programs quality management system.
7. To monitor final graduation papers' and master theses' quality.
8. To introduce an interdisciplinary master theses system.
9. To build and structure an external master program accreditation system as a mechanism for expanding interaction with educational services end users and customers.
10. To develop a targeted advanced master training system in cooperation with the high-tech multinational companies.
11. To develop e-learning and distance learning technologies-based programs for master training in the University Branches; to develop online courses.
12. To develop an international and Russian national undergraduate and postgraduate Department student academic mobility system.
As for the postgraduate students training strategy, the Department plans to do the following:
1. To further develop tools to be used in the graduate students' independent work and tutoring.
2. To develop and constantly update postgraduate training program curricula.
3. To identify formats for the postgraduate students' research work as an integral part of the Department's operations.
The Department Research
Research work is one of the Department priorities. The main Department development strategy - 2020 is to develop fundamental and applied commissioned research in the world economy, world finance and international entrepreneurship done in accordance with the orders of various departments and institutions, to hold conferences, research workshops, webinars and round table discussion sessions, including interdepartmental, interuniversity and international researcher events.
It is planned to do the following during the period ending in 2020:
1. To finalize and further develop the International Monetary, Currency and Financial Relations scientific school at the Department, to ensure uniformity of methodology used by the Department master, post-graduate and doctoral students in their research; to ensure that the research findings of the scientific school members be used for resolve the most important national and international economic issues.
2. To participate in the Financial University research project titled 'Russia's Sustainable Development in the Presence of Global Changes' (subsection: Globalization and Institutional Modernization of the World Financial System) and to publish monographs and articles.
3. To develop, improve quality and expand the range of fundamental, targeted and applied research done in accordance with the orders of government institutions and the orders of research foundations and institutions where the Department instructors, undergraduate and postgraduate students are involved; to ensure that the work be performed within the Development of the Concept of Cross-Border Capital Flow Regulation in the Presence of High Geopolitical Risks for the Russian Federation Russian Foundation for Humanities grant project in the period of 2015-2017 and within the research projects launched in accordance with the government institutions' orders.
4. To improve competitiveness of the findings of the research done by the Department researchers and teaching staff in Russia and abroad; to cooperate with research centers, project-launchers, Russian and international companies in resolving scientific and technical issues.
5. To improve the Department teaching staff and researcher publication activity, to promote the Department's researchers' works with a view to be published in renowned international journals, to expand the number of joint research publications prepared by the Department teaching staff and researchers and the leading overseas universities' and schools' experts.
6. To intensify efforts towards defending PhD and doctoral theses, to ensure practical use of the postgraduate students' and doctoral students' research findings.
7. Ensure that the Trends in Reforming the World Economy and World Finance workshops be held regularly during the Department staff meetings.
8. To participate in the research events organized in accordance with the Financial University research work plan and offer consulting services on issues relevant to the Department research; to hold an annual international conference on topical issues of the world economy and world finance and other research events (conferences, symposia, round table discussion sessions, research seminars, etc.) at the international, all-Russia and interuniversity level.
9. To build an efficient Department staff selection mechanism and instructor recruitment mechanism operating on the basis of recommendations provided by the appropriate University departments; to form a department personnel pool by selecting master program and postgraduate students.
10. To improve undergraduate and postgraduate student research work management system; to hold interdepartmental, inter-faculty and interuniversity student research conferences; to work with students within the framework of the Department student researcher club; to ensure that the students participate in such Financial University events as the International Student Research Conference, International Competition of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Student Research Works, the Student Research Moscow Researcher Conference, International Young Financial Expert Forum and others.
11. To ensure that the Department teaching staff and researchers participate in grant competitions and research projects launched as per cooperation agreements in accordance with the plan developed.
12. To conduct international webinars with partners from Great Britain, China, Vietnam, Mongolia on topical issues related to international financial relations at the Bloomberg laboratory.
Department Teaching Staff and Researcher Professional Development
In order to achieve the strategic goals set, the Department provides advanced training opportunities to its staff in accordance with the personal development and annual development plans through various research projects.
The Department considers the systemic Department teaching staff and researcher professional skills improvement to be the basis for their professional development. This is achieved through proactive participation in research projects, including preparation of monographs, collections of research works, advisory work during the doctoral and PhD theses preparation period, writing textbooks and manuals for the undergraduate and postgraduate program students, participation in University research projects, grant projects, and work performed as per agreements concluded with public and private companies.
The key Department teaching staff and researcher professional development formats are the Financial University internship programs. It is planned to increase the share of the Department teaching staff members who participate in the seminars held by other higher education institutions (up to at least 30% of the Department staff) and in the seminars and internship programs conducted by practitioners (up to at least 20% of the Department staff). In order to become familiar with the international best practices gained in teaching staff and researcher professional development, the Department and the University management look for the opportunities to include the Department staff into the list of the European training centers' and large overseas financial and lending institutions' internship program participants, provide opportunities to the highly-qualified overseas scholars and practitioners to work at the Department and provide advanced training opportunities to the Department staff at the Bloomberg laboratory.
International Cooperation
The goals are the following:
1. To develop partner relations with the leading overseas universities and business schools, including those located in Great Britain, Italy, Vietnam, Czech Republic, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and other countries in order to develop internship programs for the teaching staff and students, and to expand the list of double degree programs.
2. To expand cooperation in the field of research with overseas researchers through international conferences, webinars, international student work competitions, joint publications of monographs and articles.
3. To develop Invited Professor Program launched jointly with the leading overseas universities and professional associations.
4. To establish mutually beneficial contractual relations with the relevant departments of overseas universities.
5. To interact with international organizations' representative offices, monitor and select international competitions and programs, select participants and endorse projects.
6. To establish and maintain direct links with the international education institutions and research centers that are of interest to the Department staff.
7. To participate in the efforts made by the international organizations, to participate in arranging international conferences, congresses, symposia and exhibitions.
8. To inform international students in foreign countries of the educational services rendered by the Department, to improve and regularly update the master programs offered by the Department in accordance with the international requirements and to review and update the themes of the research done by the Department staff.
HR Policy
In order to achieve the strategic goals set, the Department has set the following goals within the HR policy:
1. To write doctoral and PhD theses;
2. To decrease the average age of the Department teaching staff;
3. To select the individuals among the master and postgraduate students to form the Department personnel pool;
4. To build an efficient Department staff selection mechanism and instructor recruitment mechanism operating on the basis of recommendations provided by the appropriate University departments;
5. To work according to a plan developed in order to offer professional development programs to the Department's teaching staff and researchers;
Interaction with the Industry Representatives
The Department considers further development of cooperation with the economic community representatives in the most important fields (i.e. research, education, methodology development) to be a priority. Specifically, the activities have the following objectives:
1. To launch joint projects in the field of international economic, monetary and financial relations development and international business.
2. To engage bank and business community representatives in delivering lectures, organizing business games and the activities analysis.
3. To write analytical reports, methodological materials, reviews, etc. in accordance with the orders of external organizations.
4. To participate in economist and financial expert advanced training programs;
5. To organize roundtable discussion sessions, debates and conferences in cooperation with the industry practitioners.
Interdepartmental Cooperation
In order to strengthen and further develop interdepartmental cooperation, the Department does the following:
1. Organizes interdepartmental conferences, round table discussion sessions, and debates on research and methodology issues in training experts for the financial and economic sector;
2. Discusses opportunities for offering interdisciplinary bachelor, master and postgraduate programs;
3. Organizes interdepartmental discussions of the program curricula content.
The Targets
The Department has the following targets in the field of education and methodology development:
- To develop at least three new bachelor degree programs per year in line with the University own educational standards.
- To update at least five bachelor degree programs annually.
- To develop a virtual Department work station in order to advise students on-line; to put an electronic library containing lectures by the leading instructors on the Department's web page.
- To continue writing and publishing the Future International Finance Expert's Library series of university textbooks for bachelor degree program students (at least four textbooks).
- To write and publish New Strategies and Technologies of the World Financial Market textbook for master program students.
- To develop and offer at least two new master programs.
The Department has the following targets in the field of research:
- To further develop the International Monetary, Currency and Financial Relations scientific school at the Department.
- To apply for grants annually within the Russian Foundation for Humanities grant project related to the field of the Department research.
- To promote the Department's researchers' works with a view to be published in renowned international journals (at least two publications per year).
- To improve the Department teaching staff and researcher publication activity, to publish at least two monographs and thirty articles every year.
- To conduct at least three researcher inter-university and international conferences, symposia, round table discussion sessions annually.
- To intensify efforts towards defending PhD and doctoral theses (at least one PhD thesis each year and at least one doctoral thesis in five years).
- To improve scientific advisers' work efficiency, to conduct at least three student research conferences annually and promote the work of the Department student researcher club.
- To participate in all-Russia and international student work competitions (at least three competitions per year).
The Department has the following targets in the field of Department administration:
- To optimize the Department staff composition by achieving the ratio of 75 to 25 percent of full-time and part-time workers, respectively.
- To implement the youth retention and attraction strategy at the Department, to reduce the Department teaching staff and researchers' average age to 40 or 42 years, to build an environment that would attract young researchers selected among the undergraduate and postgraduate students.
- To systematically offer advanced training programs to the Department teaching staff and researchers (to at least 20 to 30 percent of the Department staff annually).
- To develop partner relations with the leading overseas universities, to hire at least two overseas professors as full-time Department employees, to establish mutually beneficial contractual relations with the relevant departments of overseas universities (to conclude at least two agreements in five years).
