Master in Population and Development

The Master’s in Population and Development program is intended for individuals with different backgrounds who want to understand the connections between development and population growth. The program provides a strong background in both the theory and history of population development issues together with a grounding in contemporary approaches to analyzing and projecting population structure and resource requirements.

About the Program

The main aim of the "Population and Development" program is to train the specialists who will be ready for practical development problems solutions. These challenges could be results of rapid changes in the social and economic sphere or on the other hand be set by the public administration on different levels to prevent the negative consequences of population changes or to utilize the positive demographic impact.

The program develops students’ skills in applying multi-disciplinary analytic approaches to population development and resource allocation issues that are essential for management and public administration in numerous sectors. The specialists who graduated from our program will have skills and knowledge in principles of population changes and social-economic development. They will be able to use modern methods of data analysis and interpretation of the results. They will understand the capacities and limitations of the basic instruments of development and their practical usage.

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Core Lecturers

The two-year program offers a range of courses (including electives) taught in English by key specialists (Ph.D. holders in Economics, Sociology, Geography, Philosophy, Math, and Physics) in the field from the Higher School of Economics (Institute of Demography and Public Administration Department, Faculty of Economics) and its partner universities including Russian Academy of Science, New Economics School, Moscow Lomonosov State University, and RANEPA. Specialists from different public sector services and managers from private companies. Lecturers from international universities and research centers: (University of Chicago, Stockholm University, University of Southampton, Sapienza — Università di Roma).

What makes this program different

• International relationship with the leading universities in our field.
• Scholars with high qualifications.
• International Diploma.
• Access to the electronic libraries and other resources provided by HSE.
• The unique library is provided by the Institute of Demography.
• 15 budget places and special Quotas for international students (for 20-25 persons).
• Dormitories.
• Flexible elective courses system.

Partner universities

• INED (France)
• Max Plank University – Demographic Department (Germany)
• Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France)
• Sapienza – Università di Roma (Italy)
• Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium)

The core and baseline specialization of the Program 'Population and Development' is devoted to the development and various related issues. It deepens the immersion of the students into the practice of Population Analysis and development policy, provides a solid base for future employment in the analytical sphere. The Concentration ensures a strong multi-disciplinary foundation of skills and knowledge of students, who will have enough training opportunities to master contemporary development issues and policy implementation as well as population studies.

The basic courses of the Concentration include:

• Theory and Practice of Public Administration
  • The aim of this course is to provide students with an introduction to public administration. The course will introduce students to the evolution of theories of management, theories of decision-making in the public sector, intergovernmental relations, performance management, budgeting, strategic planning, managing human resources, the role of e-government as well as current trends of the public sector reforms.
• Public Economics
  • This introductory course in Public Economics covers basic issues including the role of government in modern market economies, market failures and public goods, equity-efficiency trade-offs, public expenditure programs, and taxation principles. It combines theoretical models with empirical evidence.
• Demography
  • The course is devoted to the role of demography in the system of social studies and the relations between demographic and social-economic processes.
• Population change and economic development
  • The course introduces the students to the basic concepts of economic and human development, problems of inequality, and basic demographic challenges. It combines some theoretical models with broad empirical evidence.

Our elective courses are assembled each year and offer various topics in methodology and issue-related Public Administration and Municipal Management. Students can choose from pool courses such as social network analysis, measurement theory, but also courses on social inequalities, aging society, comparative public policy, and global political economy – to name just some of them.

The graduates are qualified and well prepared for a wide range of careers: government (Russian, International), private sector, (strategic planning, insurance. Health care, education, personal, marketing), analytical centers and think-tanks, academic career.

This Master’s program prepares students for careers in a wide range of fields:

• Public administration work in government agencies and services at different levels.
• International funds and non-governmental organizations (UN, WHO, the World Bank etc.).
• Academic work at research centers and universities (starting with a PhD in a leading research centre).
• Private companies (consulting, recruiting, marketing, insurance, pharmaceutical, and healthcare).
• Marketing companies (Mittel-MGU , MASMI, Medsi, biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca).