Our graduates

Khan Haider

Country: Pakistan
Previous Degree: Foundation University Pakistan, BS Psychology

Studying at HSE and choosing this Master’s program was an excellent decision, not only did I find an outstanding learning environment with supportive Professors and peers who challenged me intellectually to develop my skills and emerge as an independent researcher but it also gave me the opportunity to develop strong cross-cultural experience. After having graduated with honors, I believe that I am now equipped me with the knowledge and technical expertise to analyze global developmental issues and to address them as a future representative of international organizations

Alisa Kim

Country: Ukraine
Previous Degree: Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN), Linguistics

My UN job led me to the program

By the time I entered HSE, I had been working at IOM Moscow for already a couple of years holding positions like interpreter, case worker etc. Although I had been enjoying my experience as an international civil servant at the local office, I definitely had the ambition to move forward. To enter the next level – global level with creating and managing humanitarian projects, I was lacking decent education. Within the UN system, a lot of international positions require deep expertise and an advanced degree in Social Studies, Public Administration, Development and relevant fields.So I took the opportunity. The program turned out to be mind blowing: it expands your mindset and makes your worldview zoom out. It feels like being in the middle of a scientific adventure that additionally speeds up every week whether you feel young enough for this or not. Yes, the program was complicated, and statistics was just hell in the beginning .The program, however, gave me much more than I applied for: it gave me a new philosophy, classes with the best scholars, a winter school in Estonia, a range of intercultural events and a wide network expanding as far as Africa, America, Europe and the CIS. I met the people with the same scientific and professional interests from everywhere, I think that our story is not over.I deeply thank Vladimir Kozlov, Ekaterina Mitrofanova (my scientific advisor, and she is the best!), Ekaterina Cheklina and all the professors who turned my world around. This was awesome!My initial dream never came true: before my final thesis defense, a lot of UN organizations in Russia experienced rapid shrinking, and I was downsized as well. So currently I work in HR department of an international energy company. Among other duties, I manage Corporate Social Responsibility projects

Patrick Whelan (Canada)

"In the Master of Population and Development, I feel like I learned how the world works, and so many things that I have seen around the world make more sense to me now".

Rustam Tursun-Zade

Country: Republic of Tajikistan
Previous Degree: Russian-Tajik (Slavonic) University/ Faculty of History and International Relations/ Department of International Relations

If you want to study with people with different background, to get a job in an international organization or to become a researcher, I strongly advise you to consider this program

I very much appreciate a wide scope of discipline offered by the Population and Development (PD) program. Choosing the program for myself, I wanted it to be interdisciplinary, that is why the PD program offered by HSE was at the top priority for me. This interdisciplinary approach results in a sophisticated yet fascinated syllabus, offering both quantitative and qualitative tools to aid your analysis. Your current background is of no importance, be it calculus, philology? linguistics or medicine, you will be able to choose the courses that will be of a maximum relevance to what you are currently doing. This flexibility alongside with some excellent scholars engaged in the program makes PandD program a top-notch and definitely one to be considered. Prior to my admission, I had no solid background in demography, yet currently am working in one of the best labs in the whole post-soviet area doing a very fascinating research utilizing the state-of-art techniques simultaneously doing my PhD. My research is dedicated to cancer mortality and morbidity, a problem of an extreme importance that in future will be further escalated. Part of my research is dedicated to the elaboration of an explanatory population-based model of cancer. Another part to the population-based cancer registry data-quality assessment. PD program must be considered by anybody appreciating the friendly yet challenging environment, fascinated by multiculturalism and willing to build a solid interdisciplinary background. Yet I have to say, that the program is rather difficult and not for the faint-hearted. So if your sole purpose is to attain an MA degree with minimal amounts of studying, I advise you to reconsider your decision.

Lola Kirillova

Country : Russia
Previous Degree: Kazan State University / Specialist in Jurisprudence

The admission to the Population and Development Master's Program marked a new step in my life

The admission to The population and development Master's Program in the Higher School of Economics marked a new step in my life.At the end of the 1990s, the country was experiencing extremely difficult times when I received my first diploma of a specialist. Teachers have been surviving, so the families of students. It could affect the quality of education.I am glad that times have changed, and many Higher Educational Institutions in Russia have been able to keep the best of the best of teachers and to improve the teaching methodology.As a student of the HSE magistrate, I had to mobilize and learn more intensely than in my youth. This is also due to the fact that the Higher School of Economics makes quite high demands on students. It is good, generally speaking, because the potential of the student is revealed more fully precisely with intensive workload.I was fascinated by the team work in class training. So any of your proposals are considered by fellow students from different countries of the world, and by virtue of this sharply seeing the limitations of the concept, if it relies only on the theory and experience of one separate state.I saw that peers from other continents as well as I am greedy for the knowledge, and mainly to continue their work for the good of their countries and to be responsible for development of these countries. I felt again the spirit of the students, undoubtedly, even adventuristic, because more roads are open for me now. Personally, I plan to work in the sphere of public non-profit organizations, since I have already worked hard at the corporations in my life. It is time to change something.These are reasons why I appreciate my institution, its students and its employees so high. Also because teachers did not recognize our former merits, they did not allow us to be lazy, for the accessibility of arguing with professors in the walls of Alma Mater. For the colossal amount of information that was transferred to my disposal by the forces of the international staff of teachers.

Kephas Agure Odoyo

Country : Kenya
Previous Degree: BA. ENGLISH, BA. RELIGION / University of Eastern Africa, Baraton

Masters in Population and Development is an interdisciplinary program that has enabled me to look at development through the global lenses

My background as a teacher made me curious about this course on Population and Development since I grapple with a lot of development issues in my daily chores. I only had a vague understanding of the scope of the course and so with curiosity I made ago at it. This has proven to be not only the most challenging course but also academically and socially enriching course of my life. Masters in Population and Development is an interdisciplinary program that has enabled me to look at development through the global lenses. It ushered me into the field of demography and economics, administration and statistics, development and research. It has given me solid background on development issues from the developed USA to the struggling economies of Africa. I have understood the mistakes that were made by China in pursuit of economic growth to the successes behind Singapore and the emerging economies to mention just but a few. This is a world class course for a world class academician and I am happy to be one! The academic atmosphere at HSE ignites academic curiosity, from listening to famous international speaker during the many academic seminars to being taught by some of the world’s most celebrated and talented professors. There is just enough at HSE to implant in one academic.

Espy Thomas

Country: USA
Previous Degree: Mount Union College

This program aims to harmonize traditional demography and more policy-oriented fields

The Population and Development program is part of a larger surge of graduate-level interdisciplinary initiatives seeking to transform students into well-balanced stakeholders of variegated viewpoints on how the world works. This program aims to harmonize traditional demography and more policy-oriented fields, such as public administration and economics. The intended result is a generation of demographers who are keenly attentive to the dynamics of public policy and are able to apply demographic analysis adroitly within the public sphere

Ena Redžić

Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Previous Degree: University of Sarajevo, Macro Financial Management

I wasn’t that interested in the Population segment of the programme, but now I enjoy it even more than Economic development part.

I found this programme while researching Master’s programmes in economic development. Specifically, I found it on the website heysuccess.com and was very surprised by the organization of the courses, so I decided to apply. I am extremely happy that I was here. I am very satisfied with the education that is provided by HSE. At the beginning, I wasn’t that interested in the Population segment of the programme, but now I enjoy it even more than Economic development part. For now, I wouldn’t change anything. I would say that now students from different backgrounds have general knowledge on what Population and Development studies focus on. Another thing that I like is that the programme is interdisciplinary, which gives me opportunity to focus on specific areas of Development that I want to specialize in. I really liked Demography course. Analysis of demographic trends creates new dimensions in the economic sphere, especially in social policy and public economics. Through constant work on my term paper and Master’s thesis I gained knowledge in writing scientific and research papers. Right now I was focusing on sustainability of pension systems, which was one of the reasons why I applied to this programme. However, I would like to work on it in the non-governmental sector, either for an NGO or an international organization"