Student Profiles

A longing for the academic life, and a curiosity for learning more about the world attracted me to the 'Politics. Economics. Philosophy' - master's programme at the Higher School of Economics in Russia.
The PEP programme provides us with in-debth and interdisciplinary knowledge of the most important political tools; namely economics, philosophy and political science. The coordinators, supervisors, and professors of the programme have provided a very interesting syllabus, innovative teaching methods, and a highly professional outlook. My 6 months so far has been very intriguing, thought-provoking and engaging - and I can simply recommend the program to anyone with an interest for politics, and its intersections with philosophy and economy. --------

At the time of entering the 'Politics. Economics. Philosophy' programme I had a bachelor degree in philosophy. Somewhere in the back of my mind I felt that my versatile background of abstract and in-depth analysis needs the application to political and economic phenomena. To my mind, these two domains (meaning politics and economics) call for careful reflection nowadays.

PEP at Higher School of Economics came up with all necessary instruments of such an examination of this important agenda. This master's programme appears as a unique example of higher education in Russia combining interdisciplinary approaches to global issues. Each student on the programme can satisfy his or her research interests and choose personal educational trajectory in opening semester. Such an option allows all the participants to find a common denominator in their training before the start of academic research projects. PEP certainly gives a chance to improve your communicative, academic and knowledgable skills. Moreover, add on top brilliant faculty members, caring study office and friendly atmosphere among the students! I hope that this amazing experience of studying here will contribute to your professional path just like it influenced on my own.

Politics is the main field of my study and research interest. I had graduated from HSE Political Science department and sought an opportunity to continue my academic life. HSE university provides the best facilities in Moscow for that therefore the crucial choice concerned the program. There were two of them - 'Applied Political Science' and 'Politics. Economics. Philosophy'. I prefered the last one because it gave a chance to improve my skills of interdisciplinarity domain. As PEP is young one can take advantages of fresh and flexible programme. And the last but not least, PEP is a good place to train English language skills having conversation with guys from different countries.

As soon as I found out about the Master's programme 'Politics. Economics. Philosophy' at HSE, I realized that it was something I had definitely to go for. With my BA in international relations, it was important to get a grasp of other areas that are crucial for my field of study. Indeed, studying at this programme I managed to carry on with my specialization in international relations since my course paper as well as Master thesis are entirely on issues of international development. At the same time, as in the modern world all areas of study are intertwined, an understanding of economic and political underpinnings allowed me to deepen my research.

Most of the subjects broadened my horizons and allowed me to keep up with current trends in economics and political science. Especially I enjoyed following the courses of 'Intellectual history', 'Social movements' and 'State and economy'. Some of the disciplines were pretty hard to follow for non-economics students and required a great effort to complete the course. However, the difficulty of those subjects was always compensated by the professors' support.

Another advantage of the programme is the HSE itself - a leading university with inspiring professors and a wide range of opportunities. And the last, but not least - a perfect location at the city centre of Moscow which makes it even a greater pleasure to be a part of HSE.

I am a Masters degree student of 'Politics. Economics. Philosophy' (PEP) at the social science faculty of HSE. My Bachelor degree I obtained at the Eberhard- Karls University of Tübingen (Germany) in International Economics. My previous interests in research were Public Economics and International Economics, but for my Master degree I decided to go beyond pure Economic theory and therefore I chose to study PEP. 

Although, PEP is a very broad-ranging programme, I enjoy the various insights into different fields of science. It encourages you to develop interdisciplinary thinking, as well as, thinking out of the box and creating your own approaches to problems. I think  in future these skills will help me to explore various fields in the job market, may it be in business consulting, political consulting or in the academic sphere. 

I had spent an exchange year at HSE before, so I knew about its great facilities, the interesting lecturers and of course I had already fallen in love with the city of Moscow. When I found out that the Master programme I wanted to study in Germany had been introduced in Moscow, I didn’t think twice and directly applied. Fortunately I got selected for the scholarship program and I was able to study for free in one of the greatest cities in the world.

I had my bachelor in Political Science in Kwame Nkrumah University of science and Technology (KNUST).The opportunity to study Masters in 'Politics. Economics. Philosophy' (PEP) has equipped me with enough skills to pursue my career. The interdisciplinary nature of the programme coupled with a lot of lectures and seminars from experts and visiting professors has broaden my knowledge in Economics and Philosophy as well as Political science.

In view of my aspirations, the courses that have been of interest to me are: Intellectual History, Modern Political Science, Global Governance and Data Analyses. These very interesting courses have equipped me with the necessary skills to pursue a career in the Non-Governmental Sector. The opportunity given to me by my programme to have my internship in the International Students Support Office and the International Admissions office has opened a new interest in me to pursue a career in the Education sector.