Program Details

The MAE program consists of 5 required content courses, 3 required Applied English Skills courses, and 7 elective courses. Studying full-time, you finish the program in less than 12 months. The MAE program is career-oriented  but it is also academically demanding. Graduates leave the program confident in the skills they have mastered through our careful attention to quality teaching. 

• Academic Calendar
• Course Schedule
• Specializations and Electives
• Fall Semester
• Spring Semester
• Summer Semester
• Thesis
• Graduation Requirements
• Preparatory Semester
• Faculty

Academic Calendar

MAE academic calendar 2012-2013.

The exact calendar is announced each year, but this is an indication of the typical calendar in the MAE program:

Course Schedule

Each course meets twice a week; classes are 90 minutes each. Courses often have an additional 90-minute exercise session. If possible, no classes are scheduled on Fridays.

Electives are chosen and designed to qualify each student for a particular Specialization. The exact electives offered each semester depend in part on enrollment and student interest.

You will be asked before the start of study what your interests are so we can best provide the right combination of electives during the year.

Sample Weekly Schedule

Specializations and Electives

Below are some examples of the Specializations that can be offered. You won't necessarily take all the electives listed under the chosen Specialization and new Specializations can be created according to your interest. The Specialization is in addition to the Masters of Applied Economics degree. Usually a Specialization is granted if a student takes at least three courses listed under a Specialization.

Typically a wide variety of electives is offered each Spring and Summer Semester. However, the electives offered can vary from semester to semester. The offer also depends on student interest and enrollment.

Financial Economics

• Financial Econometrics
• Banking and the International Financial System
• Corporate Finance and Valuation
• Investments and Asset Pricing
• International Finance

Public Policy

• Public Economics
• Program Evaluation
• Labor Market Economics
• Environmental and Resource Economics
• Health Economics
• Education Economics
• Human Resource Economics

Macroeconomics and Forecasting

• Monetary Theory and Policy
• Banking and the International Financial System
• Economic Forecasting and Time Series Econometrics

Corporate Economics

• Law and Economics
• Industrial Organization
• Corporate Finance and Valuation
• Corporate Governance
• International Finance

Quantitative Methods

• Program Evaluation
• Time Series Econometrics
• Financial Econometrics

Fall Semester

The MAE program starts with the Fall Semester (mid-September  to mid-December). All students take the same set of four core courses:  Macroeconomic Policy Analysis, Applied Microeconomic Analysis, and the first of a two-course Quantitative Methods series that teaches students important, practical, quantitative research skills. Students also attend the first course of the Applied English Skills series  both to increase their general knowledge and ability in English and to better perform on high-level professional tasks in English.

Spring Semester

Students finish the two-part Quantitative Methods series and continue with the second Applied English Skills course in the Spring Semester (mid-January  to  early April). Students also enroll in three electives [link to electives], usually directed towards a certain Specialization.

Summer Semester

In the Summer Semester (mid-April  to mid-July), students take another four electives. Required courses include the Project Seminar and the last of the Applied English Skills series. The Project is a “capstone” text that should reflect  the student’s best work in the MAE program and should use  the knowledge and skills gained in other MAE courses. The Project should show how a student can respond to a specific applied economics task. In this way it shows what most students will be doing after graduation, when they have a professional position as an analyst, economist, or consultant.

Thesis

Completing a thesis is not required to gain the MAE degree, and normally is not part of the program. A student may choose to do a thesis if the student wants a more research-intensive degree program or if the student  has reason to believe the degree will not be nostrified without a thesis.

The requirements and procedure for completing the thesis are agreed upon for each student’s individual needs. The student will need to have a faculty supervisor, and the Program Director has to approve the study plan.

The thesis is always completed after all other courses are finished. A student who completes a thesis still has to complete the Project Seminar and write the Project.

Students are not required to be resident in Prague when they are doing their theses. It is possible to graduate with the MAE degree, receive the diploma, and complete the thesis afterwards.

Graduation Requirements

The MAE program consists of 5 required content courses (including the Project Seminar), 3 required Applied English Skills courses, and 7 required elective courses. Students  must pass all the required courses to gain the MAE degree. Courses are evaluated on the American letter-grade scale: A, B, C, D, F, with “+” or “–" possible for each grade except F. A passing grade is any grade except F.

Students must pass all  courses within four calendar years from the start of the program. For example, if a student starts in September 2013, the student must pass all courses by the end of August 2017.

If a student fails a course, it is possible to make up the course to gain the necessary passing grade. Students must pay additional tuition for the make-up course. If a student fails an elective course, the student can replace that grade with a passing grade in another elective course for the purposes of graduation.

Students who do not follow the payment schedule, cannot graduate.

Grades in the Preparatory Semester are not officially recorded,  and thus are not included in the Graduation Requirements.

Preparatory Semester

MAE students take Preparatory Semester courses before the beginning of the MAE program. The goal of the Preparatory Semester is to make sure all admitted students are prepared to succeed in the MAE program from the very beginning. The Preparatory Semester courses are not officially recorded for the MAE degree program.

Dates:  July 1 – August 23, 2013

The Preparatory Semester runs for eight weeks. It is designed as part-time study, so you can still work or study during this time. It does not take much time to complete for applicants who are already well-prepared. For less-prepared students, the Preparatory Semester helps familiarize you with the principles of economics and allows you more practice in English  to succeed in the MAE program.

Students who receive an admissions offer before June 15 are required to attend the Preparatory Semester. Applications later than this face two possible complications:

1. Later applications might not be accepted because the program  may be full by that time.
2. If the program is not full, admissions standards are somewhat higher after June 15, since a student has to succeed in MAE courses from the Fall Semester, without the preparation of the Preparatory Semester.

The Preparatory Semester is offered in an on-line format. Preparatory Semester courses:

• Mathematics for Economics
• Applied Economics
• Applied English Skills

Faculty

We have an international faculty; all CERGE-EI Economics faculty hold PhDs from US or Western European universities.

Teachers in the MAE program include both CERGE-EI permanent faculty and experts working in the fields taught in the program. Students therefore  learn from teachers who are both  well-respected  researchers as well as  experienced professional practitioners.

The permanent faculty in our unique Academic Skills Center teach the Applied English Skills series.

Quality teaching is  paramount  to the MAE program. Teachers are regularly assessed  and student evaluations are taken seriously.