About "ISE"
In 1992-94 the Institute compiled the first Russian textbooks in micro- and macroeconomics, carried out the retraining program for lecturers in economic theory, published the most complete English-Russian Dictionary of Economics and Finance and the first three volumes of "The History of Economics" (the translation of classical works on Theory of Demand, Theory of the Firm, Theory of Distribution).
Since 1994 short-term (80 academic hours) programs on financial management and management accounting have been organized for managers from many sectors of industry.
In 1994-95 the Institute, with the support of The European Commission (TACIS program), organized a long-term program "Financial Management and Investment Project Evaluation" (360 hours) in co-operation with the University of Glasgow, University of Amsterdam, Barclays Bank, and London Guildhall University. More than 200 managers from 25 regions of Russia were retrained in this program.
A program of retraining university lecturers in accounting, analysis and audit was carried out in 1995-96. It was supported by the Soros Foundation and University of Texas in Dallas. More than 50 St. Petersburg university lecturers and consultants completed this six-week program.
In 1996 the Institute started training lecturers in Industrial Economics and Organization. In 1997 and 1998 the School of Economics, in co-operation with St. Petersburg State Academy of Engineering and Economics, carried out two such programs which were supported by the Soros Foundation and the Eurasia Foundation. Three books were published on that subject as a provision for the course: the translations of "The Theory of Industrial Organization" by D. Hay and D. Morris, "Economics, Organization and Management" by P. Milgrom and J. Roberts and "The Theory of Industrial Organization" by Jean Tirole.
Since 1996 the Institute, in co-operation with the House of Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has been organizing monthly seminars of young economists for undergraduates and graduates who wish to be involved in research in the field of economics and finance. Students papers and discussions were published in the monthly bulletin.
In July of 1997 the Institute, Ford Foundation and Massachusetts Institute of Technology organized a conference in St. Petersburg dedicated to microeconomic problems of the transition period. Participants came from the ten largest cities of Russia.
In 1997 a program of retraining managers of investment companies and banks was implemented in co-operation with "Energocapital" Investment Company and thanks to the support of the National Training Foundation. One of the major outcomes of this program was new study materials developed jointly with foreign university lecturers.
In 1995-99 the Institute published the Russian translation of Michael Tracy's "Food And Agriculture In a Market Economy: an Introduction Into Theory, Practice And Policy", edited by A.Slutsky. This year also saw the launch of the series "Ethical Economy": research in ethics, culture and philosophy of economy. Many works of authors from different countries were published in Russian. Among them are P. Koslowski, V. Autonomov, M. Albert, S. Brittan. R. de George . In 1994 - 1998 the most complete Russian advanced course of Microeconomics was developed and published: V.M. Galperin, S.M. Ignatiev, V.I. Morgunov. "Microeconomics". Two volumes. The translation of the complete course on financial management was published in 1998: E. Brigham, L. Gapenski. "Intermediate Financial Management". In 1998 Collins Dictionary of Economics translated into Russian was published. In 2000 the complete course of microeconomics in two volumes was published: a two-volume "50 Lectures on Microeconomics: the Textbook for Economic Colleges of the Universities". Written by Russian authors, the course is divided into 5 parts (10 lectures each) with mathematical appendices.
In 1999 after a long proving period the innovative textbook "Basic Economics" (by M. Storchevoy) for secondary schools was published. Instructions for teachers and the pupils' workbook are under development.
In 2000 "The World and Russia" (by V.Autonomov, A. Kuznetsov, A. Mitskevitch, T. Soubbotina, K.Sheram, 148 pages) was issued. It appeared as a result of creative co-operation between the World Bank Institute and leading scientific and educational Russian institutions. The book contains vast and thoroughly analyzed statistic information (economic, social and ecological) and is for students' self-study, discussions and other active forms of studies.
In 2000 the School of Economics started the program "Development, Publishing and Distribution of Full Set of Study and Instruction Materials, and Training University Lecturers in Industrial Economics". The project implies development of the course program, lectures, instructions, problems and cases, and their approbation for training of the specially selected group of university lecturers. It also involves publishing and distribution of all study materials, and also compiling and publishing of collected translations of classical works in this field. The 36-month long project has received support from the National Training Foundation.
Experience in internet-based programs
Institute "The School of Economics" began to develop internet-based educational projects in 1996.
The very first project was the electronic full-text library "The Hall of Economists", containing bios, portraits and original works of famous economists and critical papers devoted to them.. This web-site is the only Russian-language electronic storage of economic classics and is devoted to help in teaching Economics and History of Economic Thought. The filling and enlarging this web-site goes on. This project was run without any support from a foundation, just with Institute own funds.
In 1999 our Institute launched the program "Second Higher Education for Economics Teachers Based on the Use of Distance Learning Methods". The most of school teachers of Economics have no economic education (they are former historians, physicists or somebody else but not economists). This is the heritage of Soviet educational system where secondary schools syllabus does not include Economics at all. Our program was designed as a pilot way of solving this problem with minimal cost. We intended to use distance learning system capable to deliver second higher economic education for school teachers who already have a high-school diploma in other science. The program is the only one of its kind in Russia and it is approved by the Ministry of Education of Russia and financed by the Eurasia Foundation. There are 45 teachers of economics from different towns in North-West and Central Russia now on the course, in the end of 2001 they will finish their learning and take final examinations.
The curriculum includes following courses: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Statistics, Mathematical Methods in Economics and Business Decision, Institutional Economics, History of Economics, Economic History of Western World, Economic History of Russia, Regional and World Economy, Theory of Finance, Public Finance, Finance and Stock Market, Banking, Accounting and Auditing, Management Science, Economic Sociology, Labor Economics, Environment Economics, Industrial Economics and Organization, Teaching Economics in Secondary School and others.
This program allowed us to create the instrument for distance education (special web-site and about 30 distance courses in it) and acquire good experience of working with such kind of students. Now we are ready to deliver such education at large scale.
In 1999 creation of the internet resource center "The School of Economics" began. The main activity of this center should be development and dissemination of new methods in the field of economic education. The center is meant to serve as a basis for the new network of specialists from different universities, schools and organizations.
In 2000 the first electronic forum for secondary school teachers was started on this website. More than 100 teachers of Economics, History and Geography from 30 cities throughout Russia spent four months discussing the new book " The World and Russia", written by World Bank Institute specialists and published by our Institute. The discussion was planned and run with the assistance of the editor of this book, Tatyana Soubbotina (Education Specialist, Development Education program, World Bank Institute).
