South Asian University
A University established by SAARC Nations
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The duration of the Masters program is two years (four semesters). Students need to complete a 64-credit coursework, consisting of 9 core courses and 5 optional courses (each worth 4 credits), and a dissertation (worth 8 credits). The core courses consist of two-course sequences in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Development Economics, and one course each on Mathematical Methods in Economics, Statistics and Introductory Econometrics, and South Asian Economic Development.
The sequence of the courses is as follows:
Year II
| Semester III | Semester IV |
|---|---|
| South Asian Economic Development | Optional Course III |
| Optional Course I | Optional Course IV |
| Optional Course II | Optional Course V |
| M.A. Dissertation | M.A. Dissertation |
Optional courses
Spread over Semesters III and IV, students opt for a total of 5 optional courses (two in the third semester and three in the fourth semester), through which they are introduced to advanced topics in economic theory, methods, and their applications in various specialized areas. These optional courses are also likely to be useful for writing M.A. dissertation. The following is a list of optional courses which have been offered in recent past. however, in any particular semester, only a sub-set of the these courses might be offered, depending on the availability of faculty and interest of the students.
| Agriculture and Development | Econometric Methods |
| Environmental Economics | Efficiency and Productivity Analysis |
| Game Theory | Gender and Development |
| Global Political Economy | Growth and Development |
| Industrial Organisation | International Economics |
| Money and Banking | Poverty and Inequality |
| Public Economics | Trade , Capital Flows and Development |
| Social Choice Theory | Topics in Political Economy |
| Topics in Macroeconomics | Topics in Applied Econometrics |
Dissertation
The work for the MA dissertation is spread over Semester III and Semester IV, and the total dissertation grades are distributed equally between the two semesters. The dissertation is a 10,000-12,000 words research project consisting of original research question(s), an independent and critical review of the relevant literature, and an analytical response to the research questions. The students are assigned a primary and a secondary supervisor in the third semester. In Semester III, the student has to independently think of a research idea and, by the end of the semester, has to defend a research proposal based on the idea. The proposal comprises of a statement and explanation of the research problem, a review of the literature, some preliminary exploration of data to motivate the thesis, and the research methodology. The student has to complete the research, write the dissertation and defend it by the end of the fourth semester.
