International Economic and Political Studies

International Economic and Political Studies (IEPS) is a two-year English-language Master's degree programme, which seeks to investigate contemporary political, economic and social issues from a multidisciplinary perspective. Although the predominant emphasis in IEPS is on approaches from economics and political science, students will also be expected to explore their historical, legal and sociological aspects. The programme is taught by members of all five institutes (departments) of the faculty, including the Institute of Political Studies (IPS) and Institute of Economic Studies (IES).

The programme offers a unique study both in its contents and methods. It is based neither on an overview of facts about the social organisation, nor on crunching of abstract mathematical models – it offers the students the ways of thinking and understanding social, economic and political phenomena in globalised societies.

Students deal with the nature of economic objectives of agents, social organisation, institutions of power, emergence of conflicts and aims at cooperation. They are expected to master the principles of modern non-conventional economic thinking and be able to apply it in political decision-making at the level of supra-national institutions, states, regional governments, corporations, firms, political parties and groups of citizens.

To complete the IEPS programme, students have to acquire a total of 120 credits. 64 credits are gained by successfully passing the following mandatory courses: (lectures/seminars in hours per week are in parentheses):

• Philosophy, Economics and Politics (2/1);
• Principles of Microeconomics I (2/2);
• Public Policy (2/1);
• Geography & Politics in Europe within Global Regionalism (2/2);
• Theories of International Relations (2/0);
• European Comparative Politics and Society (1/1);
• Legal Framework of European Integration (2/0);
• Public Finance (2/0);
• International Political Economy (1/1);
• Master Thesis Seminar (0/2).

An additional 44 credits must be earned by selecting courses of your interest from three mandatory modules:

1. Economics module – two courses out of a list of fourteen;
2. Politics module – two courses out of a list of fourteen;
3. Humanities – three courses out of a list of eighteen.

Plus an additional two elective courses from any of the modules.

Remaining 12 credits can be earned by participating in two or three master degree courses of your own choice. IEPS students can select from hundreds of courses taught at the Faculty of Social Sciences or other faculties of Charles University. These may include Czech as a Foreign Language. More information is at http://karolinka.fsv.cuni.cz/KFSV- 735.html

The traditional Master’s degree (Mgr., Czech equivalent to an M.A.) is awarded to those students who have acquired at least 120 credits in the IEPS programme, defended their Master Thesis and successfully passed the final State Examinations from economics, politics and other social sciences.

Mandatory documents:

• Certified diploma of the concluded studies (at least at the bachelor level). In case the diploma is not in English, Czech or Slovak, then its certified transcript into English is required.
• Transcript of grades from those studies in English, Czech or Slovak.
• Structured CV on one page (personal information, education, training, employment, extracurricular experiences such as internships, international mobility, community service, competences and other evidence of intellectual curiosity and capacities for leadership).
• A credible proof of English proficiency (e.g. TOEFL, IELTS, CAE, CPE or similar - essential for the non-native English speakers only). Students with insufficient English (e.g. with the TOEFL scores below 76 or the IELTS band below 6, or similar levels in other tests) can be admitted exceptionally upon a guarantee that they will catch up by enrolling into Intensive Advanced English course at our faculty (this must be conducted in combination with the standard studies) and must be concluded successfully in the first semester.

Recommended additional documents:

• Motivation letter (up to 300 words).
• Letter of recommendation (optimally from a person acquainted with the applicant´s academic skills and creativity).