EVALUATION OF THE ECONOMICS MASTER’S PROGRAM, A PREREQUISITE
The aim of the evaluation is to measure the effectiveness of the pedagogical approach, so it needs to be carried out prior to determining the new master’s degree program in order to take its observation into consideration. This evaluation by HCERES is based on a self-assessment discussed at university/faculty/school levels. The strengths of the Economics master’s program highlighted by HCERES in the last evaluation included:
- The development of a track focused on Big Data, a key area of development for AMU;
- The partnership with Centrale Méditerranée for the FQA track;
- Research-based education with a significant rate of access to doctoral studies;
- International openness with possible double degrees, good outgoing student mobility, and the option of a fully English-taught program;
- The academic excellence label AMSE has been awarded for the diversity of its pedagogical practices.
The areas for improvement mainly concerned limited development of apprenticeship programs (which had only been implemented a year before the evaluation) and the fact that intake capacity had not been reached.
A NEW BROADER OFFERING
Currently, the school offers a single national master’s degree in economics, consisting of an M1 and four M2 tracks, as well as two university-level diplomas: the DESU Magistère Ingénieur Economiste and the DESU Data Science for professionals. With the aim of clarifying the master’s offer and making it easier to understand, we are proposing a new set-up based on three distinct master’s degrees:
- Master’s in "Econometrics and Statistics", transformed from the current "Econometrics, Big Data, and Statistics" track of the Economics master’s program. This new major will include a track in "Econometrics and Data Science" (EDS) and the track in "Theoretical and Empirical Economics" (ETE, which will be cross-disciplinary for the three master’s programs);
- Master’s in "Economics", an offshoot of the current master’s in economics, which will consist of two M2 tracks: "Data, Analysis, Decision, and Economic Evaluation" (DADEE) and "Theoretical and Empirical Economics" (ETE, which will be cross-disciplinary for the three master’s programs);
- Master’s in "Finance", which will integrate the newly named "Financial Modelling" track (previously "Quantitative Finance and Insurance" or FQA) as well as the other three existing tracks already operating in the master’s in "Finance": "Financial Risks and Sustainable Finance", "Wealth Management" and "Corporate Finance and Financial Engineering" along with the track "Theoretical and Empirical Economics" (ETE, which will be cross-disciplinary for the three master’s programs).
The ETE track, shared by all three master’s, will serve as the gateway to the AMSE doctoral program. Except for ETE, all tracks will be open to apprenticeships.
This proposal has already received a Favourable opinion from HCERES, under an appraisal system leading to four possible opinions: Favourable, Favourable with recommendations, Reserved with recommendations, or Unfavourable.
The Magistère Ingénieur Économiste remains linked to two bachelor’s degrees in the first year (bachelor’s in economics and management with a specialisation in Economics-Finance, and bachelor’s in applied mathematics and computer science for sciences and social sciences with a specialisation in Mathematics-Economics). In the second and third years, students will choose between the three master’s programs offered by the school.
Thus, alongside the Magistère Ingénieur Économiste and the DESU in Data Science for professionals, the three master’s programs constitute AMSE’s new offer.
JOINT ORGANISATION AT M1 LEVEL
The three master’s programs -Econometrics and Statistics, Economics, and Finance- offered at Aix-en-Provence or Marseille, will be organised jointly at the M1 level. The future M1 courses will therefore be partly shared between the three new master’s programs. But the main change lies in enabling students to select the focus of their master’s through specialised courses, while acquiring a common grounding in the fundamentals. This common teaching block will consist of 9 courses taught in English.
ENHANCED ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIPS
The partnership with Centrale Méditerranée is naturally maintained in view of the upcoming accreditation for the "Financial Modelling" track (current FQA). A new partnership with Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence will be established for the "Data, Analysis, Decision, and Economic Evaluation" (DADEE) track through the addition of a joint option with AMSE. This option aims to train economic advisors with expertise in international relations for embassies, companies, and international organizations.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The next steps will be to define the ranges of skills to be acquired through the teaching modules and to design the assessment procedures. The new offer will take effect in September 2024.
→ This article was issued in AMSE Newletter, Summer 2023.
© Photo by Thomas Reimer on Adobe Stock
