The certificate is designed for the next generation policymakers who are interested in addressing the structural determinants of inequality, unemployment, and poverty. It provides formal recognition of a rigorous and interdisciplinary course of study.
The certificate offers training in cutting-edge economic thinking to tackle twenty-first century problems, combining the tools and techniques from several methodological traditions in economics, an intersectional approach to data science, and a careful study of historical and institutional factors. The certificate is open to all undergraduate students, irrespective of disciplinary focus in their primary program of study.
None of today’s complex challenges, from climate change and inequality to economic insecurity and poverty, fit neatly within the confines of a single academic discipline. Addressing these problems therefore requires policymakers to take a multifaceted approach, incorporating diverse perspectives and methods into their actions.
CORE COMPETENCIES
In completing the requirements for the certificate, students will:
- Expand the scope and methods of their inquiry through instruction in multiple economic paradigms, including those not typically emphasized in traditional curricula.
- Interrogate questions of employment, inequality, discrimination, and economic (in)security, to name a few, using interdisciplinary and intersectional research methods.
- Develop data skills to examine these challenges from macro and micro perspectives.
- Learn to write public policy briefs for policy-making audiences.
Upon completion of the certificate, students will gain a deeper understanding of today’s economic challenges and contemporary policy discussions and be equipped with tools to conduct their own policy analysis and research in a multidisciplinary manner. Each of the courses fulfilling the requirements for the Certificate contribute to this outcome.
REQUIREMENTSTo earn the certificate, students must complete a total of five (5) courses (two required and three electives) for a total of 15 US or 30 ECTS credits. Two of these courses must be OSUN Network Collaborative Courses. OSUN Online Courses or participation in the EDI Summer Workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy can substitute for the required core course with permission of the advisor. The remaining three courses may be part of the regular curriculum of the student’s home institution and/or OSUN courses and will fulfill the certificate’s methods and additional elective course requirements.
COURSE OF STUDYTwo required core courses (1,2) - OSUN Network Collaborative Course: Economic Perspectives for Policy Making (or a corresponding OSUN policy-focused History of Economic Thought course)
- OSUN Network Collaborative Course: Right to Employment (or a corresponding OSUN Online Economic History course, such as Democratizing Work or Full Employment: History, Theory, Policy)
1 Institutions, which do not yet offer either of these collaborative courses, can allow students to enroll in another institution’s course via a hybrid format subject to faculty approval.
2 Participation in the EDI Summer Workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy at Bard College can be substituted for one of the core courses.
Three elective coursesOne elective methods/data analysis course offered by the home institution.
Two elective courses focused on public policy to address questions of economic insecurity, offered at the home institution. Students are strongly encouraged to take at least one of these courses in a discipline outside of their primary program of study.
A public policy briefStudents will be required to submit a public policy brief before completion of the program. This requirement can be fulfilled by producing a brief for one of the courses taken for the certificate or as an additional paper approved by the advisor.
ELIGIBILITY All undergraduate students across the Open Society University Network are eligible for the Certificate.
ADMISSIONTo ensure timely progression through the program, students are asked to submit approval from their program advisor along with their application, which can be emailed to the Institution’s Certificate coordinator. Prior to submitting an application, students should have completed one of the Certificate’s core course requirements.
SUGGESTED PROGRAM OF STUDY FOR STUDENTS AT OSUN PARTNER INSTITUTIONS
BARD COLLEGECore courses
- OSUN Network Collaborative Course, History of Economic Thought course Economic Perspectives for Policy Making (offered fall semester by Pavlina R. Tcherneva)
- OSUN Network Collaborative Course, The Right to Employment (offered spring semester by Pavlina R. Tcherneva) or EDI Summer Workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy (Bard College campus)
Electives
- One data/methods course at Bard
- Two additional electives from Bard
- Economic Security (Unemployment, Inequality, Poverty, Development)
- ECON 221 Economic Development (FA, Sanjay DeSilva)
- ECON 319 Developing Cities (SP, Sanjay DeSilva)
- HR 376 Housing Justice (SP, Kwame Holmes)
- SOC 120 Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality (Yuval Elmelech)
- Climate and Ecological Sustainability
- SOC 231 The Environment and Society (FA, Peter Klien)
- EUS/ES 324 Environmental Law for Policy (FA, Danielle Spiegel-Feld)
- EUS 224 Climate Change Science and its Human Dimensions (SP, Beate Liepert)
- Health and Disability
- ECON 212 Health Economics (SP, Michael Martell)
- HR 354 Reproductive Health and Human Rights (SP, Helen Epstein)
- HR 372 Chronic: Disability, Sickness, and Care (SP, Evan Calder Williams)
- BGIA 313 Data and Public Health in a Global Context (FA, Gabriel Perron) | Data: Quantifying Human Health
- Intersectionality
- ECON 338 Seminar in Discrimination (Mike Martell)
- HR 274 Immigrants Among Us: Political Rights of Non-Citizens (FA, Peter Rosenblum)
- PSY SOC Gender and Sexuality Studies 220 Social Psychology (SP, Kristin Lane)
UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDESCore courses
- OSUN Network Collaborative Course, History of Economic Thought (offered fall and spring semesters at Los Andes, Prof. Jimena Hurtado Prieto)
- EDI Summer Workshop in Public Policy (Bard College campus) or an OSUN Online Economic History course, such as Democratizing Work or Full Employment: History, Theory, Policy
Electives
- One data/methods course at Uni Andes:
- CPOL-2503 Métodos cuantitativos and CPOL-2504
- EGOB-2601Introducción a la práctica de la estadística (that has as pre-requisite MATE-1252 Cálculo integral con probabilidad)
- Open to undergraduates in the 3rd and 4th yeear: EGOB-4104 Técnicas de análisis de datos, and EGOB-4105 Análisis económico de las políticas públicas
- Two additional electives from Uni Andes:
- HIST-2800 AMÉRICA LATINA: MERCADOS Y REVOLUCIONES GLOBALES, 1700-1850
- HIST-2771 CAPITALISMO Y ESPACIO: HISTORIA URBANA GLOBAL
- CBCA-1006 TENER Y PODER (Economic anthropology course)
- CPOL-2424 TEORÍA POLÍTICA MARXISTA Y POSTMARXISTA.
AL-QUDS BARD COLLEGE (AQB)Core courses
- OSUN Network Collaborative Course, History of Economic Thought (offered spring semester at AQB, Prof. Sobhi Samour)
- OSUN Network Collaborative Course, The Right to Employment (offered spring semester, AQB, Prof. Sameh Alhallaq) or EDI Summer Workshop in Public Policy (Bard College campus)
Electives
- One data/methods course at AQB: Quantitative Research Methods (9117301)
- Two additional electives from AQB: AQB elective course list
BARD COLLEGE BERLIN (BCB)Core courses
- Core Course Origins of Political Economy (offered each Fall semester)
- EDI Summer Workshop in Public Policy (Bard College campus), Right to Employment (TBD, Spring 2023), or OSUN Online Economic History course, such as Democratizing Work or Full Employment: History, Theory, Policy.
One data/methods course at BCB: Statistics (MA151 Introduction to Statistics), Econometrics, Methods in Social and Historical Studies (SO104 Field Research: Dilemmas and Possibilities, SO105 Researching Social Life)
Two additional electives from BCB, from the modules Behavioral Economics (e.g. EC221 Sustainability Economics), History of Political Thought (e.g. SO181 Race, Racism and Resistance: From the Enlightenment to Black Lives Matter), Political Systems and Structures (e.g. PS119 Nation-States and Democracy, PS208 The Political Economy of Globalization), Methods in Social and Historical Studies (e.g. SO182 Research and Activism in the Urban Context), Ethics and Moral Philosophy (e.g. the OSUN Network collaborative course: PT160 Transnational Feminism Is for Everybody)
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ASIA (AUCA)AUCA Certificate (link)Core courses
- OSUN Network Collaborative Course History of Economic Thought (offered spring semesters at AUCA, Prof. Asel Kyrgyzbaeva)
OSUN Network Collaborative Course, The Right to Employment (offered spring semester, AUCA, Prof. Akylai Muktarbekkyzy and Prof. Meerim Djakypova) or EDI Summer Workshop in Public Policy (Bard College campus)
Electives
- One data/methods course at AUCA: ECO 401 Research Methods in Economics and Social Sciences
- Two additional electives from AUCA: SOC 201: Stratification, Inequality, & Power, ECO 305: Labor Economics, ECO 313: Environmental and Resource Economics