MA Economics Orientation Handout

M. A.
Economics Orientation
Department of Economics
Delhi School of Economics
July 29, 2019
Preliminary remarks
• The Delhi School of Economics (DSE) consists of Delhi

University’s departments of Economics, Sociology, and
Geography. Although ‘D. School’, or ‘the School’, is an
important institution for historical reasons, branding
purposes, alumni nostalgia, or as a postal address (in
some quarters), ‘Delhi School of Economics’ will not
appear on your degree diploma.
• M. A. Economics is a rigorous academic programme. At
the end of the day, you might choose to be in the ‘real
world’ and not an academic, but the programme will
emphasise the academic Economics discipline.
It is (hopefully) quite unlike an MBA programme.
The meaning of ‘academic’
• ‘Academic’ does not mean irrelevant and impractical. It

stands for conceptual clarity and analytical rigour.
• Recall Mr. Keynes:
Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt
from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of
some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear
voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some
academic scribbler of a few years back.
• We seek to uphold high standards in scribbling.
Programme’s training and impact
• The presence of its graduates in top Ph. D. programmes

and faculties around the world is evidence of the high
quality of academic training that the M. A. programme
offers.
• The professional impact of the analytical, quantitative, and
problem-solving skills imparted is evident from the
placement of graduates, who abound in
• the public sector (e.g., government, civil services,
regulatory agencies, etc.),
• NGOs, and
• the professions (e.g., management, consultancy, media,
law, journalism, etc.).
• Some even become entrepreneurs.
Structure of programme
The programme consists of Part 1 (Semesters I and II) and Part
2 (Semesters III and IV). Promotion from Part 1 to Part 2
depends on your performance in Part 1.
Table : Distribution of courses and credits

Semester Courses (Credit per course) Semester
credit
I Compulsory 3(×6) 18
II Compulsory 3(×6) + Elective 1(×5) 23
III Elective 4(×5)* 20
IV Elective 4(×5)* 20
*An Economics elective may be replaced by an Open Elective

offered by another department, but the Open Elective will be
worth 4 credits only.
Qualifying for M. A. degree
• Your span period begins when you are admitted into the
programme.
• You need to accumulate a minimum of 80 credits over the
span period of 4 years.
• There are two ways to do this:
• Pass 6 Compulsory and 9 Elective Economics courses to
get 81 credits.
• Pass 6 Compulsory and 8 Elective Economics courses, and
1 Open Elective of another department, to get 80 credits.
An Open Elective may be taken in Part 2 only.
• If you fail Part 1, i.e., are not promoted, you become an
ex-student. As an ex-student, you have the remaining part
of the span period to earn the remaining credits.
Student evaluation in a course
• For each course,

Internal assessment = 30 marks
Final examination = 70 marks
• The dates of Final examinations are fixed and announced
at the beginning of a semester. They should be taken into
account when choosing Elective courses.
• Depending on the course, Internal assessment may
depend on
• Mid-semester examinations
• Assigned problem-sets
• Project work
• Term paper and presentation
Passing a course
• In order to Pass a course, you need to get

• ≥40% in its Final examination, and
• ≥40% in the aggregate for the course (i.e., the combined
marks for the Final examination and Internal assessment).
• Failing a course results in an Essential Repeat (ER).
• An ER may be cleared by Passing the course in a
subsequent year.
Promotion
• Promotion from Part 1 to Part 2 requires the student to
Pass at least 4 out of the 7 courses taken in Part 1.
• If promoted, ERs collected in Part 1 may be completed in
Part 2, or later during the span period as an ex-student.
• If not promoted, a student has three options:
• Seek a fresh admission into the programme. This redeems
all your sins and gives you a fresh 4 year span.
• Somewhat less drastic: Repeat all the Part 1 courses ab
initio. This wipes the entire slate clean, but the effective
span period reduces to 3 years.
• Finally, the student may retain the marks in the courses that
have been Passed and re-appear for the Final examinations
of the courses that have been Failed.
• In the third case, only the Final examination may be
re-taken. Internal assessment is fixed and cannot be
repeated.
• Repeating a course is possible only in the matching
semester of a future year.
A word to the wise: Avoid ERs!

• Take Internal assessment very seriously as
• it cannot be repeated and improved (unless you take the
extreme step of beginning all over again), and
• it may guide your preparation for the Final examination.
• Although Final examinations can be repeated within the

span period, repeating courses along with the mandatory
Part 2 Elective courses in Semesters III and IV may be
difficult.
• Participation in the Placement programme requires you to
meet stiffer standards than merely passing Part 1. Look
out for Placement Cell orientation.
• Failure to complete the degree requirements in the first two
years may mean that you lose your placement as the
employer might insist on a completed degree.
Learning process
The learning process is not confined to the classroom and
self-study at home or the library. The other venues are:
• Tutorials and discussing problems individually with faculty.
• Learn from each other by working in groups. So, begin to
form a network for intellectual support and learning.
• The department has numerous seminars where scholars
present their research. There is a weekly faculty seminar
and one for research students.
• The department organises conferences and an annual
Winter School. The conferences are a good place to learn
about ongoing research in specific areas. The Winter
School gives broad exposure to active fields of research
through lectures by eminent experts from around the world.
• The Placement Cell organises talks by experts on ‘real
world’ and policy issues. It also organises Workshops for
preparing students for the modern workplace.
Institutions linked to the department
• The Centre for Development Economics organises

seminars, workshops, conferences, and the Winter School.
• The Indian Economic Review is a department-run
peer-reviewed journal, now published by Springer.
• The Ratan Tata Library. Look out for its orientation.
Become its member and use it as a place to study, borrow
books and journals, and use its online resources.
• The Placement Cell. Look out for its orientation.
• Mainly run by student coordinators, with oversight by faculty
trustees.
• Separate fee structure and rules of membership.
• Students must fulfil mandated academic requirements in
order to participate in Placement activities such as
recruitment for internships and jobs.
Student initiatives
• ShARE (Sharing Analysis on Regional Economies) is an

organisation for students striving for better understanding
of local socio-economic issues through presentations,
conferences, and projects. It is present in more than 24
prestigious universities in 11 countries.
• Prayaas - DSE is a social service organisation that strives
to serve humanity and to make a difference in the lives of
the underprivileged in our society. Its activities over the
past years include blood donation camps, collection of old
clothes, and signature drives on appeals for social and
environmental issues.
• EOSTRE is the students’ magazine. It is an initiative to
take economics beyond the classroom.
Statutory student-relevant bodies
• Economics Joint Student-Teacher Consultative Committee

• DSE Anti-ragging committee
• DSE Committee for Students from North-Eastern India
• Delhi University Sexual Harassment Complaints
Committee
To do list
Watch the notice board for information on

• I-cards,
• library cards,
• computer lab cards,
• scholarship applications,
• library orientation
• Placement Cell orientation,
• tutorial group and computer lab allocations.
On being an adult
• Unless you are a prodigy of some sort, you must be in your
early twenties. So, you will be treated as adults and we
expect you to behave as adults.
• Do not expect spoon-feeding from faculty or other staff.
Know and live up to your responsibilities.
• Treat others with respect, courtesy, and consideration.
• Respect deadlines. For academic and official work, hand
in relevant material before the deadline so that it can be
processed in an orderly way. Do not wait until the last
moment and expect other people to bail you out by working
overtime or to ‘condone the delay’.
• We are constantly trying to improve our infrastructure in
very challenging circumstances. So, please do not destroy
the furniture and other infrastructure. These things are
very, very, hard to put together.
Finally...
We wish you success in all your work!

Now, you are invited for Tea outside.

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M. A.

Delhi School of Economics

July 29, 2019

• The Delhi School of Economics (DSE) consists of Delhi

• ‘Academic’ does not mean irrelevant and impractical. It

Programme’s training and impact

• The presence of its graduates in top Ph. D. programmes

Table : Distribution of courses and credits

*An Economics elective may be replaced by an Open Elective

Qualifying for M. A. degree

• For each course,

• In order to Pass a course, you need to get

A word to the wise: Avoid ERs!

• Although Final examinations can be repeated within the

Institutions linked to the department

• The Centre for Development Economics organises

• ShARE (Sharing Analysis on Regional Economies) is an

Statutory student-relevant bodies

• Economics Joint Student-Teacher Consultative Committee

Watch the notice board for information on

We wish you success in all your work!

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