Alumni Newsletter September 2013
Our Graduate Programs - All About Excellence
We are very excited as we begin a new academic year in our PhD and MA programs. There have been many changes, both internal and external to Western, making our job in the Economics Graduate Office quite challenging but also exciting.
Last year, we said goodbye to Yvonne Adams, our graduate coordinator of many years, with a well-attended Alumni Conference in her honour. In Yvonne’s place, we have welcomed Sandra Augustine.
In response to reductions in the size of the Department and in graduate student financing, we suspended our traditional MA program several years ago. We could no longer offer a quality program and scholarships to attract top MA students, so we decided to concentrate on our flagship PhD program.
With renewed support from the university, we are very pleased to report new master’s level opportunities with the introduction of our new Master in Financial Economics professional program and a re-tooled PhD-stream MA program that prepares students for entry into our PhD program and provides a rigorous set of skills for those who prefer to enter the labour market following completion of their MA.
We have high hopes for our incoming class of new MA and PhD students. The fact that we have managed to recruit a large, highly-qualified cohort is worth highlighting.
In the past few years, admissions have been particularly challenging. We face a provincial budget model that favours domestic graduate students and hinders our ability to support international students. As a consequence, competition to attract top Canadian students has been intense. On top of this, changes in the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) Program have resulted in significant reductions to Western’s allocation, especially in Social Science.
Despite these challenges, we have managed to continue attracting very good Canadian and International students. Taking advantage of external funding opportunities, we are welcoming 10 international students (3 with highly competitive scholarships from their home countries) and 7 Canadian students, including SSHRC award winner Michael Wiebe.
Our current 45 students are also performing quite well. Last year, Qian Liu was named an Ontario Trillium Scholar for exceptional international students, and Andrew Naaum won a coveted SSHRC Doctoral Scholarship. This year, Peter Foltin (winner of the best second year paper prize) was awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, while George Orlov was awarded an OGS.
In our continued quest to fund students at competitive levels, graduate scholarships remain a crucial component of our fundraising needs. We thank all of our alumni who support students through their donations.
Despite ongoing financial challenges, we continue to ensure that Western offers a world-class graduate program in Economics as evidenced by our recent placement record. Even in a weak job market over the last two years, we have placed PhD students in places like Florida State University, The Bank of Canada, Georgia State University, Moody’s Analytics, Kansas State University, and Dalhousie University.
An important part of our success is due to our wide network of Alumni who, with their innovative work and generous assistance, continue to remind the world that Western Economics provides a truly excellent education.
Salvador Navarro
Director of Graduate Studies
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