The purpose of the School is to provide graduate instruction in modern economics, as taught the world over, to students from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Our goal is to train a new generation of world-class professional economists. In this way we hope to contribute to the development of economics education and to the development of economics as a science in Russia, as well as to the development of professional economists for all sectors of the economy.

 Economics as a discipline assumed a very particular content under the Soviet regime, and only a small segment of what is defined as economics in the rest of the world was taught or studied in the Soviet Union. With the transition to a market economy and a democratic regime, it is important that the descipline of economics is brought to world standards. NES was organized to contribute to this effort. Our main goal is to bring back to NES a number of our best graduates (after they will have completed their Ph.D. studies in the US) to form the core of faculty of economics.

The School offers a Master's degree in economics in a two year program. We begin with a semester of intermediate courses to prepare students for Ph.D. level coursework. This is followed by a full graduate core, very similar to that offered in corresponding schools in the West. At present, most of the teaching is performed by visiting professors from Western universities all over the world, and the main language of teaching is English. Russian professors teach statistics, mathematics and English, as well as a small number of selected courses in economics. The curriculum follows the academic programs of the best Western departments, and uses major Western textbooks and journals.

The faculty of NES is composed of visiting professors from leading western universities and Russian professors from CEMI and other institutions. This international collaboration provides NES with its distinctive flavor. NES operates under the supervision of Academician Valery Makarov, Rector of NES, and Professor Gur of the Hebrew University, the Executive Director, and with the guidance of an International Advisory Board that currently includes such distinguished scholars as Professors Beth Allen of Minnesota, Erik Berglof of SITE, Roman Frydman of NYU and the Central European University, Zvi Griliches of Harvard, Bronwyn Hall of UC Berkeley, Sergiu Hart of the Hebrew University, Barry W. Ickes of Penn State, Jan Magnus of LSE and Tilburg, Andreu Mas-Colell of Harvard, and Victor Polterovitch of NES and CEMI.

 NES opened its doors on September 1, 1992 and upon the successful conclusion of our second academic year, the first class, of 32 students, graduated on June 30, 1994. The class of 1995, the second class of 33 students, is now in the middle of its second year, and a new class (of 1996) of about 50 students, entered the School in September 1994. Of the 32 graduates of the class of 1994, 13 are continuing for Ph.D. in economics at some of the best universities in the US and England, and 4 students were admitted to M.Sc. programs at LSE (economics and econometrics). Most of the other graduates are spending a semester (during academic year 1994/5) of studies and research in a number of leading universities in Western Europe. Some graduates decided to postpone further education, and have accepted positions as economists in various institutions and banks in Moscow. During our first three years of operation nearly 30 visiting professors from all over the West have taught at the School. Many of them expressed interest in coming back for a second round, and a few have already come back. Don Patinkin of the Hebrew University and Amos Witztum of the London Guildhall University have taught at NES for three consecutive years. Benjamin Bental of Haiffa is returning for his fourth year at NES. The visiting professors typically find the students as good or better than students at their home universities. Students consider the program to be hard but rewarding. Not only had the vast majority expressed full satisfaction from their studies, but within a short period of time NES managed to become also a social center for the students, a sort of a second home. NES is located on the 17th floor of the CEMI building, it has a computer lab (with about 20 PCs and supplementary equipment) and a small but growing library.

 Research is an integral part of NES. Students write an MA thesis during their final year, and visiting and Russian professors serve as advisors. These theses are prepared within a framework of a research workshop at the School. The workshop, the computer lab, the economics library and a data bank which is being assembled, serve also as a base for a research facility that can serve the community. Students, domestic faculty and visiting professors are involved in research and a number of papers are being prepared in cooperation (and partial financial help) with the Central European University, the Institute of Economic Analysis, and the Institute for the Economy in Transition, and a number of other western research projects in Russia. NES is in the initial steps of establishing a research center, where students, Russian academic staff, including those returning from training abroad and visiting professors from all around the West will work together on research projects related to the economic transition process. The core project of the center is "Transforming Government in Economies in Transition" (GET). NES is currently formulating a long-term detailed research proposal on this theme, and is planning to seek large scale funding from major foundations. The School has a weekly public seminar and regularly scheduled one day conferences. Many of the presentations are on topics of the economic transition of Russia and other former socialist countries. Among the guest speakers so far were Egor Gaidar, Boris Fedorov, Sergey Glazyev, Evgeny Yasin, Jeffrey Sachs, Stanley Fischer, Michael Bruno, Charles Blitzer, most visiting professors, IAB members and many others.

 NES admits applicants with at least 3 years of university education (in any subject) who successfully pass the School's administered entrance examinations in English (the TOEFL exam), mathematics and a personal interview. The students, so far, came from economics as well as from mathematics, computer sciences, natural sciences and other disciplines. About half live permanently in Moscow, and about 40 percent are women.

NES is presently financed from three sources: CEMI provides the premises free of charge. Major funding comes from the Soros Foundations, the MacArthur Foundation, the World Bank and the Eurasia Foundation of the US government. The Ford Foundation supports the research program at NES. We have also received financial support from the Citibank Foundation. In addition, fellowships for the program of study abroad for the graduates of the School were secured from the schools, various grants of the European Union, of the US government, and from the Consortium of Academic Partnership of the Soros Foundation.