The 21st century is shaped by rapid change of technology and innovation which has helped to create better economical solutions however it also raised potential risks in this field. Our academic programme has two-way approach to give you a unique opportunity to discover and gain in-depth knowledge of the greatest economic challenges of the 21st century.
Our teaching faculty and senior guest-lecturers bring relevant real-life experience based on their academic and professional experiences. Innovative teaching methods are adopted due to interdisciplinary and practical insights are offered.
Courses offered:
COMPETITIVENESS IN THE CEE REGION
The aim of the course is to introduce the determinants of competitiveness and economic development viewed from a macroeconomic perspective. You will learn not only about the measurement of different dimensions of competitiveness, but also about sustainability issues related economic competitiveness, geopolitical and geoeconomical opportunities in case of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region.
Detailed course description:
This course discusses various perspectives of economic competitiveness in the global context. The contents and coverage of the course will not only focus on macroeconomic aspects, what the most important determinants of macro-level competitiveness are, but also introduce the methodology. How can competitiveness by measured? How are different rankings calculated? What factor are objective and what type of subjective indicators are used for the calculation of rankings? This will help to understand the methodological variety and strengths and weaknesses of different competitive methods.
Economic competitiveness and development needs sound financial system. The competitiveness of the financial sector, especially the banking sector is also investigated in the course. Students will learn how banking sector competitiveness can be measured, what are the methodological difficulties in comparing banking sectors of different countries.
While sound macroeconomic factors affect the potential for competitiveness, we will give a special focus on some social and human related features of competitiveness. The competitiveness of human capital is a key factor of economic development in the 21th century. Besides the course will even cover the social and environmental responsibility as a factor of business competitiveness in CEE. In the era of free movement of labour within the EU these aspects are crucial in the development of an economy.
This course covers competitiveness at multiple geographic levels, from groups of countries to cities. A major topic of the course is that for a competitiveness and economic development strategy policymakers must rely on territorial and urban strategies. These strategies should be underpinned by detailed plans for fostering regional economic competitiveness. Furthermore, good urban strategies should be supported by place Marketing. This is a key factor in today’s urban competitiveness. This block of the course theory will be explained with practical examples through CEE case studies.
In the 21th century competitiveness depends on the geopolitical and geo-economic strategies and opportunities of countries. This course examines these aspects of competitiveness as well, therefore helps understanding how the changing world order may affect the development of regions and countries. The course explores not only the One Belt, One Road initiative, but also the possible role of the CEE region in the Eurasian integration process.
Lectures and classes: 21 hours
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
This course will cover the following topics:
- Introduction into competitiveness and productivity from a macro point of view
- Measuring competitiveness I. – indexes, rankings, methodology and their shortcomings
- Measuring competitiveness II. – indexes, rankings, methodology and their shortcomings
- Human capital in competitiveness
- Competitiveness at firm level, industry 4.0
- Role of institutions, competitiveness of the government
- Competitiveness in the banking sector
- Social and environmental responsibility as a factor of business competitiveness in CEE
- Territorial and urban strategies, planning and governance in fostering economic competitiveness
- Place Marketing as a Key Factor in Urban Competitiveness, learning through CEE - case studies
- Competitiveness of CEE from a regional and a macro-regional point of view
- Changing world order
- The role of Eastern Europe and CEE in the Eurasian integration developments
- One Belt, One Road
COURSE OUTCOMES
Students will master understanding competitiveness at various levels. The course will make them capable of calculating rankings based on several aspects of economic and social competitiveness. From the used multidisciplinary approach students understand the complexity of competitiveness and socio-economic development. The territorial, regional and geopolitical focus helps learning the historical big picture why some nations can grow and develop, while other similar countries cannot improve. Case studies will foster the understanding of practical aspects of these methods and strategies.
Digitalisation in finance
This course introduces the new trends and challenges in the financial sector. Within the course’s framework you will learn about virtual currencies, technological innovations (eg. blockchain technology), the potential risks as well as the aspect of the financial regulators. Our course is unique as it is not only giving the insight from a market participant’s point but provides all the new trends that central banks and financial supervisory institutions develops.
Detailed course description:
The FinTech revolution is transforming the global financial industry. The use of digital technologies became the new norm. Day-by-day innovations of the private sector together with regulatory and market changes are creating a new financial environment.
After completion of the Digitalisation in finance course, students will understand digital and cryptocurrencies, the challenges ahead commercial banks. Finishing the course will also master you at describing the effects on the financial sector and make you understand the complexity of the payment infrastructure and the types and functions of moneys. Based on the latest research results, students will get detailed information about potential introduction of future central bank digital currencies as a highly extreme potential reaction from central banks to the FinTech revolution. The course will introduce the potential technological solutions and the expected financial frameworks that digital central bank currencies could result in.
Throughout the course, the lecturers will use practical examples and share their own experience based on their everyday work. Students will learn about regulatory innovations such as innovation hubs and regulatory sandboxes. During the course students will understand the different supervisiory and regulatory challenges at both microprudential and macroprudential level. Lectures will also cover cybersecurity, information privacy, cloud services issues. Furthermore, students will learn about supervisory IT challenges due to finance related innovations.
Dedicated for the course we developed a banking simulation game, where you will have the opportunity to manage a financial corporation as the CEO. Teams (banks) will compete, while the market environment will be changed by news. During the simulation students will understand several new aspects of banking through experience-based learning as they must think over all strategic aspects.
Lectures and classes: 21 hours
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
This course will cover the following topics:
- FinTech basics and introductory to digital and cryptocurrencies.
- Fintech and systemic risks: macroprudential perspective.
- Regulatory initiatives supporting innovation – Innovation Hubs and Regulatory Sandboxes
- Money functions and virtual currencies, digitalization in the payment system
- Central bank digital currency
- The Fintech market and challenges ahead financial supervision
- Digitalization in banking, front-end and core systems
- Financial innovation and regulation, online identification
- Cybersecurity, information privacy, cloud services
- BIB Banking simulation game
COURSE OUTCOMES
By finishing the course, you will have an insight from all aspects to the FinTech revolution. You will be able to answer the following questions.
How did the FinTech revolution change the financial system?
What are the implications, challenges, and opportunities for market participants and for central banks?
Are the financial systems affected by the surge of crypto-currencies? What are the new trends in payments?
What are the possible reactions of central banks to these challenges? How the financial supervision should react to the challenges ahead?