Courses

The program starts at the beginning of September and lasts two years. Each of the two academic years is divided into two semesters, and each semester is divided into two modules. Most courses span two consecutive modules. Each of the first seven modules involves six weeks of teaching, with exams taking place at the end of each module. Courses require an active participation by students who solve challenging class assignments, discuss them with their peers and with the faculty. Courses also feature intense tutoring. Students will acquire the tools to pursue independent academic research.

The first year will be devoted to basic graduate course work, the  second to more specialized courses and research training through a Master’s thesis that students must submit at the end of the program. The teaching offer also features short advanced courses given by world-renowned economists visiting the institutions.
From the second to the seventh module, course work includes regular workshops, organized around the discussion of research-oriented, applied-economics papers as well as policy-oriented papers. The workshops help students to learn and to practice the techniques of an academic presentation, and to become acquainted with some of the methodological, empirical and policy issues in different areas of economics.

In the summer between the first and the second year, provided their academic performance is sufficiently strong, students are offered a 8-10 week summer internship at a private or public institution (institutions which have accepted RoME students in their internship programs include Oliver Wyman, Boston Consulting Group, ENEL, the Bank of Italy). Alternatively, students might decide to spend the summer working as Research Assistants for the RoME faculty and writing  a Term Paper, under the supervision of their Master’s thesis Advisor.

The last module is fully devoted to research work conducive to a Master’s Thesis, an original research piece in the field chosen by the student, jointly with his or her Advisor, who helps in identifying a suitable research topic and oversees the progress. The project of the Master’s Thesis, as well as the Thesis’s preliminary and final drafts are also discussed in public presentations in front of RoME faculty.

Courses