Students of the Master Program in Finance will spend the spring semester in University of Bergen (Norway). The European Union project “Erasmus+ Program” and long term cooperation with University of Bergen allow our students to study abroad, learn modern knowledge, obtain actual skills, and make their outlook wider. Department of Finance is grateful to Erasmus+ and University of Bergen for such a great opportunities for students.

Department of Finance received confirmation of the victory in the contest of projects from Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU). The project «Extended Learning of Economics with Dynamic Modeling», which will be carried out together with longtime partner of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy - the University of Bergen in Norway was supported.

Read more: Department received an important grant

 New year for the finance master students started by the lecture of David Wheat, graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and professor at the University of Bergen. David Wheat teaches a unique course "Advanced System Dynamics Methods in Finance". System dynamics allows students to extend their knowledge of research methodology and increase professional level. Moreover, in scopes of the cooperation between Finance Department and System Dynamics Group in University of Bergen finance students have been participating in international mobility program during several years.

The project team has been very productive scientifically, In December 2012, the first cohort of NaUKMA students in Bergen and the project coordinators, Wheat and Lukianenko, made presentations at an international conference “From Individual Choices to National Strategies of International Cooperation in Education” at the University of Stavanger in Norway (Lukianenko&Wheat, 2012; Faryna et al., 2012). In 2013, professor Wheat presented the achievements, lessons learned, and value of the project at the “Developments in Economics Education” conference in the United Kingdom (Lukianenko&Wheat, 2013). In 2014, Faryna and Wheat developed a system dynamics model of the monetary sector of the Ukrainian economy and prepared a paper that Faryna delivered at the international conference of the System Dynamics Society in the Netherlands (Faryna, 2014c). During 2015, six members of the project team are participating in the international System Dynamics Conference in the United States. A jointly-authored system dynamics training manual was published in Ukrainian and distributed during the fall semester of 2014 (Wheat et al., 2013). Other completed publications with a system dynamics component include one PhD thesis, four master theses,  four scientific journal papers, and more than fifteen scientific reports. Our project was also highlighted in a recent journal article, "Systems Education at Bergen" (Davidsen et al., 2014).The list of different scientific publications is presented below.

Dissertations and thesis

Anton Lytvyn (2016) Modeling of the Anti-crisis Financial Management Processes in Ukrainian Insurance Companies [Modelyuvannya protsesiv antykryzovoho finansovoho upravlinnya v diyal'nosti strakhovykh kompaniy Ukrayiny] (PhD Dissernation). NaUKMA, Kyiv.

Read more: Scientific Results

 The upcoming academic year has started in unusual conditions for a group of students from NaUKMA. Bachelors, magisters, PhDs and teaching staff were invited to study in Norway. The project is oriented on learning system dynamics methods in modeling economic processes. The first phase was initiated in 2012 and due to its successful accomplishment, the project was prolonged having new aims and opportunities. For the period 2016-2019 the goals of cooperation are to train 45 experts in SD, involvement of other Ukrainian institutions (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv), the establishment of a second online course and cooperation with Ukrainian middle schools. In order to achieve the set horizons, the number of participants was increased and the finance coverage was guaranteed by the Norwegian government. This year’s participants share their impressions after the first studying week.

Read more: New students in Bergen

During phases 2012-2015, under different projects were funded semester-long visits of 14 NaUKMA students and 3 professors to study SD three foundation courses traditionally offered by the System Dynamics Group at UIB plus economics applications in three specially designed courses.

Fall 2016 – mobility opportunities are open for 4 PhD students and 7 Master students;

Spring 2016 – 2 PhD students (Danylo Pyrogov and Alina Novik) and 2 Master (Oleksandr Kul and Mariia Markovska) study the System Dynamics courses in UiB;

Spring 2015 – 4 PhD students (Oleksandr Faryna, Iaroslava Stelmashenko, Anton Lytvyn, and Pervin Dadashova) study the System Dynamics courses in UiB;

Read more: Students and Professors mobility

PhD student of the Finance Department Pervin Dadashova together with colleaques David Wheat (University of Bergen, Norway) and Kateryna Ganina (Irpin Specialized School No.2, Ukraine) presented research and study project at the International "Systems Thinking & Dynamic Modeling Conference for K-12 Education" in the USA

Read more: Project of the Finance Department presented on the International Conference

The three foundation courses are part of the curriculum of the International Master Program in System Dynamics at UiB. The first course, Principles of Dynamic Social Systems, is taught by Erling Moxnes and gives an introduction to the SD method. The second course, Model-based Analysis and Policy Design taught by the founder of the program Pal Davidsen, enables students to extend their knowledge about the SD method. The third course, System Dynamics Modeling Process taught by David Wheat, is a project-based course devoted to developing skills needed to build explanatory models of dynamic problems that emerge from real-world complex social and economic systems. Particularly important was a special fourth course specifically devoted for the Ukrainian students. Generically named Special Topics in System Dynamics, it is designed and conducted by David Wheat to developing Ukrainian version of MacroLab. Also, NaUKMA students got a chance to come to Bergen to develop skills in model-based policy design and implementation through taking system dynamics-based course Policy Design and Implementation and apply those skills to their individual research.

A major milestone was reached during the fall semester of 2014 when a new system dynamics course for undergraduate students titled Application of System Dynamics Methods in Finance was offered at NaUKMA for the first time. The one more important event is an introduction of the System Dynamics Methods in Finance course in 2015.

Read more: Main Courses

 Teachers of the Finance Department Olena Primierova and Tetiana Bui visited Bergen (Norway) to participate in professional training and commission for the research projects defence in scopes of the "Policy Design and Implementation" course.

Read more: Professors visit Bergen

In 2012, after a few years of informal collaboration, the System Dynamics Group at Norway's University of Bergen (UiB) and the Finance Department at Ukraine's National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) launched an international project designed to build dynamic modeling capacity at the Ukrainian university. Called "Learning Economics with Dynamic Modeling". Built around a strategy of "train the trainers", the project has enabled 16 students and 3 professors from Kyiv to learn system dynamics modeling methods in Bergen and return to Kyiv to train their colleagues. A bachelor-level course System Dynamics Methods in Finance was started in 2014 and system dynamics has also been incorporated in several existing courses. A distance learning link has been built between Bergen and Kyiv, and when the first system dynamics online course began in September 2015 that made the partnership even more sustainable in the years ahead. Currently, NaUKMA and UiB have mobility opportunities through the Erasmus+ international project and develop a further strategy of educational and research cooperation.