The students, lecturers and office of the MSc Financial Economics got together for the Welcome Pizza Day, an opportunity to talk informally that involved absorbing presentations and revealed exciting things about each other’s personalities.
Many graduates frankly describe the MSc Financial Economics as a family-like, ‘members-only’ programme with cozy chamber atmosphere. This quality has been maintained in it through year-long efforts to cultivate mutual assistance, effective communication and trust between the faculty and students as what facilitates research collaborations.
The event has been held regularly since 2008, when the first cohort of ICEF’s master’s students entered their second year and already had experience to share with their first-year peers. Students, who are main heroes of the day, introduce each new enrollment, often jestingly and in a quick-witted manner, to what awaits their peers during studies. Their talk explains a lot of things about studying at ICEF, revealing the creative side of speakers and often giving listeners a good laugh.
Designed to foster hierarchy-less communication between the students and their tutors, the event contributes to creating a high-performing setting where the students can feel free and comfortable to approach their teachers and ask for help whenever they need to fix a knowledge gap or be guided through their coursework or theses. As a result, a sense of fellowship is formed within the community of ICEF, that builds on understanding of the needs of students, tutors and all involved in the delivery of the master’s programme. This rapport and sense of connection continue to exist between the members when they enter the workforce or enroll in further study.
This time the event involved a group of second-year students delivering an introductory presentation, where ICEF was presented as a Hogwarts with its Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and other inhabitants of the marvelous, exciting world of financial economics. The presenters did a good job describing the Academic Office, teachers’ areas of expertise, and issues that are commonly faced by students. They also spoke about themselves and their hobbies, sharing insights and personal stories about how they had discovered themselves and benefitted from the life hacks that helped them perform well as master’s students. The first-year students, on their part, used interesting facts about themselves and their passions as a way to present themselves.
The “official part” was followed by an in-game survey held by the second-year students and designed to find out how well their peers thought they knew them. Those with the highest awareness, namely, Sasha Sukhostavtseva, Dmitry Manin and Denis Korotkov were given prizes – valuable books on economics.
Attending as guests were lecturers Anna Yurko, Vladimir Sokolov, Peio Zuazo-Garin, Alexander Shirobokov, Sergey Stepanov, as well as representatives of the Academic Office. The students who are currently at LUISS University in Rome had greeted the first-year students in a video message.
We thank second-year students Timur Kalyaev, Alexandra Sharapova and Anna Baran for the assistance they provided to the organizers.
