Structure of the New Undergraduate Program of Studies
The structure of the new Undergraduate Program of Studies (UPS) is as follows. The completion of studies requires the successful attendance of 36 courses. From those 36 courses,
- Twenty (20) courses are compulsory
- Four (4) courses are basic electives
- Four (4) courses are selected from elective group out of 5 thematic groups, each group offering 6 courses. One group must be chosen and, afterwards, 4 out of the 6 group courses must be selected
- The remaining 8 courses are free electives from a long list offered.
The New Undergraduate Program
The Department of Economics, after a long preparatory period, offers to new students (from the 2009-10 entrance year) a thoroughly revised program of studies.
The new program
a) Ensures for the graduates of the department the education and knowledge that a modern economist must have, regardless of subsequent specialization.
At the same time
b) it gives the students many degrees of freedom regarding the elective courses, so they can attend courses closest to their interests from the wide range of knowledge areas that the department offers
In addition, the organization of the electronic administration of the department from academic year 2010-11 uses a system of coding which groups courses either into knowledge areas of the department or in areas offered by other departments in the University as the following table indicates
| Grouping Code | Knowledge area |
| PEC | Political Economy |
| ECO | Economic Sciences |
| HIS | History |
| MTH | Mathematics |
| QNT | Quantitative |
| ACC | Accounting |
| FIN | Finance |
| SOC | Sociology |
| MGT | Management |
| CSC | Computer Science |
| PHI | Philosophy |
|
| Courses from the department of |
| Department Code | Political Science and Public Administration |
| Department Code | Law |
| Department Code | Informatics and Telecommunications |
| Department Code | Mathematics |
|
| Laboratories, Skill courses, Seminars |
| LAB | Laboratories |
| SKL | Skills |
| SEM | Seminars |
Every course is characterized by a unique 6 digit code, for example ABCxyz, where the first three characters ABC are alphabetic and designate the knowledge area of the course according to the above table, while the next three characters are numeric and have the following meaning: the digit x designates the recommended year of study during which it is appropriate for the student to take the course, and the digits yz designate a serial number of the course in the relevant knowledge area.
We list two examples. Course “PEC312 Political Economy of Social Policy” belongs to the knowledge area of Political Economy (PEC) with number 312, where the digit 3 denotes the recommended year of study when it is appropriate for the student to take the course, while number 12 gives a serial number of the course within the courses in knowledge area PEC. Still another example is given by course “CSC202 Organization and Functioning of Computing Systems”. Here the code CSC202 belongs to the knowledge area of Computer Science (CSC) and number 202 indicates that the recommended year of study for this course is the second (as denoted by the first number 2), while 02 gives a serial number to the course within the courses of that knowledge area, and indicates that this course could be selected after course “CSC201 Introduction to Computer Science and Information Processing”.
Naturally, a professor's advice to a student is valuable for the proper selection of courses, especially during the third and fourth year, after the sudent has complete the compulsory courses.