Date: April 28, 2020
Source: Institute for Economic and Social Research
Author: Xu Mengyao

Economics disciplines remain the gold-lettered signboard of century-old JNU, as the saying since there was JNU, there has been its business education illustrates. JNU's Institute for Economic and Social Research (IESR)，established in December 2015, represents an innovative exploration and attempt by JNU to build a high-level university and boost the internationalization of economics education and research.

IESR, a pilot program for JNU's reform of economics education, first recruited students for its internationalized innovation class in economics four years ago. How are they performing after four years of internationalized cultivation?

One after another, IESR's 2019 graduates, its first, have been admitted to top schools in China and abroad. According to preliminary statistics, 15 out of 20 students from the innovation class have received admission letters, with the rate of those further studying at abroad reaching 70% and two students directly pursuing doctorates.

The innovation class has attracted many students by adopting a talent-cultivating mode featuring training mode of first-class North American economic departments, all teaching in English, high teacher/student ratio, practice opportunities on top-ranking projects and abundant academic exchanges. Continually growing and expanding, the innovation class now has four grades, from freshmen to senior, with a current total of 114 undergraduates.
 

(Innovation class students talking with Prof. James Heckman, a Nobel Prize winner)
Many students in the 2019 class have gone on to schools including the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of Birmingham and the University of Florence for exchange and study.