Lobachevsky University to start training demography experts

Lobachevsky University has announced the launch of its new master's programme “Demography” in the field of study 39.04.01 “Sociology”. The programme is aimed at training qualified professional demographers capable of analysing the demographic situation in the country and in their region, and developing relevant proposals for improving this situation.

This area of training is especially relevant in the context of implementation of the national projects “Demography” and “Family”, as well as the approval of the professional standard “Demographer”, which makes it necessary to provide university-level  professional training of experts in this field.

“In one of his speeches, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it is our historical responsibility to get out of the demographic trap, and preserving and increasing the population was declared the highest national priority. Thus, solving demographic problems is a priority for our country's development. The new Master's programme “Demography”, which will open at our faculty in the new academic year, is aimed at achieving this goal. Launching the training of professionals in the field of demography is a logical response of higher education to the current demand from the society and the state. I would like to emphasise the importance of this event for the Nizhny Novgorod region, which is developing very important initiatives in the field of demography that require appropriate professionals,” noted Roman Golubin, Dean of the UNN Faculty of Social Sciences.

The target group of the new Master's programme includes employees of city administrations, regional ministries of social policy, internal regional and municipal policy, who are responsible for the implementation of relevant national projects, as well as those interested in improving their education level or obtaining the right to engage in a new type of activity.

The graduates of this degree programme will organise and perform research aimed at diagnosing the current demographic situation, analyse and forecast the demographic situation at the national and regional level, analyse demographic data, including the use of software packages. They will also be able to conduct expert analysis of social projects aimed at improving the demographic situation in the region.

The new Master's programme is headed by Professor Sergei Sud’in, Head of the Department of General Sociology and Social Work at the UNN Faculty of Social Sciences.

The programme “Demography” is full-time, the term of study will be 2 years.