Department of Geography of World Economy

Prof. Nikolay S. Mironenko

The Department has been bearing this name since 1992. In the beginning of 1990s Russia embarked on the road of market reforms and openness to the world what required to conduct more intensive geographic research and provide education in the field of global and international socio-economic developments. In addition the Department for Geography of World Economy is a direct successor and assign of the former Department for Economic Geography of Foreign Countries founded in 1934 by Professor Ivan Vitver at the Geographic Department of the Soil Science and Ge-ography Faculty. In 1947 that Department split in three: Department for Economic Geography of Foreign Capitalist Countries, Department for Geography of Asian Democratic Countries and Department of People’s Democracies of Europe. In 1953 the latter two merged into the Department for Economic Geography of People’s Democracy Countries (Department of Economic Geography of Foreign Socialist Countries since 1968), the very one that was later redirected to global economic geographical studies.
The Department was headed by Meritorious Science Worker Prof. I.A.Vitver (1943-55), Associate Prof. P.I.Glushakov (1955-59), Prof. I.M.Maergoyz (1959), Associate
Prof. I.H.Ovdienko (1960-67), Board Member of USSR Academy of Science O.T.Bogomolov (1967-77), Meritorious Science Worker Prof. N.V.Alisov (1978-90).
Since 1990 the Department is headed by Meritorious Science Worker Doctor Habilitat in Geography Prof. Nikolay S. Mironenko.

Teaching and research staff:
Professors: N.S.Mironenko (international division of labour; geography of world economy; geopolitics and political geography; recreation geography); E.B Valev (geography of world industry; economic and social geography of foreign European countries).

 Associate Professors: E.N.Samburova (world economic system; Chinese studies); T.E.Tkachenko (geography of world industry; German studies); A.V.Fedorchenko (geography of world economy; geography of globalization process); P.Yu.Fomichev (geography of world financial system; geography of agro-industrial sphere; historical geography).

Leading Researcher N.A.Sluka (population geography; urban geography).

Researchers: B.A.Giter (geography of transnationalization and globalization); E.A.Grechko (geography of transnational corporations); I.V.Pilipenko (competitiveness of countries and regions in the world economy; spatial forms of industry organization; national and regional innovation systems); I.N.Tikunova (socio-economic mapping; geography of international tourism).

Leading Engineer K.V.Mironenko (geography of China; industrial geography).

Career opportunities: geographers specialized in the geography of world economy, foreign countries, international tourism, political geography, German studies and Chinese studies. The graduates have proper capabilities and competences to work in the field of the geography of world economy, international economic and political relations, market information, organization of international tourism. They are capable to provide expertise and consultancy to businesses in their economic activities in various fields. Since having intensively learnt foreign languages and used foreign sources during their university studies graduates have a good command of one or two most used European languages or Chinese.

Main courses\Curriculum: geography of world economy; international division of labour; world economic system; global geography of industries; global geography of agro-industrial sector; historical introduction into geography of world economy; geopolitics and political geography; urban center model of world economy; competitiveness in the world economy; economic methods in geography of world economy; geographical view of corporative management systems.

Research divisions: Laboratory of World and Regional Economic Relations (T.E.Tkachenko).

Fields of Research: spatial pattern of world economy; international division of labour; geography of economic activities, transnational corporations, infrastructure, global and regional economic integration, global cities, geopolitical processes; issues of integrating Russia into world economy.

Main accomplished research: evolution of world economy spatial pattern, migration of capital and certain branches of manufacturing, geographical dimension of transnationalization, factors of competitiveness of countries in the world market; role of global cities in the world economy.

Future research activities: elaboration of geo-economic model of integration of Russia into the world economy; the impact of the informational and technological revolution upon the global economy spatial pattern; the influence of regional socio-economic peculiarities on the model of modernization.