Master of Economics, Data and Decision ScienceProgramme flyer

1. Goals
2. Who is it for?
3. The programme
4. How to apply
5. What next?
6. Grants and scholarships
7. Contact

From September 2025 onwards, the Master of Political Engineering will evolve to focus on the study of data and artificial intelligence related to decision making in the economic field. It will thus be renamed "Master of Economics, Data and Decision Science".

Goals

The goal of the Master of Economics, Data and Decision Science is to provide you with high-level training in the areas of public and private decision-making and decision support systems, institutional design, game theory, and the analytical and quantitative aspects of economic policies.

The programme has been designed to achieve a balance between theory and practice. This master’s programme teaches a range of highly sought-after skills that will be useful in drawing up public policies, designing smart cities, analysing electoral policy or providing strategic and economic advice to companies and organisations. You will also be introduced to methods, issues and contemporary theories in the economic sciences, artificial intelligence and big data.

By the end of this master’s programme, you will be able to model the types of problems faced by decision-makers and provide qualitative and quantitative responses. You will be able to design and fully exploit evaluation tools and decision support systems, applying them to the range of economic, political and strategic problems that contemporary decision-makers face. 

Who is it for?

• Students who have completed the first year of a master’s programme and have a good level in economic theory and/or mathematical modelling.
• Students with an economic science background who have sound skills in quantitative techniques.
• Students with a background in mathematics and/or computer science applied to the social sciences.
• Students with a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics or Computer Science and who are interested in broadening their studies to the social sciences.
• Engineering students.
  
  

The programme

MASTER 1 ECONOMICS, DATA AND DECISION SCIENCE COURSE
TERM 7 
UE 7-1 : Economic and public policies

- Economic policy
- Evaluation of public policies
- Introduction to political engineering

UE 7-2 : Applied economics

- Economics of innovation 1
- Economics for competition law

UE 7-3 : Quantitative methods and tools for economics and decision

- Econometrics 2
- Graph theory and its application to problem of society
- Optimization theory and applications
- Data analysis
- English (optional)
- Other foreign language

Prerequisites

- English
- Game theory
- Econometrics

TERM 8
UE 8-1 : Economics and decision

- The economics of bargaining and collective choice
- Design of economic and political methods
- Decision theory

UE 8-2 : Tools and methods

- Econometrics of program evaluation
- Research methodology
- English (optional)

UE 8-3 : Applied economics

- Economics of innovation 2
- Economic geography

UE 8-4 : Master thesis and internship

- Project management (in french) or academic project
- Data analysis project (in french) or academic project
- Master class
- Professional integration - preparation of the Professional Project
- Master thesis or internship

MASTER 2 ECONOMICS, DATA AND DECISION SCIENCE COURSE
TERM 9
UE 9-1 : Major challenges for the coming decades

- Innovation policies (elective courses)
- Development economics
- Environmental economics
- Smart cities and urban policies
- Health economics and policies (elective courses)

UE 9-2 : Mechanism and institution design

- Economic philosophy and normative economics
- Microeconomics and mechanism design
- Coalitions in cooperative and non-cooperative game theory
- Voting theory

UE 9-3 : Quantitative methods and tools for economics

- Econometrics 3
- Artificial intelligence

TERM 10
UE 10-1 : Choose one elective module from UE 10-1A and UE 10-1B 6 1
UE 10-1A : Public policies and decision

- Behaviourial public economics
- Evaluation of public policies
- Risk and uncertainty

UE 10-1B : Politiques publiques (en français)

- Construire la décision politique
- Politique et outils de l’aménagement
- Facilitation, participation et design des politiques publiques

UE 10-2 : Artificial intelligence, Big Data and networks, Machine learning

- Social and economic networks
- Data mining
- Machine learning, big data and quantitative spatial analysis

UE 10-3 : Master thesis and internship

- Master thesis or internship
- Master class
- Professional integration - preparation of the Professional Project (optional)
- Project (en français) (facultatif)

Official certification of the programme is pending. Changes may still occur.

How to apply

Foreign students who fall under the Campus France procedure should apply via the Study in France website.

Students will be selected based on their applications and subject to availability. You will find information on the platform regarding what you need to include in your application.

Entry into Master 1 ECONOMICS, DATA AND DECISION SCIENCE

- February 3, 2025 : publication of the training offer opening in September 2025
- From February 25 to March 24, 2025: phase for submitting applications for initial training or work-study training. (www.monmaster.gouv.fr)
- From June 2 to June 16, 2025: main admission phase
- From June 17 to July 17, 2025: additional phase:
         - From June 17 to June 23, 2025: application phase and classification of applications still on the waiting list, for the management of withdrawals
         - From June 24 to July 7, 2025: Examination of applications
         - From July 8 to July 17, 2025: Admission phase

Entry into Master 2 ECONOMICS, DATA AND DECISION SCIENCE

1st wave:

- Start date for submission of applications: March-April 2025 (to be determined) (e-Candidat)
- End date for submission of applications: June 2025 (to be determined)
- Closing date: To be determined
- Confirmation deadline: To be determined
- Supporting documents: (Curriculum vitae + Cover letter + Baccalaureate transcripts + Diplomas + Identity document + Post-Baccalaureate transcripts)

2nd wave:

- Start date for submission of applications: June-July 2025 (to be determined) (e-Candidat)
- End date for submission of applications: August 2025 (to be determined)
- Closing date: To be determined
- Confirmation deadline: To be determined
- Supporting documents: (Curriculum vitae + Cover letter + Baccalaureate transcripts + Diplomas + Identity document + Post-Baccalaureate transcripts)

What next?

Further study

If you so wish, you can apply to our University’s doctoral programme. You can pursue your doctoral studies and prepare a thesis in Economic Science at the Economics and Management Science Doctoral School, which is part of Lyon University.

Career prospects

The aim of this master’s programme is to train students to a high level in support for decision-making, ensuring that they are capable of critically analysing the different theoretical models and are familiar with the techniques used by decision-makers.

• Jobs using decision support systems for public policies
• Consulting engineer
• Jobs related to artificial intelligence
• Project analyst
• Independent adviser to elected representatives or businesses
• Consultant
• Economic policy officer
• Policy officer in NGOs and international organisations and administrations
• Policy or strategy adviser
• Data scientist
• Smart cities expert
• Forecaster
• Researcher and/or lecturer
  
  

Grants and scholarships

Scholarships awarded based on academic achievement
Research grants for master’s students intending to move on to a PhD

Contact

Programme Director
Stéphane Gonzalez
Director of the Master of Economics, Data and Decision Science
se2 @ univ-st-etienne.fr (se2 @ univ-st-etienne.fr)

Registrar
Sandra Idir
sandra.idir@univ-st-etienne.fr (se2 @ univ-st-etienne.fr)
Tel. + 33 (0)4 77 42 13 85