PhD programme in Finance
 
   

About Finance

Finance is concerned with how individuals and firms interact through markets and contractual arrangements to sustain and create value, and to manage risks. The subfield asset pricing is concerned with how prices of real and financial assets are determined while the subfield corporate finance is concerned with the financing and investment behaviour of firms.

Finance faculty

The finance group at NHH has about 20 full time faculty members. The department has a history of producing original, high quality research. Former faculty members include Jan Mossin, one of the originators of the Capital Asset Pricing Model, and Karl H. Borch, one of the founders of the economics of uncertainty. Current faculty members (including Nobel Laureate and NHH alumnus Professor Finn E. Kydland) are dedicated to uphold this tradition.
 

Current faculty interests cover both asset pricing and corporate finance. Areas of special interest include auctions, capital structure, consumption and portfolio choice, corporate governance, financial contracts, insurance, interest rates, IPOs, real options, and risk management.
 

Find out more about the Finance faculty at NHH here.

Programme of study

The NHH PhD programme in finance provides training that enables students to produce original research of high quality. The programme is suitable for highly motivated and talented individuals who would like to pursue an international career at universities and other academic institutions, or in public or private sector jobs. The programme has a strong international focus. The programme is relatively small, which ensures close interaction with the department's faculty members.

Our students have access to a very active research environment at NHH, which regularly publishes in the top international finance and economics journals, and moreover have a large number of visitors from other leading US and European institutions. Specialised courses offered by other Nordic universities complement our in-house course sequence. The entire program is conducted in English.
 

Find out more about the programme structure here.

Student experience

Currently, 30% of the PhD students at the Department of Finance and Management Science are international students. The department emphasises student-faculty interaction, including student participation in department seminars, faculty-student research collaboration, and faculty-student teaching collaboration.

Students are moreover expected to attend the Finance group's seminar activities throughout the programme. These include a weekly seminar with international guests, lunch seminars for faculty members and PhD students, as well as ad hoc seminars and workshops.

Find out more about the seminar programme at the Department of Finance and Management Science here.

Financial support

All eligible PhD students receive financial support for the duration of the three-year programme, provided they meet the programme’s minimum requirements. We offer generous financial support to students with excellent credentials. There is no tuition fee for attending the programme as public education in Norway is free, and NHH is a public institution.
 

Find out more about the scholarships opportunities at NHH here.

Careers and placement

Traditionally, finance PhDs from NHH have taken jobs in Norway, including academia, government agencies, and the finance industry. However, the finance area is currently involved in a push towards internationalisation, and hires actively on the international job market. Similarly, with respect to PhD placements, the finance area is aiming to place future students on the international market.

General requirements for admission

Students should already hold a Masters degree in finance or economics, or another quantitative discipline. Students with an incomplete background in finance, economics, mathematics, statistics, or probability theory will be required to take suitable classes in the Masters programme. Students with only an undergraduate degree will normally not be considered. Moreover, recent GMAT or GRE tests are necessary to be considered for enrollment in the programme.

Find out more about the admissions requirements here.

The NHH campus

The NHH campus is in the city of Bergen in Norway. The campus is beautifully situated just outside downtown Bergen, overlooking one of the many fjords of Western Norway. The city offers a safe environment and high standards of living. This environment is conducive to academic creativity and makes it possible for our students to be productive in the PhD programme. The business school has more than 2500 full time students, and a faculty of about 110.
 

Find out more about the NHH campus and the student experience in Bergen here.