Welcome to the 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.
Areas of Research
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.
Programme of study
The NHH three-year 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 the Nordic Finance Network (NFN) complement our in-house course sequence. The entire program is conducted in English.
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.
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.
