Structure of the PhD programme in Finance
The PhD programme in Finance is a three-year programme that provides training to enable 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.
Programme overview
The table below provides an overview of the programme structure for the PhD in Management Science:
| Years 1 |
| Coursework |
| Research activities |
| Qualifying exam |
| Formulation of research topic for thesis |
| Years 2 and 3 |
| Focused work on PhD thesis |
| End of programme |
| Submission of PhD thesis with oral examination |
Course portfolio
The first year of the programme is dedicated to taking courses. A minimum of seven courses must be completed with satisfactory results. Students are strongly advised to take more courses than the minimum seven. Due to the demanding nature of the PhD courses students may be required to take complementary courses from our Masters programme early in their course sequence. These may be related to either economics/finance skills or mathematics/statistics skills, depending on the student's background.
The course portfolio in the PhD programme in finance consists of both mandatory and elective courses.
Core courses
The following table offers an overview of courses that are offered on a regular basis. More specialised courses that are offered on an ad hoc basis are not listed.
| Mandatory courses | Click for course descriptions |
| MET510 | Scientific Methods |
| ECS501 | Advanced microeconomic theory |
| ECS503 | Advanced econometrics |
| FIN512 | Asset Pricing I |
| FIN511 | Empirical finance |
Elective courses
The remaining course credits (normally 3 courses) must be selected to support the topic of research in accordance with the student's advisory committee.
| Electives | Click for course descriptions |
| FIN501 | Topics in corporate finance |
| FIN503 | Dynamic asset pricing theory |
| FIN509 | Capital Structure and Credit Risk |
| FIN523 | Economics of insurance |
Other departments offer additional courses that are relevant to a PhD in finance, for instance in accounting or in economics. Several courses at the Masters level are also relevant for PhD students. Students have moreover access to a wide selection of courses and workshops offered at collaborating institutions.
The second and third years of the programme are dedicated to work on the student's PhD thesis. Students are expected to start this work under the guidance of an advisor after they have fulfilled the minimum course requirements.
Qualifying exam
The qualifying exam consists of a written part and an oral part. The written portion of the qualifying exam is taken at the start of the student's first summer. Each student takes a written exam in their chosen area of specialisation. Each specialisation determines the format of their exam. The oral exam is scheduled at the end of the first summer and it gives the student the opportunity to present their summer research to the faculty. Students are notified of their results shortly after the oral exam.
The EREE group evaluates students based on the quality of their summer paper and their performance on the written exam. A student receives a passing grade for the qualifying exam if the faculty determines that the student has sufficiently mastered the skills needed to continue progress towards a PhD in the chosen specialistion.
Doctoral thesis
The second and third years of the programme are dedicated to work on the student's doctoral thesis. Students are expected to start this work under the guidance of an advisor after they have fulfilled the minimum course requirements.
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.
