Curriculum

Students choose one of the three specialisations: Economics, Econometrics or Finance. For each specialisation there are three compulsory courses, each earning 4 ECTS credits. All compulsory courses are Master's level courses.

Students have to complete 6 core elective courses, each yielding 4 ECTS credits. Students need:
at least 8 ECTS from core electives within their own specialisation,
at least 8 ECTS from core electives offered in the complementary specialisations, i.e. students who specialise in "Economics" or "Finance" have to choose two elective courses from "Econometrics" and students who specialise in "Econometrics" have to choose two elective courses from "Economics" or "Finance, and
8 ECTS from courses freely chosen from any specialisation.

Most of the courses are offered as two or three weeks blocks. There is an examination after each course.

At the end of the course phase students have to present a detailed research proposal for their Ph.D. thesis. The research proposal has to be accepted by the Thesis Committee. In the research proposal, Ph.D. students provide the thesis outline and discuss preliminary results.

To be accepted:

• a research proposal handed in during the third term must consist of at least three outlines of papers.

• a research proposal handed in later must consist of at least one paper and two outlines.

The research proposal has to be presented in a colloquium in front of the Thesis Committee. The colloquium is not public. The research proposal is not graded, but it has to be accepted. Following the acceptance of the research proposal, students are admitted into the research phase.

The Thesis Committee typically consists of three members: the (main) supervisor, a member of the Programme Committee, and an (external) co-supervisor.  The Programme Committee may decide on  additional members.  At the latest, students must have a Thesis Committee by the time they submit the research proposal.  The Programme Committee may accept later additional members.

Students may credit courses from our partner programmes at the University of Frankfurt, the University of Konstanz and the University of Lugano. Crediting is also possible for courses from the NCCR FINRISK or the Gerzensee Programme (see below).

Please note that not all courses get automatically credited! The courses have to be equivalent to PEF courses in terms of content and methodological aspects. The PEF Programme Committee decides on crediting of external courses. Please hand in your crediting request to the Executive Director with the following information:

• Course title,
• University / Programme,
• Lecturer 's name,
• Reading list of the course,
• Any other material that might be useful in for the evaluation of the quality of the course (e.g. exercise sheets, exam sheets, seminar papers, slides of lecture presentation etc.),
• Grade.

Crediting Courses from the Gerzensee Programme
12 weeks of the Gerzensee Programme count as 12 weeks PEF courses, which means that six courses can be credited. Two additional PEF elective courses have to be completed. Moreover, the Gerzensee Programme substitutes any required supplementary work in Economics and/or Econometrics. By attending the whole programme you would earn 28 ECTS: 6 courses à 4 ECTS plus a bonus course.

The single tracks of the Gerzensee Programme may be credited: One track results in 8 ECTS and it always substitutes one compulsory course and one core elective course in the field of specialisation.

In the Ph.D. seminar students present their own preliminary thesis chapters in an advanced form (draft papers). They get feedback and comments on their work from faculty members and other students in the programme. The goal of the literature seminar is to learn and critically discuss recent relevant literature in economics, finance or econometrics.

The two PEF seminars offer a forum for active scientific debate among students and the faculty. Students have to present three times in the Ph.D. and three times in the literature seminar.

The Ph.D. thesis has to be written in English. It usually consists of three research papers covering distinct research topics. At the end of the research phase, students have to submit the thesis and present it to the members of their Ph.D. Thesis Committee in a pre-defence examination. At this stage the Thesis Committee can ask for changes or corrections to the submitted manuscript. After having successfully passed the pre-defence, the final version of the thesis is submitted and the public defence is held.

After the acceptance of the thesis, the dissertation is presented in a public Ph.D. defence which concludes the doctoral studies. Students who successfully had their public defense, are awarded the degree Doctor of Philosophy with a specialisation in Economics, Econometrics or Finance from the University of St.Gallen (Ph.D. HSG).