Doctoral Programs

Ph.D. in Management

Obtaining a Ph.D. in Management at the University of Geneva usually takes up to five years. During this time, students write their Ph.D. thesis and collect credit points (see details below). The Ph.D. in Management is regulated by the University of Geneva's “Réglement d'études du doctorat en économie et de management”. The following requirements and procedures apply to both internal and external Ph.D. students at the Institute of Management.

 

Pre-requisites for enrolling as a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Management

Ph.D. candidates must hold an MSc in Management, or from a related field, such as economics, sociology, psychology, statistics, and mathematics. Knowledge of French is not an admission requirement.

Students who eventually receive a Ph.D. in Management should also have a basic understanding of the management discipline (in teaching and research). Their supervisor and co-assessor will discuss the potential development needs of candidates without a management background.

Thesis advisor

A Ph.D. candidate has to obtain an Institute of Management Professor’s consent to act as the supervisor of her or his dissertation (see list of members).

Format of a Ph.D. thesis

To facilitate our Ph.D. students’ competitiveness and visibility in an increasingly international field of research, the preferred thesis format is a collection of scientific articles written in English.

The following guidelines apply regarding the quality standards:

  1. A Ph.D. thesis consists of a minimum of three papers.
  2. At least two of these papers have undergone a single- or double-blind review process with adequate results. I.e. they have at least been accepted for a major conference on the field, or recognized academic journals have invited the author to revise and resubmit them.
  3. At least one of these papers is based on empirical analysis using established scientific methodologies.
  4. The Ph.D. candidate should be the lead author of co-authored papers. The Ph.D. candidate’s specific contribution should be described.
  5. The thesis submission should include a summary addressing these guidelines. The summary will also give candidates the opportunity to explain possible divergences from these guidelines. These divergences must be highlighted for the Ph.D. committee.
  6. The thesis should contain an introduction that describes how the scientific articles are theoretically linked and summarize its overall contribution to the scientific literature.

the Institute's Ph.D. Conference

All Ph.D. students have to attend the yearly Ph.D. conference at the Institute of Management where they have to present their thesis at least twice before its completion: usually during the planning/proposal phase and during its final stage.

Brown bag Talks

Ph.D. students are required to attend the brown bag talks that the Institute organizes.

Credit Points

To improve their individual qualifications, Ph.D. students have to collect a total of 18 credit points (CP). Credit points can be collected in a number of different ways (see details below). They should be collected in agreement with the thesis advisor and should relate to the research area in which these students are active, as well as to adjacent fields. Half of the credit points (9 CP) have to be collected within the first two years of the Ph.D.

What counts as credit points?

As outlined below, credit points can stem from three different categories. A minimum number of credit points must be collected for each category.

1. Dedicated Ph.D. classes, and academic summer schools (minimum: 6 CP)

  • Successful completion of the dedicated Ph.D. classes offered at the University of Geneva, or at another established and research-oriented university in Switzerland (2 CP per class)
  • Successful participation in academic summer schools for Ph.D. students (2 CP for each summer school)

2. International workshops & conferences, collaborations (minimum: 4 CP)

  • Active participation in established international scientific conferences on relevant areas of research (requires presenting original research) (2 CP per conference)
  • Successful participation in scientific workshops hosted by the University of Geneva, or at another established and research-oriented university in Switzerland or abroad  (1 CP/full day)
  • Official international short visits of at least two weeks to other research institutions (e.g. documented by a formal invitation or by funding from the SNSF) (2 CP per visit)

3. Teaching & institutional assistance (minimum: 4 CP)

  • Significant contribution to organizing scientific workshops and conferences (2 CP)
  • Significant contribution to a grant proposal submitted for research projects, for example to the SNSF, or to dedicated research grants submitted to the European Union (2 CP)
  • Significant contribution to a development program within GSEM (2CP)
  • Significant contribution to the development of teaching cases (2 CP)
  • Teaching activities above and beyond the duties defined in the cahier du charge (1 CP/ day)

Approval by the Ph.D. committee

The requirements listed above have to be summarized and formally documented (e.g. through certificates of participation) when Ph.D. students submit their thesis. The Scientific Committee of the Institute of Management verifies fulfillment of the requirements.

Ph.D. thesis

Please consult our webpage on Research at the Institute of Management.

   AACSB-logo-member-color-RGB.png        AMBA-logo-Acc-Colour.gif          EFMD-NewLogo2013-HR_colours.png        

prme-stacked-solid-rgb.png 
  GBSNLogo.png