Communicating the originality and relevance of a research idea is arguably more important than the quality of its execution.
The biggest challenge for the traditional PhD students is to come up with new ideas with practical implications, whereas the EDHEC PhD students typically have many ideas originating from their work and their challenge is finding time to execute them.
I found the students in my EDHEC course to be exceptionally motivated and talented. This is not surprising: the same traits that make one successful in industry, an eagerness to know more and the ability to absorb complicated ideas, are the same traits that lead to successful scholars.
Professional PhD students bring a lot of relevant experience to the class room. Many students have a good understanding of the scope and limitations of the material taught. The interaction with these students is a very enriching experience for professors and I hope the same holds true for students.
Teaching the EDHEC PhD students has been a real pleasure because they come with a wealth of professional experience that makes them a particularly deep and perceptive cohort of students. They immediately understand why a result is important, and they can see the connection between theory, measurement and financial reality straight away. Working with them is truly a give-and-take process.
I was definitely surprised by the quality of the students. I give this advanced doctoral seminar every other year at the University of Chicago. Knowing about the large proportion of executives in the class, I was worried that the material may be too difficult. It was a relief to find out that students not only were up to the challenge but also had very good questions for me, many of which were...
I was amazed to see how many top scholars from around the world were teaching in it. And, I was also very impressed by the students in this programme, many of whom are very senior executives at top financial institutions and corporations.
The best thing about the students on the PhD programme is their strong motivation and also their desire to answer big questions that are...
Motivation is palpable in the classroom – this is not a quiet crowd, participants are very good at giving feedback and challenging the instructor to identify the tools needed to address the issues they feel strongly about, whether these are issues they face in their work, dissertation work or both – it is exactly the type of interaction that you hope for as an instructor and researcher.
Irrespective of their professional background, all participants are genuinely interested and ask questions: it’s also the first time that I have 100% attention and engagement on the part of a group. What is more, these students are asking the right questions – again it is extremely rare to work with a group of students in which all members make relevant contributions that enrich the class...
The Dissertation Proposal aims to identify a research topic that will be the foundation of the student thesis. After a first year focused on learning fundamentals through lectures, doing assignments and taking exams, the student has to change mindset and think about an original research topic where he would like to contribute to the advancement of knowledge.
The students that I taught are unique in a number of ways. Some are already seasoned investment professionals and others have even had multiple successful careers. Their maturity and experience differ markedly from those of the typical PhD student who is fresh out of college or for that matter even of a typical MBA student who has had only a few years of work experience. Perhaps as a result,...
As I mentioned earlier, one objective of the programme was that students publish in peer-reviewed journals. As of today, our graduates have produced 14 publications. Two are in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, which is one of the Financial Times top four journals used in business school research rankings. The others are more specialised journals such as the Journal of Fixed...
At EDHEC, the research requirement for the awarding of the degree involves either the candidate writing two stand-alone research papers or one lengthy product that contains two related research issues. All of the completed dissertations I supervised to date have been two research papers. The majority of the PhD candidates who have completed two research papers have had both papers published or...
It is tremendously important for students and all researchers to continuously think about the difference between what is important and what is merely unsolved. The sweet spot is to address unsolved problems that are simultaneously truly important. To make a powerful contribution, you need to anchor in the market and bring tools to bear on important issues. The programme’s students have the...
It was an interesting group to teach because they knew a lot of things that the usual PhD student does not know. I admit I had failed to realise this before coming to class. If unexpected, it was a pleasant surprise to have more senior and experienced students who know the products really well. In many ways it is easier to teach such people because they are highly motivated and have context....
Doctoral training provides you with knowledge and a set of tools which can be used in the industry. For example, we all read about the complex derivative products at the heart of the current financial crisis—it is useful for professionals in the finance industry to understand what models were used to price and manage these products and what went wrong
Usually, the doctoral students I teach are straight out of university; here we are talking about mature individuals with work experience who decided to do a PhD because they were curious about things they have been observing in their work. Such students have strong motivation, a clear idea of what they are here for; most have experience of the financial markets or other areas of finance. This...
I love the combination that the students have: they are very technically skilled on average and also have all a wealth of practical experience. The biggest challenge for the traditional PhD student is to come up with ideas, whereas the EDHEC PhD students typically have lots of ideas from their work and their challenge is finding time to execute them. So it is fun to be around students who have...
Teaching an elective course like this is an enticing opportunity to talk about your research and focus on things that you really care about. This is quite unusual, even at the doctoral level. I have been researching this area for over ten years and this provides a great opportunity to organise my thoughts on the topic and present them in a unified way.
At Duke, I teach in both executive education and doctoral programmes. Here the students are a nice mix of the two as they had both a great academic interest in finance and real experience from the field – this was perfect for me since I strive to do academic research that is in sync with the industry
You know, the most difficult aspect of the dissertation exercise is to come up with a suitable topic. What makes it hard is that it should be both interesting and doable in some finite time, i.e. one or two years --- this is difficult for most students. Of course you can get great ideas reading articles, that can happen, but I think something that really helps the process is to go to seminars...
I was much impressed with what EDHEC-Risk Institute had been able to accomplish in less than ten years’ time. The concept of a doctoral program opened to executives was novel and very interesting and I wanted to find out what type of profiles students would have. I thus accepted Professor Garcia’s invitation and am glad I had this opportunity to teach in the program
The second difference has to do with the very nature of the student population. It has been an absolute pleasure teaching students with a broad range of professional experiences and achievements.
EDHEC PhD IN FINANCE
Operating from campuses in Lille, Nice, Paris, London and Singapore, EDHEC is one of the top 15 European business schools. Fully international and directly connected to the business world, EDHEC is a school for business, rather than a business school, where excellence in teaching and research focuses on innovation to stimulate entrepreneurship and creativity. EDHEC functions as a genuine laboratory of ideas and produces innovative solutions valued by businesses. The School’s teaching philosophy, inspired by its award-winning research activities, focuses on “learning by doing”.
