Johann K. Brunner

"Modernizing the 3rd cycle at the University of Prishtina and Developing a PhD Program at the Faculty of Economics"

Nice, September, 24- 28

PhD-Program in Economics (Linz – Innsbruck)

Compulsory Courses

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PhD Program in Economics

• 180 ECTS, 6 semester

• Collaboration between two Universities: Departments of comparable size. Neither Department could offer such a program alone.

• Started in winter semester 2009/10

• Average cohort size 10 – 15

• Basic idea: provide advanced education for young researchers, aiming at an academic career.

• Most, but not all students are affiliated to the Economics Department as research assistants

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Overview of the PhD Program in Economics

• Two years of coursework.

• Compulsory courses in the first year.

• Specialized field courses in the second year, related to their PhD thesis.

• In their third year, the main task of the students is to write their thesis (papers).

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First year

Students have to go through six compulsory modules, each containing lectures with exercises (6 ECTS each). Idea: Teach advanded methods, provide some advanced education in core fields of economics

1st Semester• Mathematics • Microeconomics • Statistics 2nd Semester• Econometrics• Macroeconomics• Game Theory

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Second and third year

• Five field courses (4 ECTS each). Selective, related to the field of the thesis.

• Three presentations of their own work in seminars (2 ECTS each).

• Write thesis (typically three papers, 112 ECTS)

• Acquire additional skills (e. g., scientific writing, philosophy of science, communication skills, project management, …).

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Revision

• Ambitious course program, challenging for students, but manageable!

• Requires considerable resources (part of teaching load of professors, lecturers from other universities)

• Recently a discussion has started for a revision of the program, more emphasis on thesis, less on courses), may reduce number of courses.

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Teaching Methodoloy

Typically, courses are offered in blocks:- One week of teaching (3-4 hours per day)- Break of one week- Second week of teaching

Much freedom for professors how to organize teaching.

Txpically, a t extbook is used, but some prepare own material.

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Exercises

• Important part of teaching. Problem sets are distributed each day.

• Students receive some bonus points if they present (correct) solutions.

• Some colleagues are able to offer additional tutorials (have some funding for them). Advanced PhD-Students assist beginners how to solve the exercises.

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Exams

• Standard (closed book) exams in the compulsory coures

• As opposed to the field courses, where grading refers to the solution of comprehensive homework-problems or to the preparation of short papers.

• Typically midterm exam after the first week (weight around 20%).

• Final exam on week after the end of the second course week (weight 80%). Second and possibly third chance.

• By acquiring bonus point from homework, students can improve their grade

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Evaluation

• Not well organized.

• Standard procedure via the Internet, but very low participation rate.

• However, students clearly raise questions and express problems within the course.

• Close relations to most PhD students, affiliations as research assistants. Discussions in and outside the seminar rooms.

• We probably would be informed if there were big problems (would we?)