Curriculum

The PiF programme is divided into a coursework stage and a research stage. Successful students of the programme will be awarded the degree of a Ph.D. in Finance.

The courses of the coursework ensure that graduates have the necessary fundamental knowledge to pursue their own original research. The coursework stage lasts between two and four semesters during which candidates have to take two compulsory subjects (Asset Pricing and Corporate Finance) and six core electives. As the compulsory courses are quantitatively very demanding, the programme offers a two-week intensive course in mathematics as preparation at the beginning of the Ph.D. studies (applicants without a strong mathematical background may be required to complete this course).

During the coursework stage PiF students submit a research proposal to their thesis committee. This proposal forms the basis for their own research. The proposal must be justified in a colloquium and accepted by the Ph.D. thesis committee.

Note that reforms are currently underway that will affect students beginning in September 2021 or 2022 and thereafter. Please see this pdf-document for more details.

Compulsory Courses

PiF students have to complete two compulsory courses.

Course	Lecturer	Semester
Asset Pricing	Prof. Dr. Karl Frauendorfer	Fall
Corporate Finance	Prof. Dr. Marc Arnold	Fall

The compulsory courses are mandatory and cannot be replaced by other courses. They take place in the fall semester.

Core Elective Courses

PiF students have to complete six core electives.

The course offering at the School of Finance is continuously updated. Currently, the following core electives are offered each year. In addition, the School of Finance regularly invites renowned guest professors who teach core elective courses in the PiF programme.

Course	Lecturer	Semester
Empirical Corporate Finance	Prof. Markus Schmid	Fall
Econometrics for Finance	Prof. Paul Söderlind	Fall
Market Microstrucutre	Prof. Angelo Ranaldo	Fall
Topics in Asset Management	Prof. Manuel Ammann / Prof. Markus Schmid	Fall
Quantitative Behavioural Finance	Prof. Enrico De Giorgi	Spring
Spatial Econometrics	Prof. Roland Füss / Dr. Zeno Adams	Spring
Topics in Financial Intermediation	Prof. Martin Brown	Spring
Topics in Insurance Economics	Prof. Hato Schmeiser	Spring

Students can credit up to four courses taken outside the PiF programme as core elective courses. Courses that can be credited may be courses from other Ph.D. programmes at the University of St. Gallen or courses taken elsewhere, for example from

PEF (Ph.D. Programme in Economics and Finance) of the University of St.Gallen
GSERM (Global Summer School in Empirical Research Methods) of the University of St.Gallen (advanced and research courses)
SFI (Swiss Finance Institute)
Gerzensee Study Programme
other research universitites and doctoral summer schools.

Courses from the University of St. Gallen that can be credited include the following, among many others:

Course	Lecturer
Causal Inference	Prof. Michael Lechner
Time Series Methods in Financial Econometrics	Prof. Patrick Gagliardini
Computational Statistics	Prof. Francesco Audrino
Econometrics of Big Data	Prof. Christian Hansen, / Prof. Martin Spindler
Quantitative Behavioural Finance with Applications	Prof. Enrico De Giorgi
Resampling Methods and Forecasting	Prof. Lorenzo Camponovo
Statistical Learning and Applications	Prof. Christine de Mol

Research Proposal

During the course phase students have to hand in a detailed research proposal for their Ph.D. thesis and present it to their thesis committee in a colloquium. In the research proposal, Ph.D. students provide the thesis outline and discuss preliminary results. 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. More details about the research proposal can be found in this document.

During the research phase students spend most of their time conducting research and writing their thesis. Students also attend PiF Ph.D. seminars. Ph.D. students are encouraged to present their work in conferences during the research stage and receive financial support to do so.

PiF Seminars

In the PiF brown-bag seminar students present their research papers. They receive feedback from faculty and fellow Ph.D. students. The seminar offers a forum for an active scientific debate. The current schedule for the PiF Ph.D. seminars can be found here.

Ph.D. Thesis

The Ph.D. thesis is written in English as a cumulative thesis. It consists of (at least) three articles that represent the quality standards of good international refereed journals. At least one of the articles has to be single-authored by the Ph.D. candidate.

Public Defence

After acceptance of the final version of the thesis, the dissertation is presented in a public Ph.D. defence, which concludes the doctoral studies. Students who have successfully defended their thesis are awarded the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Finance of the University of St.Gallen.