Finance

The mission of the Department of Finance is to produce world-class research, deliver first-rate finance education, and contribute to the financial development of Hong Kong, Mainland China and the Asia-Pacific region. The Department now has more than 20 full-time regular and visiting faculty members who are actively engaged in research and provide high quality teaching. We also attract international renowned scholars and experienced industry practitioners to contribute to our research and teaching activities.

The Department has made remarkable achievements since its inception. It has been consistently ranked No. 1 in research in the Asia-Pacific region, and in the top 25 in the world by the FMA-ASU (Financial Management Association at Arizona State University) Finance research rankings. Because of the quality of its faculty, the Department has quickly gained an international reputation for its research, as well as a local reputation for its expertise in corporate finance, derivatives, and the local and regional financial markets.

The PhD program in finance strives to prepare students to make significant research contributions on topics such as: corporate finance, financial contracts and institutions, asset pricing, market microstructure, derivatives, and international financial markets. The finance faculty works closely with students in helping them develop research topics and conduct academic research at a level that can be published in the top academic journals. The finance faculty also collaborates with students on joint research projects. The program aims to place its graduates in academic positions at top research institutions.

The following is a list of institutions where recent graduates from the Ph.D program are now working, or used to work:

University of Toronto (Canada), University of Manchester (UK), University of Warwick (UK), Lancaster University (UK), Erasmus University (Netherlands),  Stavanger University (Norway), University of Melbourne (Australia), Massey University (New Zealand), Nanyang Technology University (Singapore), Hong Kong Polytechnic University, City University of Hong  Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai University of Economics and Finance, and Tongji University.

Students are required to take at least 41 credits. Students may need to take additional courses related to their research topics, as requested by their thesis supervisors. Students who have taken the HKUST MPhil (FINA) program will be granted credit transfer to the PhD program. Students who have taken an MPhil or equivalent in other universities may be granted credit transfer on a case-by-case basis. In such a case, the maximum number of credits transferable is 23. 

Required Courses

• Microeconomic Theory I
• Microeconomic Theory II
• Econometrics
• Corporate Finance
• Investment Analysis
• Derivative Analysis
• Fixed Income Analysis
• Doctoral Seminar - Theoretical Corporate Finance
• Doctoral Seminar - Theoretical Asset Pricing
• Doctoral Seminar - Empirical Corporate Finance
• Doctoral Seminar - Empirical Asset Pricing
• Doctoral Seminar - Continuous Time Finance
• Postgraduate English for Business and Social Science Studies 
• PhD Qualifying Examination

General Management Courses 

Any one of the following:

• Financial Accounting Foundations
• Operations Management
• Marketing Strategy and Policy
• Management of Organizations

Cross-discipline Research Courses 

Any one of the following

• Empirical research in Accounting
• Macroeconomic Analysis
• Macroeconomic Theory I
• Macroeconomic Theory II 

Requirements

• Obtained a bachelor’s degree with a proven record of outstanding performance from a recognized institution; OR presented evidence of satisfactory work at the postgraduate level on a full-time basis for at least one year, or on a part-time basis for at least two years;
• Satisfied the specific requirements prescribed by the school and department concerned as to their chosen subject of research, as well as their fitness to undertake the research.
• You will fulfill the English Language requirements with one of the following proficiency attainments:TOEFL-iBT 80, TOEFL PBT 550, IELTS Overall score: 6.0
• You are required to nominate 2-5 referees to support your application. Upon your application submission, the referees will be invited by email to complete a reference report online. Referees may attach additional reference letters to the online report if they wish to.
• Remember that you will need to send official documents to substantiate your qualifications/ exam results after accepting an admission offer. 

Scholarships

• Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS)
• Postgraduate Studentships