Study Center Gerzensee and Programs

(1)

Study

Center Gerzensee

_{Center Gerzensee}

and

US

PhD

_PhD

-

_-

Programs

_Programs

MA Lorenz Küng, May 15th ₂₀₀₆ [email protected]

(2)

Content

1)

Program for Beginning Doctoral Students

in Economics at the Study Center

Gerzensee

~ 10’

2)

Ph.D. Programs in the U.S. (and partly in

Europe)

~ 5’

(3)

Gerzensee –

What is it?

• Micro, Macro, Econometrics sequence

(4 weeks each + 1 week math crash course)

www.szgerzensee.ch

• Micro Sequence

Klaus Schmidt, University of Munich (MWG 1-6)

Jean-Charles Rochet, University of Toulouse (MWG 10,15-17)

Mathias Dewatripont, Bruxelles and MIT (Tirole; Fudenberg & Tirole)

John H. Moore, London School of Economics (MWG 13, 14)

• Macro Sequence

Bob King, Boston University

Sergio Rebelo, Northwestern (Kellogg) Jordi Galí, Pompeu Fabra and MIT

• Econometrics Sequence

Mark Watson, Princeton Bo Honoré, Princeton

(4)

Gerzensee –

Past Performance

11 Completed only Parts of the Program: 3 students from the Economics Department

Name _{Year Department Course(s)}

Ranaldo Angelo _{1997 Economics}_Macro

Schmitz-Esser Valerio _{1997 Quantitative}_Micro

Hosp Gerald _{1998 Economics}_Macro

Krause Andreas _{1998 ???} _Metrics

De Gottardi Curzio _{1998/99 Economics Metrics/Macro} Sturm Andy _{1999/00 Economics Metrics/Macro} Glauser Manrico _{2000 Quantitative}_Metrics Zanetti Attilio _{2000/01 Economics Metrics/Macro} Karagök Yavuz _{2002 Quantitative}_Micro Babalyan Levon _{2003 Business Metrics}

Zainhofer Florian _{2005 Business Metrics/Macro}

10 (resp. 7) Completed the Full Program: 4 (resp. 1) student from the Economics Department

Name Year Department

Schmolck Björn _{1995/96 Quantitative} Redondo Maria José _{1999 Quantitative} Mueller Jeannette _{2000 ???}

Cerratti Roberto _{2001 Quantitative} Karusisi Diane _{2001 Quantitative} Wunsch Johannes _{2003 Business} Kueng Lorenz _{2006 Economics} Schnyder Simon _{2007 ?} _Economics Wasmer Malgorzota _{2007 ?} _Economics Selvarajah, Shauna _{2007 ?} _Economics

Comparison with the University of Bern (~ same

department size):

• 28 completed the full program,

(5)

Gerzensee –

Past Performance (2)

Potential reasons for poor performance?

• weak (mathematical) backgrounds of students

graduating from Fribourg

- compared to students from

other Swiss universities

(

ï

high drop out rate)

• too little time allocated by

advisor

• insufficient incentives for PhDs

to do the program

and

insufficient incentives for

advisors

to encourage PhDs

• too few benefits from program for PhD-thesis

(6)

Gerzensee –

Requirements

• … for the

PhD student

:

– acquire sufficient

mathematical background

(either through self-study or through courses

at the Math Department)

– willingness to

work hard

(also on areas that

are of minor interest with respect to his

thesis)

– willingness to

work in groups

and to actively

look for cooperation (because of lack of

(7)

Gerzensee –

Requirements (2)

• … for the

doctoral advisor

:

– willingness to

free

the PhD student from

most/all of his administrative duties at the

chair for one year

(because the

PhD program is a 100%-150%

job

, depending on the student’s

background!!!)

(8)

Gerzensee –

Benefits from Gerz.

• Benefits

for PhD student

:

– thorough

formal training

of basic economics

and of econometrics

– (intellectual) access to papers not

accessible before

– contact to first rate faculty

– contact to other PhD students with similar

(technical) backgrounds

– increased chance of

good performance on

job market

(private and academic)

(9)

Gerzensee –

Benefits from Gerz.(2)

• Benefits

for doctoral advisor

and the

Economics Department:

–

more qualified assistants (for research collaboration

and for teaching assistance)

–

attract qualified students

who would otherwise

choose a university that offers the possibility to do

the Program

–

PhD thesis of higher (academic) quality

–

reputation gain

for department for placing students

at top departments, (government) institutions, and

at top positions in private sector

and also

reputation gain

in academics due to increase in

publications

(10)

Gerzensee –

Benefits from Gerz.(3)

Let me be more precise about the last point, the reputation gain, because you might say that you don’t want your PhD students to leave the University of Fribourg:

• accept the “fact” that the University

Fribourg will

never

compete with Harvard

as a

research institution

• strategy as an excellent teaching college

(in the sense of a “Liberal Arts College”)

• Therefore, I see

3 “markets”

where

(11)

Gerzensee –

Benefits from Gerz.(4)

The Econ Department of the University of Fribourg as…

1. …

supplier of students for PhD programs at

research universities

(Europe & USA).

In order of decreasing relevance, the

“requirements” are:

- mathematical background (courses at Math Department with excellent grades)

- Letters of Reference from first rate economists know in the US - good scoring at GRE and TOEFL

- good grades at Gerzensee or at equivalent graduate program - Statement of Purpose & consistent selection of universities - excellent grades in economics courses

- teaching experience

(12)

Gerzensee –

Benefits from Gerz.(4)

The Econ Department of the University of Fribourg as…

2. …

supplier of research and PhDs for institutions in

(Swiss)

policy oriented

private and public

sector:

- interested in policy oriented research of high quality (theory and empirics)

- public choice perspective (Î consulting policy makers) - ability to work empirically using Swiss data

(13)

Gerzensee –

Benefits from Gerz.(5)

The Econ Department of the University of Fribourg as…

3. …

supplier of undergraduates and PhDs for

research departments in

private firms

(not policy oriented):

- show command of logical reasoning - ability to work empirically

(14)

Gerzensee –

Benefits from Gerz.(6)

The strategy and the 3 job markets graphically:

Research Universities with

PhD programs

Private Sector not (directly) policy

oriented (e.g.

research in banks, consulting, …) Private and Public Sector

interested in (Swiss) policy related research (e.g. Credit Suisse research,

SNB, BAK, Ecoplan, …) Economics Department with Master or after 1st _{year PhD} during or after PhD after PhD

(15)

One last Advice…

Marketing!!!

• inform

potential future Bachelor and Master

students

about their perspectives on the job markets when

holding a degree from Fribourg

(output instead of input orientation )

• list placements

of past students from Fribourg

on

homepage

(

Ù

increase transparency)

• with BA/MA system, competition between universities

becomes tougher

Î

students will choose universities according to their

position in the market! (remember graphic)

• offer them as much flexibility/perspectives as

is

realistic

(as opposed to

possible

) for a small university like

Fribourg

Î

encourage students to do Gerzensee and/or

equivalent graduate courses/programs

(16)

2

2 nd

nd

_PART

-U.S. Ph.D. Programs

U.S. Ph.D. Programs

•

• What is it?

What is it?

•

(17)

What is it?

The standard PhD program consists of:

• 2 years of course work

(1

st

_{basics, 2}

nd

_{field courses)}

• 3rd and 4th year:

– attending research seminars

– work as Research or Teaching Assistant

(18)

The Admission Process

The admission process takes ~ 1 year . It is as follows:

1. collect information [internet] and select universities [~ 5-15] (December – March)

2. ask for Letters of Recommendation (April – December) 3. GRE and TOEFL

(Graduate Record Examination; Test of English as a Foreign Language)

4. order official (sealed) degree/grade translations

5. write Statement of Purpose (and Diversity Statement) 6. fill in application forms (October – December)

7. application deadline (December for US) 8. admission offers (March 15th)

9. visit days (March – April)

10. acceptance deadline (April 15th)

11. preparation for 1st year (April – July/August) 12. start of PhD program (July/August)

(19)