You can apply for Ph.D. studies in Finance if you hold an equivalent Master's degree in economic sciences, or in a discipline related to those taught at the HSG’s School of Finance. A minimum average grade of 5.00 (not rounded) is required. This is equivalent to a minimum average grade of 2.00 (not rounded) in Germany and Austria. For more information about how we calculate grades, please consult our grade conversion table.
Depending on your previous university degree, additional programme-specific requirements may be imposed upon admission.
Admission to our doctoral programmes is not possible with a degree from a University of Applied Sciences or a degree from a tertiary education institution equivalent to a University of Applied Sciences. Admission to our doctoral programmes is not possible with a degree from a tertiary education institution without the right to award doctorates.
Admission is also not possible based on an MBA degree.
Your degree programme will be recognised if among other the following criteria are fulfilled:
More information on the recognition of universities and university degrees.
We would be happy to give you non-binding pre-clarification whether your previous education entitles you to apply for a Ph.D. programme. So that we can do this, please send scanned copies of all your grade transcripts and certificates together with a short CV by email to zulassung@unisg.ch
When you apply, you must prove that your proficiency in the English language, used as the language of instruction, is at level C1 (CEFR). The University of St.Gallen accepts the following as supporting documents for admission to this Ph.D. programme:
As soon as you have found your prospective doctoral supervisor, he/she must submit the completed "PhD Agreement" form to the Ph.D. Office. Please note that you, as the applicant, are responsible for the timely submission of the form. If we do not receive the filled in PhD Agreement form by the end of the application period, admission to the Ph.D. programme will not be possible.
Applications via University’s job portal will mainly be reviewed after 15 February. We recommend an early application. For the application process, please see the application information of the Graduate Programme in Finance (GPEF). Only apply via Online-Application after having received the okay from the GPEF programme administration.
The degree programme starts in the autumn semester. The application is made online. The application fee is CHF 250.
We strongly recommend that you do not apply online until you have found a professor who is willing to act as your supervisor. Please note that you cannot be accepted to the PhD pro-gramme if you don’t have a PhD supervisor.
Autumn semester application period: 1 February - 30 April (*-15 August)
*The longer registration period applies to assistants and applicants with an HSG Master's degree.
If you have already finished a degree programme at HSG and if you have been exmatriculated for maximum two semesters, please apply using the
Rematriculation form
Please have the following information and documents ready to upload:
If any of the documents are not issued in German, French, Italian or English, you must also submit a certified translation of the document in German or English. Please observe our guidelines regarding "documents to be submitted" and "translations" in the Directive on the Implementing provisions of the admission regulations.
Only one file can be uploaded per bullet point. You can use online tools such as online2pdf.com to create PDF files or to combine several pages into one PDF file. Make sure the files you send to us are legible so that we can process your application without delay.
Swiss citizens need their Swiss social insurance number (AHV number) for the application. If you do not know your insurance number, please order a duplicate of your insurance certificate from the Swiss Central Compensation Office in good time.
Questions about application / degree course:
Ph.D Office
phd@unisg.ch
+41 71 224 22 20
Questions about admission regulations / preliminary review:
University of St.Gallen
admissions@unisg.ch
+41 71 224 39 31
Tue.-Thu. 10:00 am - 11:30 am