BiGSEM offers outstanding and highly-motivated graduates a Ph.D. Program in Economics and Management which ensures a comprehensive education in both fields. The department's existing achievements in the education of graduate students are complemented and enhanced in an optimal way by this comprehensive Ph.D. program. The graduate school meets the desire of science and society to assure the international competitiveness of European universities.

The knowledge and expertise acquired by graduate students at BiGSEM qualifies them for positions of major responsibility in the areas of science, society, and economics, as competent analysts and decision-makers for trend-setting developments. Both the international as well as the interdisciplinary orientation of the Ph.D. program guarantee an innovative and up-to-date scientific education in the fields of economics and management. Research and teaching at BiGSEM are based on normative and descriptive theory approaches, empirical analyses and, as an important tool and essential formal language, quantitative methods. A high degree of interdisciplinarity with mathematics is therefore inevitable, with various close cooperations with faculty members of the Department of Mathematics bearing witness of this necessity. Close ties are also maintained with the Departments of Biology, Psychology, Sociology, and Law.

Most faculty members of the Department of Economics and Business Administration and the Institute of Mathematical Economics are involved in long-standing international cooperations and exchange programs with leading universities on the five continents. Individual contacts with renowned scientists complement the various institutional relationships. On the basis of these activities the graduate school has established a scientific network of high-ranked international universities. The continuous collaboration and exchange of faculty members and graduate students is one of the key aspects of these cooperations.

The Bielefeld Graduate School of Economics and Management is run by the Department of Economics and Business Administration. The school's board of directors, managing the various affairs of the graduate school, is regularly elected by the official representatives of the department. A member of the board is appointed as chairman of the graduate school. The staff of the school's administration office assists the chairman with his various duties.

Admission

The Ph.D. Program in Economics and Management is primarily open to graduates from business administration, economics, or mathematics, but also to those with degrees in related fields, such as engineering, operations research, or statistics. The cultural diversity of BiGSEM's students and their know-how in different fields assure rewarding synergy effects not only for graduate students, but also for faculty members. An admissions committee, selected by the board of directors, reviews applications of prospective students and decides on their admission. The total number of graduate students admitted to BiGSEM is restricted to a small number to ensure individual guidance and supervision.