Pr. Guido Hülsmann Faculté de Droit, d'Économie et de Gestion Université d'Angers

Doctoral Studies in Economics
at the University of Angers

Études doctorales en sciences économiques à l'Université d'Angers

General Information and Procedure

For admission as a doctoral candidate in economics at the University of Angers you need to have five years of training and a master's degree in economics from an accredited university. The University of Angers itself belongs to the French state university system and is accredited by HCERES.

As a doctoral student in economics, you enter into a covenant not only with your research director, but also with three institutions:
(1) the GRANEM research centre
(2) the Doctoral College of the University of Angers, and
(3) the Doctoral School EDGE, which serves the universities of Nantes, Angers, Rennes, and Le Mans, as well as other institutions of higher learning in western France.

Once the two of us have agreed on your research project, you need to fill out the online application form, print it, have me sign it, and submit it along with your diploma, your research proposal, your financial plan (how you intend to fund your doctoral studies), and other documents (overview here) to the GRANEM research centre. This should be done by mid-July.

Your application will be reviewed by the GRANEM board of directors and, upon validation, transferred to EDGE, which makes its decision in October at latest.

Upon admission, you start right away working on your research project. There is few specific coursework to do, with a total volume of currently 100 hours (overview here). These classes are mandatory, but they are currently not graded. They deal with matters of general interest such as research techniques. If you live abroad you can be dispensed from most of these classes.

The general time frame to complete your research and write a dissertation is three years. You need to sign up and pay the fee for each year individually. Authorisation for an additional fourth or fifth year is usually granted, provided you make demonstrable progress in your work.

Residence and Immigration Questions

There is no obligation for you to be a permanent resident of Angers. Our communication will be based essentially on email correspondence, as well as on Skype and Teams online meetings.

However, you need to travel to Angers occasionally (unless there are international travel restrictions) to take part in the workshops of my doctoral students (three regular meetings per year)) and in the workshops of our research centre. The latter may require that you be physically present for at least a month per year in Angers.

If you choose to live in Angers, there are no special problems pertaining to visa or immigration if you are a citizen of a European Union member country. If you are a citizen of other countries please check the administrative procedures for entering France as a doctoral student. Our Doctoral College and our Office for International Relations might be able to assist you.

Financial Questions

In your application you have to specify how you intend to finance your doctoral studies.

Tuition fees at the University of Angers are right now in the order of 400 euros per year.

Mandatory health insurance : Irrespective of where you reside, you are liable to have health insurance within the European Union. If you do not have EU health coverage, you can sign up for student health insurance at our doctoral school. This is another 200 euros per year and can be paid along with the tuition fees.

Living expenses in Angers: with 1000 euros per month (including rent) you will get along.

I will provide support in obtaining scholarships.

Dissertation and Defence

As a rule, you would work under my exclusive direction. In same cases (e.g., interdisciplinary research), it is advisable that you also work with a second research director from a university within the European Union. In this case, a convention between the two universities must be signed before you defend the thesis.

The dissertation can be submitted in French or English. In any case, your work should take account of the French literature in your field of study.

The defence of doctoral dissertations takes place before a committee of four to eight professors (usually four or five), most of whom come from outside of the University of Angers, that is, from other French or foreign universities or research institutions.

The defence can take place in French and in English.

Basic Formal Requirements for Your Research

I would expect you to produce a well-structured dissertation of some 200-300 pages. No « three essays on so and so ». You will write one or two surveys on the literature dealing with the main thesis of your dissertation; this can be part of the dissertation or be published separately. It is not necessary for the dissertation to include exercises in modelling, econometric studies, etc. However, it is necessary to argue concisely, thoroughly, and rigorously, based on state-of-the-art theory and empirical evidence.

Apart from writing the dissertation, you should give three or four presentations per year at the University of Angers; and of course you should present parts of your work at other professional meetings.

Forthcoming Doctoral Dissertations

At present I am supervising the following research projects at the University of Angers: