Doctoral studies at ECON MUNI are taking on a new form. The new Economics, Finance and Management programme is based on smaller student numbers, individual research support and closer links with the international academic community. Štefan Lyócsa, the programme’s guarantor, explains why the format of doctoral studies is changing and what does it offer to students.
A doctoral study programme is still sometimes seen as the next step after a master’s degree, or simply as another qualification to add to one’s CV. Is that still the case?
In my view, the link between master’s and doctoral studies is much looser than it used to be. I see doctoral studies as the start of a new profession. During the studies, one learns to ask good questions, to look at a problem as an economist, to determine what data is needed, to choose an appropriate method, and then to explain the results of one’s work clearly.
That is why it is nothing out of the ordinary these days if our candidate has not studied economics, finance or business economics. What matters is that they have a strong research topic within the field and the motivation to carry out research.
Why was the new unified programme created?
A legislative amendment to the Higher Education Act was the catalyst. At the same time, it made administrative sense to replace the existing six doctoral degree programmes with a single joint programme in Economics, Finance and Management. In my view, however, it is far more important that this change has enabled us to transform the very philosophy of the programme. We were able to rethink who we admit, how we supervise students, how much time and resources we invest in them, and how we assess their success. The merger of the programmes was therefore not the goal, but a means to broader change.
How does this change in philosophy manifest itself in practice?
The new programme is smaller and more selective. We aim to admit approximately six to ten students a year, and decisions on their admission are made collectively as a whole faculty. In the most recent admissions round, there were several dozen applicants, of whom we ultimately admitted nine.
A smaller number of students allows us to offer each one a higher scholarship and to provide greater support for participation in conferences, study abroad programmes or specialised summer and winter schools. PhD students may also get involved in teaching or research projects, provided this is in line with their research.
The change also affects supervisors. Although there will be fewer PhD students, supervisors will be able to choose from a wider and higher-calibre pool of candidates. This can benefit not only the students but also the supervisors, their research and, consequently, the entire faculty.
The entire programme is conducted in English. What has this enabled you to do in practice?
For us, English does not simply mean a change in the language of instruction. It has opened the programme to applicants from all over the world. A wider pool of applicants allows us to select more carefully and find suitable matches between the student, the research topic, and the supervisor. At the same time, we can involve experts from abroad in our teaching, with whom students can communicate on an ongoing basis.
What does the supervision of an individual student look like today?
The student still has their supervisor, but a team is now also formed around them, known as the Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC). It usually consists of three to four researchers, at least one of whom should be based abroad. The TAC assists the student with their research and assesses their progress once a year. This is also important because current PhD students are working on a wide variety of empirical topics, ranging from the impact of police operations against methamphetamine producers, through the influence of investor sentiment on social media, to staff turnover in the public sector or the economic implications of caring for patients with dementia. Students thus receive feedback from people with diverse areas of expertise, as well as contacts within the international academic community.
Research is also changing rapidly due to artificial intelligence. How are you responding to this?
We don’t want to wait until we’ve missed the boat. We must be realistic and accept that students and researchers are already using AI today. We’re all learning to work with it as we go along, and we’re gradually discovering where it really helps and where, on the other hand, it can lead to errors. We incorporate our experiences directly into our teaching. Elements of AI feature in econometrics, academic writing and in the course on data management and research reproducibility. We do not simply want to teach students which tool to use. They need to know how to verify the output, how to describe the use of AI transparently, how to protect data and why the researcher remains responsible for the final result.
How will you assess whether the doctoral degree programme is achieving its objective?
Previously, success in doctoral studies was judged mainly on whether a student had fulfilled their obligations and successfully defended their thesis. This is important, but it is not enough on its own. In the new programme, we therefore want to place greater emphasis on how students’ work is assessed by people outside the faculty. Specifically, we want to monitor the quality of published outputs, the evaluations by TAC members and, above all, the career prospects of graduates.
