Doctoral studies in business studies

About doctoral studies

Business Studies produce Doctors of Science in Business Administration or Economics for demanding expert and management roles. The University of Vaasa is one of Finland's oldest business studies institutions and it has a long tradition of high-calibre international graduate education.

The field of Business Studies examines in-depth the discipline's key research question, development and societal significance. The field prepares students for high-level independent research work. The doctoral studies consist of general studies and methods, studies in the research field, optional studies and the doctoral thesis. Students are expected to graduate as Doctors of Science in Business Studies in four years.

There are nine research groups operating in the field of Business Studies. Doctoral students are connected with the work of the research groups to enable more interesting research topics, group work training and a more intensive and diverse supervision programme. The field collaborates closely with national graduate schools (KATAJA, KAVA and OMY). The collaboration enables doctoral students to participate in events arranged by graduate schools and to organize national and international courses and seminars. Doctoral students can also benefit from the contact networks of other research groups in the form of corporate collaboration. Doctoral studies in the field of business usually also include an exchange period with a partner university abroad.

Admissions to doctoral studies

Doctoral studies

Study objectives

Business Studies produces Doctors of Science in Business Administration and Economics for demanding expert and management roles. The University of Vaasa is one of Finland’s oldest business studies institutions and has a long tradition of high-calibre international graduate education in the field of Business Studies.

The aim of doctoral education is that the students:

become well-versed in their field of research and its social significance. The students also gain knowledge and skills needed in order to apply scientific research methods independently and critically, and to produce new scientific knowledge within their field of research;
become conversant with the development, basic problems and research methods of their own field of research; and
gain such knowledge of the general theory of science that enables them to follow the developments of their own area of research as well as other disciplines.
defend written and orally their knowledge claims and justify the key decision they have made in the course of their research.

Research groups

Networks for doctoral students

In addition to the courses organized by the Graduate School and different units inside the University of Vaasa, the doctoral students can take also courses organized outside the University. It is important to discuss these courses always with the supervising professor beforehand. The outside organizations also several times demand a confirmation/support letter from the supervisor. At the same time also the financing arrangement of the participation should be discussed.

The main networks and organizations providing potential courses for the students depend on the field of students´ studies. In the field of Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing and International Business the main network and organization is KATAJA, where all Finnish universities providing studies in different fields of business are members and provide courses jointly. There are seven different doctoral programs under KATAJA. In total KATAJA provides annually some 20 courses related to methods and specific topic areas. In addition, the various doctoral programs organize annually or biannually their nationwide doctoral tutorials. At the European level, the main cooperation partner is EIASM which also provides annually several different courses and workshops for doctoral students.

In the field of Economics the main network is FDPE and in the field of Finance NFN:n (Nordic Finance Network) and NARN (Nordic Accounting Research Network).