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About Department

 

The Doctoral Program in Financial Economics aims to provide students with a strong grounding in the theoretical aspects of mathematical finance in order to enable them to contribute towards further developments in the field. Students can follow a career path towards becoming academic researchers and teachers at institutions of higher education, or towards leading research departments in a variety of financial institutions.

 

Maximum Time to Complete the Financial Economics Ph.D. Program

The program must be completed in a maximum of 12 terms, including 4 semesters of courses and 8 semesters for thesis.

For students who do not have a Master's degree (Integrated Doctoral Program), the maximum duration is 14 semesters, including 6 semesters of courses and 8 semesters for thesis.

 

Requirements for Completion of the Financial Economics Ph.D. Program

To complete the Doctoral Program, 7 courses, 1 seminar, qualification exam and doctoral dissertation must be passed.

In order to complete the Integrated Doctoral Program, 14 courses, 1 seminar, qualification exam and doctoral dissertation must be passed.

Besides, the qualification exam must be taken latest by the 5th semester of the doctoral program (for the integrated doctoral program: latest by the 7th semester).

 

Please click here to access the information on the curriculum and minimum graduation requirements for the Doctoral Program in Financial Economics.

 

Please click here to access the information on the curriculum and minimum graduation requirements for the Integrated Doctoral Program in Financial Economics.

 

 

 

Vision and Mission

 

Vision

Our vision is to contribute to academic research into the operations and implications of increasingly complex financial markets with regard to the various stakeholders, so that we can develop stable and free markets for the benefit of society and help allocate resources efficiently for investors in a manner that promotes long-term sustainable development for the economy.

 

Mission

To focus on an open and active research atmosphere for our students so that they are able to contribute to groundbreaking academic research that can help us evaluate and also improve our financial markets and systems.

 

Objective

Our graduates should be well prepared for any of the following career paths, based on their interest:

1. Academic research and teaching in any institution of higher education

2. Leading applied research in any private or public-sector organization or institution

3. Entrepreneurship, including advising or consulting firms

 

 

Application Requirements

 

 

Application Process

Candidates create a new user at http://ebs.yeditepe.edu.tr/, access the online application form, fill out the form and make online applications to the Financial Economics Doctorate Program. Following applications, candidates are invited to an interview in September for the Fall semester, in January for the Spring semester and in June for the Summer semester. Successful candidates can start taking the department courses upon completion of their final registration provided that they meet the following conditions.

 

Admission Requirements

1. Being successful in the department interviews.

2. Having a bachelor's degree from a national or international university whose equivalence is accepted by the Turkish Council of Higher Education.

3. Having a minimum score of 55 from ALES in the program subject area. Candidates who do not have a master's degree must have a minimum score of 80 from ALES in the program subject area. ALES exam results are valid for five years. ALES is not required for foreign students.

4. To have a minimum score of 55 from the YÖKDİL, YDS or E-YDS exams taken in the last five years, or to have a minimum score of 66 from the TOEFL IBT exam taken in the last two years. 

5. For candidates who do not have a master's degree, their undergraduate CGPA must be at least 3.00 / 4.00 or equivalent.

 

Required Documents for Application:

• Letter of Intent​

• Application Form (You can fill the form by accessing the online application link on the website of Yeditepe University Institute of Social Sciences)

• ALES (minimum 55 points, minimum 80 points for applicants without a Master's degree). ALES is not required for foreign students. 

• A copy of the English Exam Result Document

• Undergraduate and Graduate Diploma photocopies

• Photocopies of Official Undergraduate and Graduate Transcripts (A minmum CGPA of 3.00 / 4.00 or equivalent is required for candidates who do not have a Master's degree)

• Resume in English

• Photocopy of Military Status or Discharge Certificate

 

Documents Required for Final Registration

• Original and 2 Copies of Undergraduate / Graduate Diploma (Students who have completed their education abroad are additionally required to bring notarized Turkish translations of their documents.)

• Original and 2 Copies of Undergraduate / Graduate Transcript (Students who have completed their education abroad are required to bring notarized Turkish translations of their documents in addition.)

• ALES Result (ALES document is not required for foreign student.)

• Language Exemption Certificate (YDS, YÖKDİL or TOEFL)

• For Turkish Citizens with Foreign Diplomas: Equivalency Certificate from the Turkish Council of Higher Education

• Original Military Status Certificate. (Photocopy of the discharge certificate from those who have completed their military service.)

• Original and Photocopy of Identity Card (Original and Photocopy of Passport and Residence Permit for Foreign Candidates)

• Certificate of residence. (e.g., e-government printout)

• 4 Passport Photographs

 

Please click here for online application

 

 

Bologna

Frequently Asked Matters

Frequently Asked Questions about the Ph.D. Program:

1. The maximum time to successfully complete the required  courses (other than the FE 699 Thesis course) for the doctoral program is four semesters for those who are accepted with a master's degree with thesis, and six semesters for those who are accepted with a bachelor's degree. Students are required to successfully complete their course work within this period. The syllabus showing the courses to be taken for each semester is available on the program website under the "About the Department" or "Courses" links. FE 698 Seminar may be offered in both Fall and Spring semesters. Other required courses, as indicated in the syllabus, are offered either in the Fall only or in the Spring term only. In each semester, students can choose all the courses that appear in the curriculum for that semester, or they can spread the courses (other than the FE 699 Thesis) to the maximum time allowed for them to complete. For example, students who are accepted with a master's degree with thesis can complete 8 courses other than thesis in two terms by taking four courses each semester, or in four terms by taking two courses each semester. Similarly, students admitted with a bachelor's degree can take the required 15 courses spread over four or six semesters.

2. Each student entering the program is given an OBS (student information system) user name and password required to access the student system at obs.yeditepe.edu.tr during registration. The OBS system also includes your student email address and password. You must log in to your student e-mail at webmail.yeditepe.edu.tr and activate your student e-mail by clicking on the activation link sent to you by e-mail. Please check both your student e-mail and your messages on OBS regularly. Advisor messages are only announced on OBS, general messages based on their content, may be announced either on OBS or  on the department web page. You will use your student e-mail and password to log in to the Yeditepe Moodle System (web address: yulearn.yeditepe.edu.tr) used for classes. Some courses use Google Classroom, while others use the Yeditepe Moodle (Yulearn) System. At the beginning of the semester, the instructor who teaches the course can inform about which platform each course uses, either in the first course or by sending a message via OBS. With the "Yeditepe" mobile application, you can have your OBS messages come directly to your phone. Students are obliged to follow the course registration dates from the academic calendar each semester, to register for the courses they need to register on the obs.yeditepe.edu.tr website in a timely and accurate manner, and to fully fulfill the requirements for the courses they are enrolled in. Course registrations take place after the approval of the academic advisor (and the Institute). During the add-drop period specified in the academic calendar, students have the opportunity to change the courses they choose at the beginning of the semester. User Guides are available on both  OBS and  the Yeditepe Yulearn System. Student petitions sent using e-mail / phone / online message may not be delivered for technical reasons without warning to the sender. Therefore, you need to ensure that petitions you sent are received by the intended party.  The petition to take the Ph.D. Qualifiers (i.e., Comprehensive Exam) and the graduation petition should be sent to the academic advisor stated in your OBS.  All other petitions should be sent to the department secretary stated in the department website contact  page. Petitions related to your thesis including registration suspension/freeze should have your thesis advisor's approval signature. Before submitting the graduation petition, your final thesis defense should be successfully concluded  and your thesis grade should be entered in the OBS system by your thesis advisor.

3. Students who successfully complete their course-work other than the FE 699 thesis course and are successful in the proficiency exam, are required to register for the FE 699 course every semester until they finish the program, and complete their thesis studies no later than the maximum time allowed in the program.  Maximum time allowed for the  PhD program (coursework+thesis) is 12 semesters for students accepted with a master's degree and 14 semesters for students accepted with a bachelor's degree.

4. A doctorate student admitted with a master's degree must take the proficiency exam latest by the end of the fifth semester, and a student admitted with a bachelor's degree must take the proficiency exam latest by the end of the seventh semester. Students who have successfully completed all their courses except the FE 699 Thesis course request to take the proficiency exam by submitting a petition to the department (Qualification Exam Application Form). The proficiency exam measures whether the student who has completed the courses and seminar has a good command of the basic topics and concepts in his field, and has the depth of scientific research related to his doctoral study. Students have a total of two chances to successfully pass the proficiency exam. The student who fails the proficiency exam for the first time can take the exam again in the next semester. The student who also fails in the second exam is dismissed from the doctoral program. Students who do not apply for the proficiency exam in the 5th semester are deemed to have failed the proficiency exam. If students who are deemed unsuccessful in the proficiency exam in their first chance do not take the proficiency exam in the following semester, they will be deemed unsuccessful in the second exam as well, and they will be dismissed from the doctoral program.

5. The proficiency exam jury may require a student to take extra courses/courses depending on the proficiency exam result, even if he/she has completed the course-work before the proficiency exam, provided that it does not exceed one third of the total credit amount required in the program .

6. The Ph.D. Thesis Monitoring Committee is established within one month after the student successfully passes the proficiency exam and it consists of three faculty members. In addition to the thesis advisor, there is one member each from within and outside the Institute's department in the committee. Even if the supervisor is a faculty member from the department, a member of the thesis monitoring committee other than the advisor must be from the department. The other member may be from another department within the institution or from outside the institution (i.e., full-time faculty members in another university). The PhD thesis defense jury consists of a total of 5 people, including the thesis monitoring committee. Two people on the PhD thesis defense jury must be a full-time faculty member from another university. 

7. A student who successfully completes the proficiency exam, fills the thesis application form within one month, makes an official thesis application, registers for the thesis course, and submits the thesis proposal covering the purpose, method and study plan of the research to be carried out, within six months following the proficiency exam date and conduct a thesis proposal defense in front of the thesis monitoring committee. The student distributes a written report on the thesis proposal to the committee members at least fifteen days before the thesis proposal defense. Starting from the first semester the student registers for the thesis course until the graduation, every semester, in each thesis committee meeting, including the thesis proposal defense, each semester's thesis progress and final thesis defense, on the day of the thesis committee meeting, the student obtains a thesis report form (Tutanak) from the Social Sciences Institute before the meeting starts and give it to the thesis advisor at the beginning of the meeting.  The thesis advisor submits the completed form to the department secretary at the end of the meeting.  In all meetings to be held with the thesis committee (i.e., thesis proposal defense, thesis monitoring and thesis final defense), the day and time of the meeting is organized by the student with the approval of all committee members. Every semester, at least 15 days before each thesis committee meeting, the student should sent a petition, which includes the nature of the meeting (i.e., thesis proposal defense, monitoring, final defense), its date and time, as well as the name and institution of each primary and substitute committee member, to the department secretary and request the meeting location information from the department secretary. The location information received from the department secretary should be conveyed to the committee members by the student.

8. A student who does not attend the thesis proposal defense within the specified period of 6 months without a valid excuse is considered unsuccessful in their thesis proposal.

9. The student whose thesis proposal is unsuccessful has the right to choose a new advisor and/or a new thesis topic. In this case, a new thesis monitoring committee can be appointed. Students who want to continue the program with the same advisor and subject have to conduct a thesis proposal defense again within three months, while students who change both their advisor and the thesis subject within six months. Students whose thesis proposal are unsuccessful for the second time are dismissed from the program.

10. A Student, whose thesis proposal is accepted, has to conduct one thesis monitoring committee meeting for each of Fall and Spring semesters. Thus there should be two meetings for each academic year, one in Fall and one in Spring. The thesis monitoring committee meeting should take place latest by the end of December for Fall semesters and latest by the end of June for Spring semesters.  The student submits a written report to the committee members at least one month before the meeting date. In this report, a summary of the work done so far and the work plan to be made in the next period are stated. The thesis work presented by the student at the thesis monitoring meeting is determined as successful or unsuccessful by the committee. A student who is found unsuccessful two times in a row or three times intermittently by the committee is dismissed from the higher education institution. A student who does not hold a thesis monitoring committee meeting latest by the end of December for the Fall semester, and latest by the end of June for the Spring semester, is deemed to have failed in the thesis monitoring committee meeting of that semester. Since students have some limited rights to freeze their registration, it is possible for them to use any remaining registration freeze right when they think that they cannot make a thesis monitoring presentation. 

11.  In order for the student's thesis to be finalized, at least three thesis monitoring committee reports (after the thesis proposal presentation) must be submitted. Following this, he/she can defend the thesis. Students who have come to the thesis defense stage should make an appointment with the Social Sciences Institute Student Affairs Office to learn about the organization of the thesis defense meeting and the procedures to be followed for the preparation and delivery of the thesis: The arrangement of the date and time that all committee members can attend for the thesis defense meeting is organized by the student. At least 2 months before the thesis defense meeting, the student should make an appointment with Yeditepe Writing Center to confirm that the thesis has the required format (See Yeditepe University Writing Center website). Then, at least 1 - 1.5 months before the planned final thesis defense date, thesis advisor sends the student's thesis to the Graduate School (the Social Sciences Institute) for a detailed similarity check. After getting approval from the Institute, the student applies to the Institute with a petition stating the thesis title, the details of the thesis committee members, the thesis defense day, time and location. After the institute accepts the application, the student can defend his/her thesis as planned. Students are obliged to forward a copy of their thesis completed at least one month before the thesis defense date to the members of the thesis defense jury. Every semester, for each thesis committee meeting, including the thesis proposal defense, each semester's thesis progress and final thesis defense, on the day of the meeting the student obtains a thesis report form (Tutanak) from the Social Sciences Institute before the meeting starts and give it to the thesis advisor at the beginning of the meeting. The thesis advisor submits the completed form to the department secretary at the end of the meeting.  For their final thesis defense, students are also required to bring a second form posted on this link to their final defense and forward it to the Social Sciences Institute Student Affairs at the end of the meeting after the committee members sign it.

12. Following a "Successful" thesis defense presentation, students must submit their thesis in CD and hardcover to the Social Sciences Institute, and at the same time, must send their pre-print articles to the Institute Secretary by email. After the successful defense result reaches the Institute, students are informed via e-mail about  the specific format of both their thesis file and their pre-print article.  Students, who wish to close their thesis and pre-print article to open access for the maximum period (6 months)  may submit a separate petition regarding their request along with their advisor signature on the petition, to the department secretary.

13. The student who has been dismissed may have the opportunity to re-apply to the program. If the courses he has taken before are accepted by the department, he can only start from the doctoral proficiency exam stage. Financial obligations regarding the same should be discussed personally with Yeditepe University Financial Affairs Unit.

14. Until the student is successful in the final thesis defense, he/she is obliged to register for the thesis course every semester (except for the periods when the registration is frozen).

15. Registration freeze period can be maximum three semesters for doctoral students. Students who want to freeze registration for more than one semester must submit a separate registration freeze petition for the said semester at the beginning of each semester. The semester in which the registration is frozen is not counted in the time spent at school. For example, if the registration is frozen in the 5th semester, the student's 5th semester is the first active semester after the end of the semester in which the registration is frozen.

16. The minimum GPA for graduation in the doctoral program is 3.00/4.00 and the minimum success grade in a course is CB. Students who get a grade below CB at the end of a semester in a course can take the make-up exam for that course at the end of that semester. The make-up exam of a course replaces the final exam of that course. If a course is graded below CB, that course must be repeated.

17. At the graduation stage, the minimum ECTS total that students must complete is 240 ECTS in the Doctoral Program and 300 ECTS in the Integrated Doctorate Program. In order to reach the minimum ECTS totals required at graduation, students who choose a course from the "elective" line during course registration should not choose courses with a lower ECTS value than the ECTS in their curriculum. Students who are successful in their last thesis defense should write a petition requesting their graduation and send it to the department.

18. The above information is based on the relevant official regulations for graduate education and is provided to assist you as a preliminary step. However, there may be complications or time issues, and rules may change. Therefore, you must always confirm any information regarding your status, your specific time limiations, rights and obligations and other details related to your degree program with the Student Affairs at the Social Sciences Institute. Similarly, you must confirm any information regarding your tuition and other financial details with the Yeditepe University Financial Affairs (02165780000 - 1253/1264/1276). The original documents of official regulations and directives for the graduate education can be obtained from the University website or from Student Affairs of the Institute of Social Sciences.

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