Our three-year Doctoral Program in National Development (Doctor/ND) is designed to prepare the next generation of visionary leaders in national development. Candidates who have demonstrated a proven record of high academic and professional accomplishment and who wish to further hone their skills of leadership and elevate their knowledge on development-related work are encouraged to apply. Minimal academic requirement for Doctor/ND is a graduate degree in a relevant field at the master level or above. Through a structured program of courses, workshops, and field trips which add to a total 40 credits (including a course on Chinese language) during the first year, students develop a conceptual tool kit that draws on the social sciences but is adapted for applications in the real world. A defining feature of our Doctor/ND is that candidates are expected to come to study with a real-world problem, develop a thesis prospectus under the guidance of an academic advisor by the end of the first year, and then spend the next one year going back to their own countries with a hunger for evidence from the messy real world, and with the intellectual capacity to conceptualize and craft effective solutions. All of this culminates in producing a doctoral dissertation with an oral defense by the end of the third year.

 

1)    Program Requirement

All ISSCAD degree candidates have course load requirements to ensure the successful completion of their designated degree program by the date of graduation. The following table shows the number of credits required for graduation in the Doctoral program offered at the Institute.

Doctor	Credit
Core Courses	26 credits
Elective Courses	>= 0 credits
Chinese Language Course	2 credits
Field Study	3 credits
Dissertation
Total Credits Required	38 credits

 

2)    Curriculum

Core Courses
China Immersion Program	Required	3 Credits
Public Policy – Microeconomic Analysis	Required	3 Credits
Statistics in Social Science Research	Required	3 Credits
The Role of State in Economic Development	Required	3 Credits
The Political Economy of China’s Economic Growth	Required	3 Credits
New Structural Economics and Policy Designs	Required	3 Credits
Public Policy – Macroeconomic Analysis	Required	3 Credits
Global Leadership	Required	3 Credits
Research Design for a Social Science Research	Required	2 Credits
Elective Courses
Politics of International Economic Relations	Elective	3 Credits
International Economic Development	Elective	3 Credits
Comparative Political Institutions	Elective	3 Credits
Political Philosophy	Elective	3 Credits
Development Financing: Theories, Practice and Institutional Design	Elective	3 Credits
Seminars on Inclusiveness and Sustainable Development	Elective	3 Credits
Applied Econometrics	Elective	3 Credits
Chinese Language Course
Chinese Language	Required	2 Credits
Social Practice
Field Study	Required	3 Credits

 

China Immersion Program

Before regular semester-based courses start, students are required to attend a China Immersion Program. The one-semester program is composed of a series of lectures, covering various topics related to national development, such as political institutions and national governance, economic system reform and development planning, China’s opening up and globalization, peace-development-cooperation foreign policy, “One Belt, One Road” initiative, educational reform in China, etc.

 

Chinese Language Course

In accordance with Peking University’s regulation, all international students are required to take a one-semester Chinese language course which is worth 2 credits.

 

Field Study

Field study trips will be arranged for students to visit China’s special economic zones, industrial clusters, government agencies, and business corporations, to gain first-hand knowledge of how governments and markets operate under various changing conditions in the reform and opening-up process of China, and to learn about China’s success and lessons in economic development. All students are required to participate in the field study trips, which will take place in both fall and spring semesters.

 

3)    Independent Research

Students are encouraged to come to ISSCAD with practical problems to be solved in relation to political, economic or social development of the student’s home country. Guided by a supervisor, a Doctoral student is expected to utilize what she/he has learned during the program, carry out independent research by means of literature review, data collection, comparative analysis, field studies, etc., and finally produce a policy report that has both practical implications and social impacts, and is able to give a boost to the national development and social advancement of the student’s home country.

 

4)    Dissertation

The Doctoral dissertation shall be written in English, and under the guidance of an advisor. The dissertation shall demonstrate that the candidate has obtained a deep understanding of the theories and knowledge of national development and has made serious and thorough reflections in this regard. Under the guidance of an advisor, and on the basis of the independent research conducted previously, students are expected to make use of  the theories, knowledge and analytical skills acquired from the program to examine phenomena, analyze inherent principles, and finally produce a dissertation with both academic value and realistic significance. A student shall choose a professor as his/her advisor in the first semester, and determine the subject matter of research under the guidance of an advisor in the second semester. After having successfully passed the comprehensive examination and an oral defense of the thesis prospectus by the end of the first year, students are expected to spend the next one and a half years searching for evidence in the real world, conducting academic research and composing the dissertation. In the sixth semester, they shall finalize and defend their dissertation. A Doctoral thesis must pass high standards, and will be evaluated on the basis of its originality, academic contribution, and practical value.

 

5)    Degree Conferment

A Doctoral degree in Economics will be conferred on a candidate in the doctoral program after his/her successful completion of the required credits and a dissertation as described above.