Lingnan is Hong Kong’s liberal arts university, whose small size, top international faculty and strong emphasis on close staff and student relationships offer a unique environment for the pursuit of advanced studies in this exciting part of the world. The University offers MPhil and PhD programmes in the Arts, Business and Social Sciences disciplines. Our top value is student-centred learning hence, for graduates, to ensure close and supportive thesis supervision. At Lingnan, students establish peer-type working relationships with world-class scholars who offer expert and close-contact supervision in their respective areas. Our compact working environment where research students relate as peers with world-class scholars has enabled Lingnan to maintain a track record in HKPFS Fellowships Scheme. One exciting area at Lingnan that offers a wonderful academic environment for MPhil and doctoral studies in Hong Kong is Economics.

With 12 regular academic staff, the Economics Department is large by Lingnan’s standards. Its members all hold PhDs from top universities internationally, and now counts with world-renowned Professor Avinash Dixit from Princeton University as its Distinguished Adjunct Professor (spending periods of 6 to 8 weeks with us annually). The Economics Department has been punching above its weight on research since being rated among the top 2 highest Economics Departments in Hong Kong in the latest Research Assessment Exercise (2006) conducted by the Hong Kong Government, with a huge 94.13% score against an average 76.72% in Business and Economics in Hong Kong’s universities generally. Equally important for our research students, the Department hosts a constant string of top scholars from around the world for short visits and seminars.

With funding from the largest-ever policy research grant from Hong Kong’s RGC, our Economics Department was first in Hong Kong to launch an in-depth research effort on the determinants of International Financial Centres and financial activity in Hong Kong and the region, and has considerable research, industry and policy depth across all areas of finance. In partnership with its sister Department of Finance and Insurance, this effort has now led to the creation of an International Finance Research Institute, based at Lingnan but bringing together the expertise of associates in industry and in academia locally and internationally. The Economics Department’s research and expertise span broad areas of economic theory and empirical and policy work ― in international economics, finance and trade, competition policy, labour markets, housing and health policy, ageing problems and population economics. The publications by the staff members of the Economics Department have appeared in the leading journals in economics and finance such as Econometrica, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Economic Theory, Review of Economic Studies, International Economic Review, Economic Journal, European Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Development Economics, and Journal of International Economics.

Applicants may seek admission to our PhD programmes in two ways as follows:

Ÿ   Outstanding and brilliant applicants may seek admission via the HKPFS by 1 December 2016 (Hong Kong Time 12:00 noon). Students who apply for and do not get the fellowship can still be considered for the regular PhD places at Lingnan.

Ÿ   Applicants may apply to the University directly during 1 November 2016 to 27 January 2017. Normally, full-time PhD students will be awarded Postgraduate Studentships which offer a monthly stipend of HK$15,760* (amount subject to review). 

*To be raised to HK$16,080 after confirmation of candidature.

We also have our popular and excellent research-based 2-year MPhil Economics programme. Applicants may apply for admission to our MPhil programmes directly during 1 November 2016 to 27 January 2017. Full-time MPhil students will also be awarded Postgraduate Studentships which offer a monthly stipend of HK$15,540 (amount subject to review).

For more details regarding application methods and requirements, please visit our website at www.LN.edu.hk/reg/info/pgrad. Should you have any queries, you are most welcome to contact the Registry (Tel.: (852) 2616 8750; Email: rpgadm@LN.edu.hk).