PhD Economics / Overview

Entry into the programme requires both the prior attainment of certain academic qualifications and also the submission of a satisfactory research proposal at time of application;

• Direct entry into year 2 of the 5 year programme, you will normally be expected to have achieved a high level of performance in a postgraduate programme in economics.  For a UK masters programme, high level performance equates to a minimum overall average of 65% on the taught component and a dissertation mark of 65% or above (with no mark below 55%).  Entry from other courses is considered on a case-by-case basis.  Your masters' training is expected to offer a comparable training to one of the following programmes at Manchester; MSc Economics, MSc Econometrics, MSc Economics & Econometrics, MSc Financial Economics.
• For year 1 entry of the 5 year programme, you will normally be expected to have achieved a high level performance in an undergraduate and/or a postgraduate programme in economics that provides a sound training in microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics equivalent to at least an Upper Second Class Honours in the BEconSc degree at Manchester.
• Applicants with a high level of performance in any of the following Manchester PG programmes would normally be accepted to enter Year 1, although Year 2 is considered on a case-by-case basis: MA Economics, MSc Finance and Economics, MSc Development Economics and Policy, MSc Economics and Management of Rural Development, MSc Environment and Development, MSc Development Finance, MSc Industrial Strategy and Trade Policy and MA Political Economy.
• GRE.  This is only one of our admission criteria - we are looking for the 'right fit' for the PhD/MRes programme and use all of the admissions criteria to make a decision. A very high score does not necessarily give a stronger chance of admission and a below average score does not automatically eliminate a candidate.

Expert supervision is key to research degree programmes. We cannot provide supervision across all areas and we are therefore sometimes unable to offer admission to excellent applicants.