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SKEMA reshapes its PhD in Management to meet the highest global academic standards
The PhD in Management at SKEMA Business School is entering a new phase, with a renewed academic ambition. A highly selective doctoral programme delivered over five years and taught entirely in English on Sophia Antipolis campus, it now offers a redesigned structure and clearer pathways. Throughout their studies, doctoral candidates benefit from close supervision by SKEMA faculty members. The programme’s objective is clear: to train future professors to the standards of the world’s leading business schools
The PhD in Management at SKEMA is now built around a new roadmap. This overhaul comes with a structured research environment, supported by regular academic seminars and exchanges with scholars from leading institutions.
Aspiring doctoral candidates must also demonstrate strong quantitative and writing skills, either through internationally recognised certifications such as the GMAT or GRE
Open to fifteen students per year, the multidisciplinary programme is marked by demanding and selective admission criteria. It is primarily aimed at internationally oriented candidates holding a master’s degree in a relevant field, including (but not limited to) management, economics, statistics, applied mathematics or engineering. “Aspiring doctoral candidates must also demonstrate strong quantitative and writing skills, either through internationally recognised certifications such as the GMAT or GRE, or during the interview process,” explains Professor Zakaria Babutsidze, Director of the PhD programme. He adds: “At the end of their doctoral studies, students will be awarded the SKEMA PhD degree, as well as the PhD degree from Université Côte d’Azur.”
Six possible tracks
Designed over a total period of five years, the PhD in Management at SKEMA is structured around six tracks: Strategy and Innovation, Finance and Accounting, Analytics and Operations, Marketing, Sustainability, and Artificial Intelligence for Business. While the first two years are devoted to coursework on the Sophia Antipolis campus, the final three years focus on research and take place on the campus where the candidate’s PhD supervisor is based. Access to this research phase (years 3 to 5) is subject to passing comprehensive examinations. Beyond these tracks, the programme is built on four academic specialisations — Strategy and Innovation, Finance and Accounting, Operations and Analytics, and Marketing — as well as two cross-cutting study concentrations: Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence for Business.
A tailored pathway and close supervision for each doctoral candidate
The first-year curriculum is common to all tracks. In the second year, students follow advanced courses linked to their chosen track. Doctoral candidates opting for one of the concentrations — Sustainability or Artificial Intelligence for Business — are required to anchor their studies in one of the programme’s four specialisations. “This new structure places SKEMA’s PhD in line with the most demanding international academic standards and prepares our doctoral candidates for careers of academic excellence,” concludes Florencio Lopez de Silanes, Strategic Director of the PhD in Management.
During the research phase, from years three to five, each doctoral candidate is supervised by a PhD advisor whose number of supervisees is deliberately limited, ensuring close and personalised guidance. Doctoral students also receive financial support for their research activities, including conference participation and access to proprietary databases. Over the course of this period, they are expected to produce three high-quality scientific articles, suitable for publication in leading academic journals.
