The Study Program

The aim of the study program is to provide the students with a fast escalator to high level PhD--topics. Though a typical PhD--topic will usually be located in a more specialized subarea, it preferably should have both a more theoretical (i.e. in stochastics) and a more applied component (in economics or mathematical physics). Therefore, each student in the college should have besides his main advisor, a co--advisor, so that they complement each other (and hence the student's education) in this respect. At the same time we intend to supply the student with a well structured, overview concerning the general themes of all six projects described in the research programme below. The specialization is to be achieved by intensive individual advising and selected learning, e.g. in the form of "topical clusters", the overview mainly by an appropriate course program. The goal of the latter is also to acquire necessary specialized knowledge in stochastics and at least one of the two areas of applications - economics or mathematical physics.

We intend to offer a structured graduate program, characterized by

  • interdisciplinary education of all students

  • reading courses to satisfy lifting needs

  • intensive advising which goes beyond a 1:1 student-advisor relation via the clusters and co-advising in the complementary field of study and by the scientists of the partner institute

  • trans-national linkage by student twinning

  • largely self-organized topical clustering of students. An important goal of the clusters is to generate an intensive interaction of the students, among each other and with senior researchers, resident and visiting. Each cluster runs a weekly working seminar which serves as a forum where the state of the art and students' progressing research will be discussed in detail, relevant advisors and guest researchers will be present to offer guidance. The clusters will propose invitations of external experts for discussions, specialized and review lectures in their area. Clusters should be overlapping and interacting. They are also the principal locus of interaction between the Chinese and German partners.

  • traditional advising and

  • a limited, modularized course programme

The IGK will be imbedded in an environment of lively research including a considerable number of foreign guest researchers (BiBoS, SFB, ...).

Course Program