Why I am here

PhD student pushing button about Doctorate of Philosophy concept

SGH´s undeniable strong reputation and high degree of academic excellence

na zdjęciu: Tom Kampschulte

Hallo and Dzień Dobry! My name is Tom, and I am a first year PhD student from Germany with my family tracing its roots to Silesia. Currently I am attending the Economics profile while writing my doctoral thesis in the field of Comparative Capitalism, or more precisely, I am looking at how selected historical exo- and endogenous occurrences have impacted the various models of capitalism and their respective institutional setup.  

My history with SGH starts years back with my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees which I earned in Management and Global Business, Finance, and Governance respectively. I attended both programs full-time in English. Even for my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees the decision was made quite easily: much different to many universities in Germany, SGH devotes a lot of attention and effort to a tailor-made experience with most lectures and classes conducted interactively in small groups while offering the majority of its programs also in English. It was was quite important for me since I was (or, admittedly, still am) in a dire need to “polish up my Polish”. SGH´s undeniable strong reputation as well as its quality of academic conduct was the very steppingstone which eventually enabled me to start my career in a Big Four firm here in Warsaw right after graduation.

In a similar fashion I have chosen to attend SGH´s Doctoral School due to the lasting impression the university made on me during my previous two degrees and the immense supportiveness of people associated with the newly established Doctoral School. The support provided by the Collegium of World of Economy, under which my doctoral thesis is hosted, was equally important. They encouraged me to continue the research path which I started during my Master’s studies. Moreover, the decision to attend the school was easier for me because from the very beginning the doctoral program has been outlined as a part-time endeavour rather than demanding full-time commitment. This, in turn, enabled me to combine my academic ambitions with the career in a Big Four firm. However, the school sometimes struggles to deliver on that promise and similarly grapples frequently to fit the different interests and backgrounds of its students to the profiles it offers forcing the doctoral students to spend a lot of time on theory not associated with their own research. This, for example, led myself to request a change in profile that would better fit my research as well as my academic background. Nevertheless, the school is extremely determined to fix its shortcomings and is constantly inviting its PhD students for meetings to gather feedback and improve its offer.

Without a doubt and despite some minor issues associated with its “infancy” I can wholeheartedly recommend SGH´s Doctoral School specifically because of its high degree of academic excellence, reputation, as well as its rich offer of conferences, guest lecturers, competitions, and supplementary grants. Last but not least, the SGH community is a tight knit community, yet open at the same time and one that really lives its motto: Once a part of the family, always a part of the family.

 


Dear Readers, as the newly elected Council of PhD Student Union we would like to thank all fellow PhD Students and PhD Candidates for their support and trust placed in us in the recent elections. We are eager to organise numerous events for our Academic Community.

The Council of PhD Student Union in the 2022/2023 term of office: Jolanta Bartoszewska, Jakub Bronicki, Przemysław Brzuszczak, Weronika Muszyńska, Andrzej Nowakowski, Grzegorz Otczyk, Włodzimierz Petryk, Monika Piosik, Marek Szyl, Aleksandra Toczyk, Adam Zawadzki.

SGH Doctoral School introduces many solutions aimed at internationalisation of its structures. More and more students from abroad join our family. One of them is Tom Kampschulte who would like to tell us why he has chosen our university. We sincerely hope that this essay will allow us all to notice yet another reason to be proud of being part of the SGH community.

JOLANTA BARTOSZEWSKA, Head of the Board of the PhD Student Union
CONTACT: Samorząd Doktorantów SGH/PhD Student Union | doktoranci@sgh.waw.pl | facebook.com/samorzaddoktorantowsgh