Programs
Joint PhD in Administration: 50 years of collaboration and excellence
November 4, 2026
The joint PhD in Administration program celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. This program, which represents an innovative partnership between HEC Montréal, McGill University (Desautels Faculty of Management), Université du Québec à Montréal (École des sciences de la gestion), and Concordia University (John Molson School of Business), is one of the world’s most important doctoral training centres in management and remains a model of interuniversity collaboration.
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From left to right: Denis Larocque (HEC Montréal), Tracy Hecht (Univ. Concordia), Julien Troiville (UQAM) and Sergei Sarkissian (Univ. McGill).
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Overview of an activity for the student community held for the Joint PhD Program's 50th anniversary.
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Denis Larocque, Director of the PhD Program at HEC Montréal.
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Henry Mintzberg’s (McGill University) keynote address.
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Federico Pasin, Director General of HEC Montréal.
Since its creation in 1976, the joint PhD in Administration program has trained over 1,300 students, fostering a new generation of top-tier scientific researchers whose work has contributed to the advancement of knowledge, teaching and management practices, both in Canada and around the world.
An innovative doctoral training model
This joint program has helped redefine doctoral training in management through sharing of faculty expertise, pooling of resources from four major Montréal universities and personalization of study tracks.
It was ambitiously set up to promote the emergence of new fields of study in management and has contributed to advancing knowledge across a wide range of areas and addressing the major challenges faced by organizations and society.
The program today
The program currently has 458 doctoral candidates. Thanks to the combined offering of the four partner universities, the program’s student community has access to over 700 faculty members, 36 specializations and more than 150 courses.
“Privileged access to courses offered by the four partner universities, combined with the inclusion of a professor from a partner university on each supervisory committee, promotes openness, the pooling of expertise, network development and collaborative opportunities for doctoral students. This is why the joint doctoral program remains more essential than ever for training researchers who can make a real societal impact by advancing cutting-edge knowledge to address increasingly complex problems.”
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HEC Montréal at the heart of the program
Currently,152 doctoral candidates from HEC Montréal are enrolled in the joint PhD in Administration program. They thrive in a dynamic research environment that includes:
- 12 specializations;
- 310 professors;
- 36 research chairs, including seven Canada Research Chairs;
- 26 research and knowledge transfer units;
- $46.2 million in research funding.
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