There is a silver lining to every cloud it would seem, and Edhec Business School in France has discovered one of them amid current financial woes: demand for its executive PhD programme in finance is so high that it has had to bring forward the launch date.

The plan had been for Edhec to launch its residential doctoral programme this year and the executive programme - which is intended for managers who retain employment - to be launched in 2009, according to Frédéric Ducoulombier, director of asset management education at Edhec. “We thought we would need at least 18 months to persuade professionals of the value of the degree,” he says.