Students must acquire rigorous, state of the art knowledge in core areas of technological change, innovation, public policy, industry dynamics, and research methodologies. Students will complete the first year of coursework in Lisbon, Portugal, and the second year at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Students will complete core courses in the areas of technological change, economics, quantitative methods, entrepreneurship, and organizational theory.

A sample sequence of core and basic elective courses is given below.

Additional elective courses may be required in the third year depending on their area of concentration. Each student's area of concentration will be worked out in conjunction with his or her faculty committee.

Areas of concentration will differ across students according to the colleges or departments in which they are admitted. For example, students interested in Economics of Technological Change admitted through the SDS-Carnegie Mellon and FCEE-UCP might include in their concentration courses in Tame Theory, Industrial Organization or Competitive Behaviour. Students admitted in EPP-Carnegie Mellon and IST-UTL with interests in Telecommunications might include in their concentration courses in Telecom Policy and Network Management and Control.