PhD

Oriental Studies

Study mode:On campus Study type:Full-time Languages: English
Local:$ 9.11 k / Year(s) Foreign:$ 23.7 k / Year(s) Deadline: Nov 18, 2024
1 place StudyQA ranking:3377 Duration:4 years

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The Faculty of Oriental Studies offers a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) research degree and is able to offer supervision over the full range of regions in which its academics have expertise.

Graduate destinations

Graduates in Oriental studies have found employment in many diverse fields including business, the civil service, finance, law, government, industry, and journalism and the media.

Many graduates have also undertaken further research into subjects linked with Oriental studies and have pursued successful careers in the academic world, education, libraries, literature and museums.

The DPhil in Oriental Studies is the faculty’s main research degree. Supervision can be offered in the full-range of areas in which the faculty has expertise, namely Chinese studies, Egyptology and the ancient Near East, Eastern Christianity, Hebrew and Jewish studies, the Islamic world, Japanese studies, Korean studies and South and Inner Asia. All topics fall under the general degree title of DPhil in Oriental Studies.

You will be assigned a supervisor(s) who has overall responsibility for the direction of your work on behalf of the faculty. Typically, you should expect to have meetings with your supervisor at least twice a term during the period of you study, often more frequently during the earlier stages of the research programme. Through independent research, and with the guidance of your supervisor, you will be required to complete a thesis of 80,000 to 100,000 words. 

The DPhil normally takes between three and four years to complete. You will begin your programme as a Probationary Research Student (PRS), applying to transfer to full DPhil status by the start of your second year. A further assessment, to confirm status, will take place during the third year. The transfer of status and confirmation of status assessments are processes handled by academics other than the supervisor, and are an opportunity to receive substantive feedback on your work by experts other than your supervisor(s).

You will have the opportunity to attend faculty seminars, lectures and colloquia, as well as a variety of skills training sessions offered by the faculty, as appropriate to different stages of the graduate career. All research students are offered an opportunity to attend the tutorial teaching day at the faculty in Hilary term. Those completing the training are then placed on the Graduate Teaching Register and are able to provide teaching for undergraduates if the opportunity arises.

Applicants are normally expected to be predicted or have achieved a first-class or an upper second class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent international qualifications) as a minimum in any subject, though ideally relevant to the topic of their research.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.5 out of 4.0.

Applicants for the DPhil are also normally expected to have a good master's degree in a subject closely related to the topic of their research.

If you hold non-UK qualifications and wish to check how your qualifications match these requirements, you can contact the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC).

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

  • Official transcript(s)
  • CV/résumé
  • Research proposal: Up to 2,500 words
  • Written work:Two essays of 2,000 words each
  • References/letters of recommendation:Three overall, generally academic

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Higher level

Test

Standard level scores

Higher level scores

IELTS Academic 
Institution code: 0713

7.0 Minimum 6.5 per component  7.5  Minimum 7.0 per component 

TOEFL iBT 
Institution code: 0490

100

Minimum component scores:

  • Listening: 22
  • Reading: 24
  • Speaking: 25
  • Writing: 24
110

Minimum component scores:

  • Listening: 22
  • Reading: 24
  • Speaking: 25
  • Writing: 24
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) 185

Minimum 176 per component

191 

Minimum 185 per component

Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) 185

Minimum 176 per component

191 

Minimum 185 per component

  • Global Education
  • Hill Foundation Scholarships
  • Ertegun Scholarship Programme 
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