Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online at https://utexas.box.com/v/UTAustinGraduateHandbooks. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Master of Arts

The master’s degree program requires 33 semester hours of coursework, of which three hours are earned in the report course, German 398R, Master's Report.

The core program consists of three courses: usually German 381 (Topic 2: Introduction to Synchronic Linguistics: German) or German 381 (Topic 3: Introduction to Diachronic Linguistics: Germanic); German 398T, Supervised Teaching in German; and one course from among German 386, Periods in Germanic Literature; German 382M, Topics in Cultural History; or German 382N, Topics in Intellectual History. Additional coursework required for program completion will accommodate the student's declared area of specialization and will include seven electives chosen in consultation with the graduate advisor.

In their final semester, while enrolled in German 398R, Master's Report, students must pass an oral examination of up to one and one-half hours based on the master’s report and coursework completed in the declared area of the specialization.

Students must also demonstrate reading competence in one foreign language other than English and the language of the students' major field of study (usually German); students with competence in English and another Germanic language are strongly encouraged to choose German as their other language.

Doctor of Philosophy

The doctoral program usually requires 27 semester hours of coursework beyond the master’s degree. In consultation with the graduate advisor, students develop primary and supporting areas of specialization, with the primary area usually being the area of the proposed dissertation. These areas should represent professionally acknowledged focuses for research and teaching in the field, covering the broad spectrum of literature, cultural, and linguistic specializations represented in the major professional organizations. 

Students are expected to complete the core program for the Master of Arts degree or its equivalent before final admission to the doctoral program (including demonstrated reading competence in an additional foreign language, as described above). Students must fulfill the following requirements: (1) successfully complete the qualifying procedure to confirm entrance into the doctoral program, administered by the Graduate Studies Committee; (2) demonstrate reading competence in one additional foreign language other than German or the language of concentration; (3) near the completion of all coursework, pass the candidacy procedure; and (4) defend the completed dissertation in the final oral examination.