Asian Cultures and Languages (MA/PhD)
Department website: http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/asianstudies/
The Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees with a major in Asian cultures and languages are intended for students whose career objective is college or university teaching. For these degrees, students concentrate in Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, or Urdu.
There is considerable flexibility in meeting degree requirements. Each student, in consultation with the graduate advisor and faculty mentor, designs an individual program within the framework of the requirements.
Graduate courses are offered regularly in the histories, cultures, religions, languages, and literatures of Asia. The study of these languages and cultures may also be included in programs leading to master’s or doctoral degrees in other disciplines.
Graduate Handbook
Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.
Admission
This program is intended for students who wish to obtain a doctorate in order to pursue an academic career in the study of China, Japan, Korea, or South Asia. They may apply to enter the program with a bachelor’s degree in area studies or a related field. Most applicants will have knowledge of an Asian language before applying for admission. Students without this knowledge but whose applications are otherwise outstanding may also be accepted into the program. Students may complete first- and second-year college level language coursework after they are admitted, but these courses will not count toward the credit hours required for their master’s and doctoral degrees. Successful applicants holding only a bachelor’s degree will initially be enrolled in the master of arts program, with the expectation that after obtaining the master’s degree they will continue their study in the doctoral phase of the program. Applicants who already hold a master’s degree in a related field may be admitted directly to the doctoral phase of the program. Such applicants normally have an advanced level of proficiency in the language and graduate-level coursework in the area of their specialization.
Total Hours Required: 48
MA: 30
PhD: 18
Requirements
This program requires a minimum of 48 semester hours of coursework and consists of two phases. The first phase (master of arts) requires 30 semester hours of coursework, including the report course. Students must take at least three courses in their area of specialization—for example, in Japanese culture, Indian religion, or Chinese literature. They must also take one graduate course that introduces them to research methods of the appropriate discipline—for example, in historiography, ethnography, or literary theory/criticism—and another course in history or in the social sciences relating to their regional area of study. Up to nine hours of upper-division undergraduate coursework may be counted toward the master’s degree.
Students must pass a formal review during the second year that determines if the student may advance to the doctoral program. To complete the master’s degree phase, students are expected to show proficiency in a language offered by the Department of Asian Studies, either by completing six semester hours of advanced language study with a grade of at least B in each course or by passing a proficiency examination. To complete the master’s degree program, students must submit, in the last semester of their coursework (normally the fourth semester), a report that shows their ability to conduct independent research. Successful completion of this report is required for admission to the PhD phase.
The PhD phase of the program requires at least 18 semester hours of coursework beyond the master’s degree, prior to the completion of dissertation courses. In total, MA/PhD students must complete at least 24 semester hours in the major and minor areas of specialization and six semester hours in theory and methodology related to the major and/or minor area(s).
Students admitted directly to the PhD program must complete at least 30 semester hours of coursework in addition to the dissertation courses. Within their field of expertise (China, Japan, Korea, or South Asia), students must complete 24 semester hours in the major and minor areas of specialization, and six semester hours in theory and methodology related to the major and/or minor area(s). Areas of specialization must be approved by the graduate advisor and mentor.
All PhD students are expected to demonstrate fifth-year proficiency in one Asian language prior to defending the dissertation.
Competency in at least one modern foreign language that will be used in research is required. The research language may be a European language, such as French or German, or a modern Asian language. If the student chooses to study an Asian language as the research language, the language should be one that is pertinent to the student’s professional development, such as Hindi for students whose primary language of study is Sanskrit. The choice of language(s) and the required level of proficiency are determined by the mentor and dissertation supervisor in consultation with the graduate advisor.
To be admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree, students must take comprehensive examinations in their area of specialization, pass a dissertation prospectus hearing, and demonstrate research-level proficiency in the language(s) of their field. Normally, students take their comprehensive examination, including an oral defense, in the third or fourth semester of the PhD phase.
After passing the comprehensive examination, the student, in consultation with the graduate advisor and graduate mentor, selects five faculty members to form a dissertation committee; the chair of the committee is the student’s dissertation supervisor. After passing the dissertation prospectus hearing, the student may advance to doctoral candidacy.
Published guidelines regarding the comprehensive examination, dissertation prospectus hearing, admission to candidacy, and completion of the dissertation are available from the Department of Asian Studies.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| All students must also follow the requirements and policies below: | ||
| Graduate Liberal Arts Requirements | ||
| Graduate University Requirements | ||
Additional Requirements and Policy
All graduate students in the Department of Asian Studies are required to complete an annual report detailing their progress in the program. Annual reports are reviewed by the Graduate Studies Committee each spring.