Asian Cultures and Languages (PhD)
Department website: http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/asianstudies/
The Doctor of Philosophy degree with a major in Asian cultures and languages is 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. Applicants who hold a master’s degree in a related field may be admitted directly to the doctoral phase of the program. Such applicants usually have an advanced level of proficiency in the language and graduate-level coursework in the area of their specialization. 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 doctoral degree.
Total Hours Required: 30
Requirements
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.