DPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

About the course

The DPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies is the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies' 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 Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

The DPhil normally takes between three and four years to complete.

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 may provide teaching for undergraduates if the opportunity arises.

Assessment

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. If successful, a further assessment, to confirm DPhil 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). The final thesis will be assessed through a viva voce examination, typically with one internal and one external examiner.

Graduate destinations

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

As a minimum, applicants should normally hold or be predicted to achieve the equivalent of the following UK qualifications: a master's degree with a good result (an average mark of 67% or above) in a subject closely related to the topic of your research; and a first-class or an upper second class undergraduate degree with honours in any subject, though ideally relevant to the topic of your research. For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.7 out of 4.0.