MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies

The MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies is a two-year (six-term) course intended for students from all social science and humanities backgrounds. The course provides intensive training in a Middle Eastern language, training in research methods and topics relevant to the study of the Middle East.

The MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies accepts students who are complete beginners in a Middle Eastern language (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian or Turkish). The course also accommodates students in Turkish and Arabic at an advanced level as well as Arabic at an intermediate level. If you already have research-level proficiency in one of these languages you will be required to take a different language.

Intensive language training takes place through all six terms of the course. This training takes place in classes and language laboratories. In addition to language training, in the first term you are expected to attend the weekly MPhil Qualitative Research Methods for Modern Middle Eastern Studies lecture and seminar. In addition to the lecture, this seminar is an interactive forum in which you are expected to present arguments and to respond to the lecture, associated readings, and each other’s formative essays, which are a crucial element of teaching, but do not count toward the student's final marks. In addition to Qualitative Research Methods, you will be encouraged to attend other lectures and seminars offered by the teaching staff during the first term. You will complete and submit a take-home written assignment based on the Qualitative Research Methods Seminar after the end of the first term which will form the first of two elements of your Qualifying Examination. The second element of the Qualifying Examination is a language qualifying examination taken at the end of the first year (first three terms) of the course.

In the second term, in consultation with your supervisor, you will attend a series of tutorials for one of three options to be offered for the final examination. These are taught in the second, third and fourth terms of the course. Tutorials typically involve weekly meetings and between four and six formative essays, arranged between you and your tutor.

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in any social science or humanities subject.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum overall GPA that is normally required to meet the undergraduate-level requirement is 3.5 out of 4.0.