NUS

Joint PhD (NUS-King's College London (English Language and Linguistics))

Joint PhD

Linguistics

Language and Communication

Three schools at King’s College London (KCL) – School of Arts & Humanities, School of Social Science & Public Policy, and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience – and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) invite applications to the Joint Ph.D. programme (JDP) for every Semester I (August) intake. This JDP represents a good mix of strengths from both universities to enhance the training and research work of PhD candidates from both institutions. The programme allows students to pursue work in a wide range of humanities and social science disciplines as well as in topics that invite interdisciplinary approaches. The Schools and Faculty complement each other in terms of areas of strength and geographical location. You will be registered in one home university, but guided in your work by faculty from both, and examined to the standards of both. You will graduate with a joint qualification, earning a certificate which bears the crests of both universities.
Your application should be submitted to the university you will be based at. This means that if you wish to apply for admission to NUS and our scholarship schemes, you have to submit your application directly to NUS. You are not required to submit a separate application to KCL and vice-versa.
If you wish to be based at KCL, you should apply directly to KCL. Please refer to KCL’s website for the application instructions.
The graduate programmes offered by the Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies provide both an extensive education and a specialist discipline, enabling students to develop flexibility and range, coupled with specific transferable skills.Students learn to be critical and creative in their thinking, to evaluate and manage complex information and to construct arguments. They master the arts of speaking and writing with clarity, precision and elegance: highly coveted skills in the modern workplace.The English Language and Linguistics programmes provide a range of courses that offer expertise at an advanced level in foundational areas of language study, including grammatical structure of language, sound structure of language, and language use in social context.

Faculty

Arts and Social Sciences

English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies

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Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences National University of Singapore Block AS5, 7 Arts Link Singapore 117570

Welcome to the Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies (NUS)

We are one of the oldest departments in the university, and have had students studying with us since 1929. In that time we have changed from a department in a colonial university, to one that students mobilized in anti-colonial struggles, to an independent department in a newly independent nation, and finally, to the contemporary centre of literary, performance, and linguistic studies that we are today.
The department is rather peculiar in that it houses three undergraduate majors and three graduate programmes all under the same roof. We teach and study English literature, language and linguistics, and Theatre and Performance Studies. Although there is a lot of collegial and student interaction between the three parts, as well as some teaching and research collaboration, each of the three sections has its own character and its own distinctive strengths. However, all three programmes include in their ranks some of the very best teachers in the university.

Scholarships

NUS Research ScholarshipPresident's Graduate FellowshipDean's PhD FellowshipCommonwealth ScholarshipFASS Scholarship in Buddhist StudiesFoo Hai Ch'an Monastery Scholarship in Buddhist Studies

Commitment and Candidature

Commitment	Average Candidature	Maximum Candidature
Full Time	4.5 Years	5 Years

Target Audience

Bachelor’s or master’s degree holder with a relevant background that seeks to gain expertise at an advanced level in foundational areas of language study, including the grammatical structure of language, the sound structure of language, and language use in a social context.

General Admission Criteria

Criteria		Minimum Score
GPA		Normally a good Masters degree in a relevant discipline; or in exceptional circumstances and case by case, an NUS Honours degree (at least Second Class Upper Division) or equivalent (e.g., a four-year Bachelors degree with an average grade above B) in a relevant discipline, subject to approval by the Faculty
English Proficiency Tests	TOEFL Internet-based	85 / 120
English Proficiency Tests	IELTS	6 / 9

GRE is optional. However, evidence of strong quantitative, verbal, and analytical skills through GRE scores, as well as indicators of research skills and experience will significantly strengthen your application.

The Department requires a writing sample related to the area of study (EL, EN or TS) to be submitted for all applications to its graduate programmes

PhD students are requested to provide a preliminary research proposal of 2-4 pages. Although this document should be as focused as possible, it is exploratory and admitted students are not required to work on the exact area proposed. However, the capacities to develop an interesting research question and approach are important indicators of a student’s ability and seriousness.

More information on how to write a research proposal can be obtained from: Research Proposal Guidelines for Applicants and How to Write a Research Proposal.

JDP application form

Please refer to the Faculty’s website here for the complete admission requirements and here for a list of supporting documents required.

Application Periods and Intakes

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