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English Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2024 2024.

The Drama of Last Things: Reckoning in Late Medieval and Early Modern English Drama , Spencer M. Daniels

African Spirituality in Literature Written by Women of African Descent , Brigét V. Harley

Hidden Monstrosities: The Transformation of Medieval Characters and Conventions in Shakespeare's Romances , Lynette Kristine Kuliyeva

Making the Invisible Visible: (Re)envisioning the Black Body in Contemporary Adaptations of Nineteenth-Century Fiction , Urshela Wiggins McKinney

Lawful Injustice: Novel Readings of Racialized Temporality and Legal Instabilities , Danielle N. Mercier

“Manne, for thy loue wolde I not lette”: Eucharistic Portrayals of Caritas in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature and Drama 1350-1650 , Rachel Tanski

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Of Mētis and Cuttlefish: Employing Collective Mētis as a Theoretical Framework for Marginalized Communities , Justiss Wilder Burry

What on earth are we doing (?): A Field-Wide Exploration of Design Courses in TPC , Jessica L. Griffith

Organizations Ensuring Resilience: A Case Study of Cortez, Florida , Karla Ariel Maddox

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Using Movie Clips to Understand Vivid-Phrasal Idioms’ Meanings , Rasha Salem S. Alghamdi

An Exercise in Exceptions: Personhood, Divergency, and Ableism in the STAR TREK Franchise , Jessica A. Blackman

Vulnerable Resistance in Victorian Women’s Writing , Stephanie A. Harper

Curricular Assemblages: Understanding Student Writing Knowledge (Re)circulation Across Genres , Adam Phillips

PAD Beyond the Classroom: Integrating PAD in the Scrum Workplace , Jade S. Weiss

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Social Cues in Animated Pedagogical Agents for Second Language Learners: the Application of The Embodiment Principle in Video Design , Sahar M. Alyahya

A Field-Wide Examination of Cross-Listed Courses in Technical Professional Communication , Carolyn M. Gubala

Labor-Based Grading Contracts in the Multilingual FYC Classroom: Unpacking the Variables , Kara Kristina Larson

Land Goddesses, Divine Pigs, and Royal Tricksters: Subversive Mythologies and Imperialist Land Ownership Dispossession in Twentieth Century Irish and American Literature , Elizabeth Ricketts

Oppression, Resistance, and Empowerment: The Power Dynamics of Naming and Un-naming in African American Literature, 1794 to 2019 , Melissa "Maggie" Romigh

Generic Expectations in First Year Writing: Teaching Metadiscoursal Reflection and Revision Strategies for Increased Generic Uptake of Academic Writing , Kaelah Rose Scheff

Reframing the Gothic: Race, Gender, & Disability in Multiethnic Literature , Ashely B. Tisdale

Intersections of Race and Place in Short Fiction by New Orleans Gens de Couleur Libres , Adrienne D. Vivian

Mental Illness Diagnosis and the Construction of Stigma , Katie Lynn Walkup

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Rhetorical Roundhouse Kicks: Tae Kwon Do Pumsae Practice and Non-Western Embodied Topoi , Spencer Todd Bennington

9/11 Then and Now: How the Performance of Memorial Rhetoric by Presidents Changes to Construct Heroes , Kristen M. Grafton

Kinesthetically Speaking: Human and Animal Communication in British Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century , Dana Jolene Laitinen

Exploring Refugee Students’ Second Language (L2) Motivational Selves through Digital Visual Representations , Nhu Le

Glamour in Contemporary American Cinema , Shauna A. Maragh

Instrumentalization Theory: An Analytical Heuristic for a Heightened Social Awareness of Machine Learning Algorithms in Social Media , Andrew R. Miller

Intercessory Power: A Literary Analysis of Ethics and Care in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon , Alice Walker’s Meridian , and Toni Cade Bambara’s Those Bones Are Not My Child , Kelly Mills

The Power of Non-Compliant Logos: A New Materialist Approach to Comic Studies , Stephanie N. Phillips

Female Identity and Sexuality in Contemporary Indonesian Novels , Zita Rarastesa

"The Fiery Furnaces of Hell": Rhetorical Dynamism in Youngstown, OH , Joshua M. Rea

“We developed solidarity”: Family, Race, Identity, and Space-Time in Recent Multiethnic U.S. American Fiction , Kimber L. Wiggs

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Remembrance of a Wound: Ethical Mourning in the Works of Ana Menéndez, Elías Miguel Muñoz, and Junot Díaz , José Aparicio

Taking an “Ecological Turn” in the Evaluation of Rhetorical Interventions , Peter Cannon

New GTA’s and the Pre-Semester Orientation: The Need for Informed Refinement , Jessica L. Griffith

Reading Rape and Answering with Empathy: A New Approach to Sexual Assault Education for College Students , Brianna Jerman

The Karoo , The Veld , and the Co-Op: The Farm as Microcosm and Place for Change in Schreiner, Lessing, and Head , Elana D. Karshmer

"The weak are meat, and the strong do eat"; Representations of the Slaughterhouse in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature , Stephanie Lance

Language of Carnival: How Language and the Carnivalesque Challenge Hegemony , Yulia O. Nekrashevich

Queer Authority in Old and Middle English Literature , Elan J. Pavlinich

Because My Garmin Told Me To: A New Materialist Study of Agency and Wearable Technology , Michael Repici

No One Wants to Read What You Write: A Contextualized Analysis of Service Course Assignments , Tanya P. Zarlengo

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Beauty and the Beasts: Making Places with Literary Animals of Florida , Haili A. Alcorn

The Medievalizing Process: Religious Medievalism in Romantic and Victorian Literature , Timothy M. Curran

Seeing Trauma: The Known and the Hidden in Nineteenth-Century Literature , Alisa M. DeBorde

Analysis of User Interfaces in the Sharing Economy , Taylor B. Johnson

Border-Crossing Travels Across Literary Worlds: My Shamanic Conscientization , Scott Neumeister

The Spectacle of The Bomb: Rhetorical Analysis of Risk of The Nevada Test Site in Technical Communication, Popular Press, and Pop Culture , Tiffany Wilgar

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Traveling Women and Consuming Place in Eighteenth-Century Travel Letters and Journals , Cassie Patricia Childs

“The Nations of the Field and Wood”: The Uncertain Ontology of Animals in Eighteenth-Century British Literature , J. Kevin Jordan

Modern Mythologies: The Epic Imagination in Contemporary Indian Literature , Sucheta Kanjilal

Science in the Sun: How Science is Performed as a Spatial Practice , Natalie Kass

Body as Text: Physiognomy on the Early English Stage , Curtis Le Van

Tensions Between Democracy and Expertise in the Florida Keys , Elizabeth A. Loyer

Institutional Review Boards and Writing Studies Research: A Justice-Oriented Study , Johanna Phelps-Hillen

The Spirit of Friendship: Girlfriends in Contemporary African American Literature , Tangela La'Chelle Serls

Aphra Behn on the Contemporary Stage: Behn's Feminist Legacy and Woman-Directed Revivals of The Rover , Nicole Elizabeth Stodard

(Age)ncy in Composition Studies , Alaina Tackitt

Constructing Health Narratives: Patient Feedback in Online Communities , Katie Lynn Walkup

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Rupturing the World of Elite Athletics: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of the Suspension of the 2011 IAAF Regulations on Hyperandrogenism , Ella Browning

Shaping Climate Citizenship: The Ethics of Inclusion in Climate Change Communication and Policy , Lauren E. Cagle

Drop, Cover, and Hold On: Analyzing FEMA's Risk Communication through Visual Rhetoric , Samantha Jo Cosgrove

Material Expertise: Applying Object-oriented Rhetoric in Marine Policy , Zachary Parke Dixon

The Non-Identical Anglophone Bildungsroman : From the Categorical to the De-Centering Literary Subject in the Black Atlantic , Jarad Heath Fennell

Instattack: Instagram and Visual Ad Hominem Political Arguments , Sophia Evangeline Gourgiotis

Hospitable Climates: Representations of the West Indies in Eighteenth-Century British Literature , Marisa Carmen Iglesias

Chosen Champions: Medieval and Early Modern Heroes as Postcolonial Reactions to Tensions between England and Europe , Jessica Trant Labossiere

Science, Policy, and Decision Making: A Case Study of Deliberative Rhetoric and Policymaking for Coastal Adaptation in Southeast Florida , Karen Patricia Langbehn

A New Materialist Approach to Visual Rhetoric in PhotoShopBattles , Jonathan Paul Ray

Tracing the Material: Spaces and Objects in British and Irish Modernist Novels , Mary Allison Wise

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Representations of Gatsby: Ninety Years of Retrospective , Christine Anne Auger

Robust, Low Power, Discrete Gate Sizing , Anthony Joseph Casagrande

Wrestling with Angels: Postsecular Contemporary American Poetry , Paul T. Corrigan

#networkedglobe: Making the Connection between Social Media and Intercultural Technical Communication , Laura Anne Ewing

Evidence of Things Not Seen: A Semi-Automated Descriptive Phrase and Frame Analysis of Texts about the Herbicide Agent Orange , Sarah Beth Hopton

'She Shall Not Be Moved': Black Women's Spiritual Practice in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Paradise, and Home , Rondrea Danielle Mathis

Relational Agency, Networked Technology, and the Social Media Aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombing , Megan M. Mcintyre

Now, We Hear Through a Voice Darkly: New Media and Narratology in Cinematic Art , James Anthony Ricci

Navigating Collective Activity Systems: An Approach Towards Rhetorical Inquiry , Katherine Jesse Royce

Women's Narratives of Confinement: Domestic Chores as Threads of Resistance and Healing , Jacqueline Marie Smith

Domestic Spaces in Transition: Modern Representations of Dwelling in the Texts of Elizabeth Bowen , Shannon Tivnan

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Paradise Always Already Lost: Myth, Memory, and Matter in English Literature , Elizabeth Stuart Angello

Overcoming the 5th-Century BCE Epistemological Tragedy: A Productive Reading of Protagoras of Abdera , Ryan Alan Blank

Acts of Rebellion: The Rhetoric of Rogue Cinema , Adam Breckenridge

Material and Textual Spaces in the Poetry of Montagu, Leapor, Barbauld, and Robinson , Jessica Lauren Cook

Decolonizing Shakespeare: Race, Gender, and Colonialism in Three Adaptations of Three Plays by William Shakespeare , Angela Eward-Mangione

Risk of Compliance: Tracing Safety and Efficacy in Mef-Lariam's Licensure , Julie Marie Gerdes

Beyond Performance: Rhetoric, Collective Memory, and the Motive of Imprinting Identity , Brenda M. Grau

Subversive Beauty - Victorian Bodies of Expression , Lisa Michelle Hoffman-Reyes

Integrating Reading and Writing For Florida's ESOL Program , George Douglas Mcarthur

Responsibility and Responsiveness in the Novels of Ann Radcliffe and Mary Shelley , Katherine Marie McGee

Ghosts, Orphans, and Outlaws: History, Family, and the Law in Toni Morrison's Fiction , Jessica Mckee

The "Defective" Generation: Disability in Modernist Literature , Deborah Susan Mcleod

Science Fiction/Fantasy and the Representation of Ethnic Futurity , Joy Ann Sanchez-Taylor

Hermes, Technical Communicator of the Gods: The Theory, Design, and Creation of a Persuasive Game for Technical Communication , Eric Walsh

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Rhetorical Spirits: Spirituality as Rhetorical Device in New Age Womanist of Color Texts , Ronisha Witlee Browdy

Disciplinarity, Crisis, and Opportunity in Technical Communication , Jason Robert Carabelli

The Terror of Possibility: A Re-evaluation and Reconception of the Sublime Aesthetic , Kurt Fawver

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Department of English

Kwame nkrumah university of science and technology.

• MPhil in English

The MPhil in English programme has Language and Literature options. Candidates can choose between the two strands based on their interests and expertise. 

The MPhil in English (Language or Literature) is designed to be a two-year full time programme; thus, One (1) year coursework and One (1) year thesis work. 

Some of the course contents are presented below.

ENGL. 651    STUDIES IN LITERARY THEORY 1     

This seminar focuses on some of the main theoretical areas and debates relevant to literary studies today. Beginning with the definitions of literature and literary theory, the studies will also focus on language and narrative, society and the individual, the textual relations, and will also look at post-structuralism, New Historicism, postcolonial theory, and theories of sexual identity. The theories discussed will be related to a range of literary texts, so that the theoretical arguments can be applied to readings.

ENG. 653 ORAL LITERATURES                                 

The focus here will be on the principal genres – poetry, prose, and drama to be backed by the theory of oral literature. Students will be encouraged to research into relevant aspects of the oral literature of their own cultures and present seminar papers on them for class discussion. Each of them will be required to present a term paper on a major area of the course at the semester.

ENGL. 655     STUDIES IN INDIVIDUAL AFRICAN AUTHORS

This is a one-semester course that should use the seminar format of presentations by students, and discussions. The lecturer-in-charge selects an African author of his choice, or in consultation with students. The works of this author will be explored in the light of the social, political and cultural life of his time. Students should be encouraged to study how the works of the selected author use literary forms to conduct a variety of arguments about human nature and its relation to society and social institutions – including of course, the institution of literature itself. There should be written assignments and a thirty-page paper to be submitted at the end of the semester in lieu of a written examination.

ENGL. 657:   A STUDY OF COMEDY                

This course aims at looking at the principal trends in the development of the comic genre since Aristotle’s comments in The Poetics were published. Selections from the following areas will be studied: Greek comedy; Shakespearean; 18th Century Comedy, with special reference to the works of Sheridan; 20th Century comedy and African comedy with special reference to the satirical comedies of Soyinka.

ENGL. 659:   DIRECTED READING IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

This is a full year or two-semester course whose content should be agreed upon by the student and a supervisor . It may be taken once all required courses have been successfully completed. Any student who selects this course must submit a topic in his or her area of interest by the second week of the first semester. The area of interest selected and agreed upon must have considerable relevance for the student’s final dissertation. In other words, this study should play an important role in the student’s preparation for his or her dissertation. Meeting with the supervisor may be planned weekly or fortnightly at which meetings the student’s work and progress should be discussed. The student is required to submit six five-page papers or three ten-page papers as assignments, and a thirty-page paper at the end of the semester in lieu of a written examination for both the first and the second semester.

  ENGL. 661:   STRUCTURALISM                        

Aspects of Structuralism. Topics to include formalism, Reader-Response Criticism, Deconstruction, Post-structuralism, etc.

  ENGL 663: AFRICAN LITERATURE: THEORY AND PRACTICE I

This study focuses on African literary theory and criticism, providing in one aspect a systematic explication, analysis and interpretation of literary works, and in another aspect, a reflection on literature and literary criticism. It is designed to complement the ever-increasing interest in African literature, and to show that the two should not be discrete entities but exist in a relationship that is both supportive and critical. This study should:

• Provide an intellectual context for understanding African literature;
• Expose  students to a wide range of statements on African literary theory and criticism;
• Focus on pre-occupations in African literary discourse;
• Raise debates on what African literature is;
• Explore African orality;
• Study the African artist as the critic and guide of his society, and his relationship to the dictates of culture (negritude, traditionalism etc.)
• Theories on genre;
• The nature and the character of the critical traditions that have been applied to the study of African literature;
• How African writers/critics view new modes of reading (structuralism, post-structuralism, post-colonialism, post-modernism).

ENGL 665: RESEARCH SKILLS AND METHODS

This is a required course for all MPhil/PhD, to be taken during the first semester of the first year. Its purpose is to make students more discerning readers and better writers as they prepare themselves for higher level scholarly research and writing. The main topics to be discussed include the following:

• The educational and intellectual purposes of research and the first steps towards a scholarly project, such as choosing a topic, using a library, evaluating print and electronic sources, producing a working bibliography, notes, outlines and drafts;
• Practical advice on such matters as spelling, punctuation and the presentation of names, numbers, titles of works and quotations;
• A discussion of the MLA system, or style of documenting print and electronic sources in the Humanities, particularly in the fields of language and literature.

At the end of this course, students should have acquired training in planning and writing up research; bibliographic work; use of manuscripts and archive materials; and computer applications in the field of the Humanities.

ENGL. 667:   LITERATURE AND CULTURE

The terms Literature and Culture will be defined. Terry Eagleton’s discussion of literature in his Literary Theory and Raymond William’s definition of the word culture in his Keywords will be studied closely to come to an understanding of the two terms. Matthew Arnold’s Culture and Anarchy will also be studied. This will be followed by a look at Literature and folklore as aspects of a people’ culture. The differences between oral and written Literature will be highlighted to be followed by a study of selected texts. Selections will be made from African Oral and Written Literatures, European Literature and World Literature.

ENGL 667: POST-COLONIAL DIASPORAS l

This full-year course will allow students to explore post-colonial writing and theory through a focus on what is, perhaps, the subject’s most central and exciting category: diaspora. This course has an international focus, concentrating on narratives to have emerged within and between Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia, the Pacific, and the United Kingdom. Students will have the opportunity to consider diaspora culture within both colonial and post-colonial contexts from the middle passages of the slave trade to modern times. The work of key writers and theorists will be explored. 

ENGL 669: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE l

The ongoing global debate about the nature and importance of the reading material provided for children in their formative years has found a place in the study of literature. This full-year course is designed to enable Ghanaian scholars, particularly those professionally involved with children and children’s books, not only to join this debate, but also to rekindle the spirit of writing for children in this country which suffers from a dearth of good books for children. The course shall offer studies spanning traditional stories (folktales), different types of fiction, children’s classics, and poetry and drama for children, with texts from the western world as well as from Africa. Discussions should enable students the opportunity to develop an advanced understanding of some of the major determinants of what children’s literature is; and this understanding will be enhanced by the consideration of theoretical perspectives derived from recent critical theory which has focused on the reading process and the way in which the reader gains meaning from a text.

ENGL 671: MYTH AND LITERATURE  

The course looks at the various definitions and theories of myth the structuralist theory of Claude Levi Strauss, the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jung, the archetypal theory of Frye. Soyinka’s Fourth Dimension and others. We also take a look at mythmaking that is the appropriation of an old myth in great literary works to create a new myth which appeals to the contemporary generation. 

ENGL 673: MORPHOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGICAL TYPOLOGY 

The ultimate goal of the linguistic study of morphology is to understand the general principles of wood building. However, before that could be done linguists must develop techniques for analyzing and describing word structure in a consistent manner. This course will endeavour to concentrate on the techniques for analyzing and describing word structure. But it will also attempt to provide some insights into the principles of word building.

Indeed, there are necessary because one of the major problems we face when learning any language is how to create correct forms of words for doing everything from distinguishing past tense from present tense to differentiate nouns that refer to males from those referring to females. Learning how to do these things is learning the morphology of the language, that is, learning about word structure. As with other complex subsystems of languages, such as sound systems and grammatical systems, linguists assume that speakers of languages must be (subconsciously) applying some general principles as they produce and parse multi-part words of their languages, and because humans are not born predestined to speak some particular language, there must be principles that all humans have access to that they can apply in acquiring and learning whatever language they are exposed to.

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English Literature MPhil, PhD

The research-led English Literature MPhil and PhD enable you to study a specialist area of literature.

You are currently viewing course information for entry year:

Start date(s):

• September 2024
• January 2025

Join our thriving School with an energetic, creative and well-resourced research culture. Throughout your English Literature MPhil/PhD, you'll benefit from expert supervision.

Our specialist areas of literature range in periods from the medieval to the contemporary. We normally offer supervision in the following areas:

• Medieval and Early Modern literature
• 18th-century and Romantic
• Victorian literature
• Postcolonial and Black Atlantic literature
• American literature
• children’s literature
• medical humanities
• poetry criticism
• scholarly editing and animating text
• theatre and performance

Important information

We've highlighted important information about your course. Please take note of any deadlines.

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our  Academic experience page , which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2024-25.

See our  terms and conditions and student complaints information , which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Related courses

Qualifications explained.

Find out about the different qualification options for this course.

An MPhil is available in all subject areas. You receive research training and undertake original research leading to the completion of a 40,000 - 50,000 word thesis.

Find out about different types of postgraduate qualifications

A PhD is a doctorate or doctoral award. It involves original research that should make a significant contribution to the knowledge of a specific subject. To complete the PhD you will produce a substantial piece of work (80,000 – 100,000 words) in the form of a supervised thesis. A PhD usually takes three years full time.

How you'll learn

Your work will focus on a single, sustained piece of writing and research. The MPhil thesis is a maximum of 50,000 words and the PhD thesis is a maximum of 100,000 words.

You'll be assigned a supervisor or a supervisory team who you will meet on a regular basis. Your supervisor will be able to give you advice on reading and research training. They'll help you use our research facilities and support you in the development of your work. Our research training programme will support you with researcher development training throughout the programme.

You'll be taught and based on our Newcastle campus. There may be opportunities to carry out work with our School's partner institutions .

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

We offer a wide range of projects for the thesis. These will be provided by our academics. You can also propose your own topic.

Our mission is to help you:

• stay healthy, positive and feeling well
• overcome any challenges you may face during your degree – academic or personal
• get the most out of your postgraduate research experience
• carry out admin and activities essential to progressing through your degree
• understand postgraduate research processes, standards and rules

We can offer you tailored wellbeing support, courses and activities.

You can also access a broad range of workshops covering:

• research and professional skills
• careers support
• health and safety
• public engagement
• academic development

Find out more about our postgraduate research student support

Your development

You'll have plenty of opportunities to network with fellow students and staff and become part of our School research community. These include:

• our Postgraduate Speaker Series
• lunchtime Postgraduate Forum seminars
• an annual postgraduate conference organised by our postgraduate students

You can also take part in a range of university and regional research groups and centres.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) researcher development programme 

Each faculty offers a researcher development programme for its postgraduate research students. We have designed your programme to help you:

• perform better as a researcher
• boost your career prospects
• broaden your impact

Through workshops and activities, it will build your transferable skills and increase your confidence.

You’ll cover:

• techniques for effective research
• methods for better collaborative working
• essential professional standards and requirements

Your researcher development programme is flexible. You can adapt it to meet your changing needs as you progress through your doctorate.

Find out more about the Researcher Education and Development programme

Doctoral training and partnerships

There are opportunities to undertake your PhD at Newcastle within a:

• Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT)
• Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

Being part of a CDT or DTP has many benefits:

• they combine research expertise and training of a number of leading universities, academic schools and academics.
• you’ll study alongside a cohort of other PhD students
• they’re often interdisciplinary
• your PhD may be funded

If there are currently opportunities available in your subject area you’ll find them when you search for funding in the fees and funding section on this course.

The following centres/partnerships below may have PhD opportunities available in your subject area in the future:

• ESRC Northern Ireland/North East (NINE) Doctoral Training Partnership
• Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership

Your future

Our careers service.

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

Quality and ranking

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information .

The School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics is a lively and diverse community with over 700 undergraduates and 200 postgraduates.

We are based in the Percy Building. Our purpose-built postgraduate suite includes:

• several dedicated computer clusters
• meeting rooms
• lounge area

Our award-winning  Philip Robinson Library has an extensive audio-visual collection.

You will also be part of the rich research culture in the  Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and may be able to participate in and lead events for our research groups.

We encourage the use of the archival opportunities offered by our various partner institutions, including the Seven Stories Centre for the Children's Book, the Wordsworth Trust (Dove Cottage), and the Keats-Shelley House in Rome.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees for 2024 entry (per year), home fees for research degree students.

For 2024-25 entry, we have aligned our standard Home research fees with those set by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) . The standard fee was confirmed in Spring 2024 by UKRI.

For 2025-26 entry, we will be aligning our standard  Home research fees  with those set by  UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) . The standard fee will be confirmed in Spring 2025 by UKRI.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here .

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See  our   searchable postgraduate funding page  for more information.  

What you're paying for

Tuition fees include the costs of:

• matriculation
• registration
• tuition (or supervision)
• library access
• examination
• re-examination

Find out more about:

• living costs
• tuition fees

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section .

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.

Search for funding

Find funding available for your course

Entry requirements

The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.

Qualifications from outside the UK

English language requirements, admissions policy.

This policy applies to all undergraduate and postgraduate admissions at Newcastle University. It is intended to provide information about our admissions policies and procedures to applicants and potential applicants, to their advisors and family members, and to staff of the University.

Download our admissions policy (PDF: 201KB) Other policies related to admissions

Credit transfer and Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) can allow you to convert existing relevant university-level knowledge, skills and experience into credits towards a qualification. Find out more about the RPL policy which may apply to this course

• How to apply

Using the application portal

The application portal has instructions to guide you through your application. It will tell you what documents you need and how to upload them.

You can choose to start your application, save your details and come back to complete it later.

If you’re ready, you can select Apply Online and you’ll be taken directly to the application portal.

Alternatively you can find out more about applying on our applications and offers pages .

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Find out about how you can visit Newcastle in person and virtually

Overseas events

We regularly travel overseas to meet with students interested in studying at Newcastle University.

Visit our events calendar for the latest events

• Get in touch

Questions about this course?

If you have specific questions about this course you can contact:

Sherelle Coulson Programme Administrator School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7199 Email: [email protected]

For more general enquiries you could also complete our online enquiry form.

Fill in our enquiry form

Our Ncl chatbot might be able to give you an answer straight away. If not, it’ll direct you to someone who can help.

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The MPhil in English Studies

Our plenary mphil, comprehensive in scope, offers you the chance to be a part of a single, integrated mphil community whilst also providing unparalleled opportunities for specialisation and self-definition., about the mphil.

The Cambridge English Faculty’s collaborative MPhil in English Studies is a nine-month taught course which offers a uniquely wide-ranging and innovative approach to the study of literature, criticism and culture in the Anglophone world.

1st edn, available in seven Cambridge college libraries. King’s College holds the copy Woolf gave to E. M. Forster.

This plenary MPhil unites all our Masters students in a single graduate community under one unified course. Our versatile modular structure presents a multitude of Specialist Seminars , as well as both a Medieval and a Renaissance Textual Studies course. Together, these cater for a high degree of individual self-definition across an unrivalled range of research fields. Students studying on this programme can:

• prioritise a specific period, be that Medieval, Renaissance, 18th-century, Romantic, Victorian, Modernist, Post-war, or Contemporary; or move between periods
• emphasise regional, national, or international interests from across the Anglophone world
• concentrate on thematic, theoretical, conceptual, and philosophical concerns
• or fuse these different elements in creative combinations.

At the same time, our Research Frameworks seminars cut across these specialist emphases. They bring together students with diverse research interests, encouraging them to work collaboratively on cross-period methodological and inter-disciplinary topics. Students taking this programme thus find themselves working in two very different kinds of teaching group and reap the benefits of that breadth of provision.

In the MPhil as a whole depth, diversity, the historical, and the conceptual are each available in equal measure, and all this is underpinned by a sense of involvement in common intellectual endeavours shared between everyone taking the course. This blend of variety and unity will offer you a truly distinctive context in which to develop as a thinker, writer, and researcher.

The course is supported by first-class teaching delivered by a Faculty with a distinguished international reputation; and because that teaching is research-led we are also able to offer you a cutting-edge view of the discipline. Both small-group teaching and one-to-one supervision are established strengths here, having been foundational to the Faculty’s identity since its inception a century ago. Our lively, supportive seminars will allow you to learn from people with interests very different from your own. At the same time, your individual supervisor will help you plan a coherent programme of personal study and will oversee both your research for and writing of your dissertation (your own unique research project). In addition, a programme of focused training on research methods will assist you in developing practical study skills.

These qualities make our MPhil in English Studies an ideal preparation for further research in English and associated disciplines. Equally, the course can serve as the basis for success in a wide range of non-academic careers.

Life in the Faculty

Carsten Höller’s ‘Crocodile’, courtesy of Kettle's Yard, the University’s modern and contemporary art gallery.

The Cambridge Faculty of English has a long-standing reputation for excellence in both historical and conceptual work. Members’ interests span the full range of literature in English, from medieval to contemporary. Specialisms include environmental humanities; lyric and the history, theory and practice of poetic forms; editing and textual scholarship; histories of the book and media institutions; world literature; post-colonial literature; philosophy and literature; Marxist literary theory; critical theory more widely; psychoanalysis and literature; the cognitive humanities; the digital humanities; performance theory; and visual culture. To learn more about particular members’ interests search our list of academic staff .

The Faculty is home to a vibrant research culture in which all MPhil students are encouraged to take part. Groups of students and Faculty staff with shared interests can participate in the Faculty's research 'Centres' (for example, the Centre for Material Texts , or the Judith E Wilson Centre for Poetics ). Students and staff also participate in Research Seminars (for example, ‘Medieval’, ‘Post-colonial and Related Literatures’, ‘Queer Cultures’, ‘Eighteenth-Century and Romantic’) which welcome speakers both from within Cambridge and from other universities. Interdisciplinary seminars and reading groups take place at the nearby Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH). There are also a number of research groups based in the Faculty.

MPhil students are free to attend the Faculty’s undergraduate lectures, and to consult the excellent resources and staff of the English Faculty Library . Students can also draw on the University’s language-learning facilities, including an ab-initio Latin course run annually, just prior to the MPhil course itself, and exceptional library resources and special collections, for example, at the University Library , one of only five copyright libraries in the UK.

Related Links

• MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic
• MPhil in Digital Humanities
• Part-time PhD
• MSt in Creative Writing
• MSt in Writing for Performance
• MSt in Crime and Thriller Writing
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MPhil/PhD theses

You can access print and digital copies of MPhil/PhD theses written by research students at Birkbeck and at other universities in the UK and further afield.   

Birkbeck print theses 

• Pre-1995 theses : check the national Index to Theses  for details. 
• Post-1995 theses : search the Birkbeck Library catalogue  for details. 
• Requests are usually fulfilled within 3 hours during library opening times .
• I f you want to search for only theses in the Library catalogue, on the advanced search page put the word 'theses' into a shelfmark search and then add any other search terms you want.
• Birkbeck Library does not hold some theses in classics, German, history, and law. You may be able to find these in the  British Library's Electronic Theses Online System (EThOS)  or the libraries of relevant institutes within the University of London's School of Advanced Study . 

Birkbeck Digital theses (2012-present) 

• You can search for and view digital copies of theses submitted after 2012 in the Birkbeck Institutional Repository Online (BIROn) . 
• If you want to upload a thesis to BIROn, you can find  FAQs on the BIROn site . 

Accessing MPhil/PhD theses at other universities 

• For digital, downloadable copies of MPhil/PhD theses awarded by other UK universities, search the British Library's Electronic Theses Online System (EThOS) .  
• For hard copies of MPhil/PhD awarded by overseas universities, you can submit an interlibrary loan .
• Access theses in Australia - Trove  
• Access theses in Europe - DART- Europe  
• Access theses in France - theses.fr 
• Access theses in South Africa - TD Portal  
• Access (Catalan) theses in Spain - Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa  
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD)  

UCL English

English Literature/Language MPhil/PhD

One of the highest-ranking English Departments in the UK, UCL provides fantastic opportunities for PhD students to study in the heart of literary London, with access to vast quantities of resources and research materials, and a high number of academic staff working on a diverse range of specialist topics. 

Note that you should identify a prospective supervisor yourself (see our list of staff ) and contact them before you make your formal application, to check that they are in a position to support the project that you are proposing.

Dr Julia Jordan ( [email protected] ) is the English Department's Graduate Tutor. Application enquiries can also be directed to Natasha Clark ( [email protected] ), Senior Education Administrator.

With access to a vast collection of archival materials, and world-leading supervision in a wide range of literary periods and topics, UCL is one of the best universities in which to study for an English PhD.     

There are normally about 45 students undertaking research degrees in the department. Graduate students initially register for the MPhil degree, but usually in the second year, when a realistic and workable thesis has been confirmed, and work-in-progress and a future plan have been discussed, students are upgraded from MPhil to PhD status.

Students accepted for admission are given a principal supervisor with whom the student will work closely during the course of the degree. A secondary supervisor is also appointed to provide additional advice. Great importance is attached to matching student and supervisor, and ensuring that students' progress is well monitored. Students meet either one or other supervisor approximately ten times during the academic year. The Department is eager to ensure PhD completion rates within four years, and therefore reviews each student's progress by means of an interview at the end of each year. When completed and submitted, the thesis is defended in an oral examination. 

Students are expected to complete the PhD within three or four years of registration, and the minimum period of registration is two years. Part-time students complete the degree within five to seven years of registration. 

The Department offers MPhil/PhD supervision in a wide range of topics, including English and English-related language and literature from Old English to the present day. Information on the research interests of staff can be found here (click on the name of each member of staff to access their personal profile). 

Research Resources

UCL Library has outstanding physical and digital collections for literary research, as well as specialist materials in its excellent Special Collections department. Among these are the George Orwell Archive; Little Magazines; the Routledge and Kegan Paul Archives (publishing history); the Brougham Papers and papers of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (19th-century liberalism); and the Chadwick Papers (19th-century sanitary reform). UCL Library also has superb holdings in London history. For language topics the Department is especially well placed, as it houses the world-renowned Survey of English Usage.

Other London archives with manuscript and rare book resources relevant to the Department’s research interests include (but are by no means limited to):

• British Library
• University of London Library (Senate House Library)
• Guildhall Library
• London Library
• Library of the London School of Economics
• Dr Williams’s Library
• Bishopsgate Institute Library
• Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum
• Archives of the Royal Society
• The Women’s Library at London School of Economics

Research is expected to take students into numerous libraries and archives, not only within London, but also throughout Britain, and often internationally. 

Research Environment

The Department places great emphasis on opportunities for students to discuss their work and participate in the exchange of knowledge and ideas. There is a programme of regular departmental Research Seminars at which PhD students are invited to present their work; speakers may also include members of the department’s academic staff and invited guests. The department also hosts a seminar series on Race, Power, and Poetics , and a wide range of informal discussion groups and reading groups.

The Institute of Advanced Studies (part of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities) hosts an exciting programme of research events and activities. UCL students also have access to the abundance of seminars and conferences available across London, including those of the Institute of English Studies  at the University of London.

The English Department’s graduate students organise a one-day conference each year; many of the papers delivered at the conference are published in  Moveable Type , the Department's graduate-led online journal. There is a Graduate Common Room in the English Department. Many PhD students spend much time working at the British Library, to which UCL has unrivalled proximity, which also functions as a hub for academic networking.

Details of current PhD students and their projects can be found here . 

Your research proposal does not need to be long (typically somewhere between 800-1000 words). The most important things we are looking for you to explain are:

1) What primary literature/texts will you be studying?

2) What is your idea/approach to this literature?

3) How does your project fit in to the secondary literature/criticism on this topic?

4) Practical details, like which archives you will use, roughly how long you will spend on each chapter, what each chapter may be about, etc

5) That you have considered how the chosen project will work within a 100,000 word limit (so it's clearly not something so small that it's 20,000 words maximum, nor have you chosen something so big that you couldn't possibly do it justice in 500,000).

Proposals and intentions often change a little/quite a lot once they are on the course, but the important thing is just to demonstrate that you have thought about the practicalities and you have a clear, viable research topic that we could supervise in the Department, and which you could complete within three years.

Applicants should usually expect to begin their studies in September at the start of an academic year (although in some cases, a January start can be discussed). UCL’s application process usually opens in mid-October, and you are encouraged to apply as early as possible, as there are a number of stages to the process.

It is essential to understand that your application for a place must be fully processed, and an offer of a place at UCL secured, before you can apply to any of the various funding schemes (see under ‘Applying for Funding’ below). You should allow time for this, and for us to advise you on your funding application(s). For this reason your full, formal application for a place via UCL’s online system must be submitted by Friday 5 January 2024 at the latest . This is an internal departmental deadline and supersedes any dates given on external websites.

We strongly recommend that all candidates should apply for funding; but those candidates who intend to self-fund may apply for entry in September 2024 at any time up to 31 March 2024.

The steps for applying for a place take some time, and are as follows:

1. Contact a member of staff in the English Department to establish whether they are available and interested in supervising your project. They may ask to see your CV and a brief research proposal (see above, ‘The Research Proposal’). You can find details of the research interests of individual members of staff here (click on each name to see the staff member’s profile). If you are not sure who to approach, you may consult the English Department’s Graduate Tutor, Dr Julia Jordan ( [email protected] ) .

Please be aware that members of staff cannot give detailed advice on how to improve your research proposal. This is because evaluation of the proposal is an important part of the process for the selection of candidates, so it must be your own independent work. If we invite you for interview (step 3 below) this will be an opportunity for you to discuss your proposal with your prospective supervisor. If we offer you a place (step 4 below), we will then advise you on how to make your research proposal as strong as possible for your funding application(s).

2.   If you have been encouraged to make a full, formal online application, please do so, following the instructions here . Your application must include a research proposal, two references, a CV, and transcripts from your previous academic courses. If you intend to proceed to funding applications, your application for a place must be submitted by 5 January 2024 . When you submit your application, please also send your research proposal and academic CV directly by email to the English Department’s Graduate Tutor, Dr Julia Jordan ( [email protected] ) .

Applying as an international student  

Further information about English language requirements and applying as an international student can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/applying-international-student . 

3.   The English Department will consider the strength of each applicant’s proposed research project, the applicant's grades in undergraduate and Masters level study, and the suitability (and availability) of academic staff in the Department to supervise the proposed project. If we decide to proceed with the application, the applicant will be invited to a short interview to discuss the research proposal in more detail. This will normally be with the applicant's proposed primary supervisor, a potential secondary supervisor, and/or the Tutor for Graduates. UK applicants will normally be interviewed at UCL; international students, or those who are unable to attend for other reasons, will be interviewed online. Please try to ensure that you are available for interview from November to January.

4.  If your interview is successful, we will offer you a place. You can now proceed to funding applications (see ‘Applying for Funding’ below). PLEASE NOTE: it is your responsibility to be aware of the deadlines for different funding schemes, and to ensure that there is time for your application for a place to be fully processed before you proceed to funding applications.

Scholarships for which you may be eligible to apply are listed here .  

Studentships for PhDs in English at UCL are available from LAHP (the London Arts and Humanities Partnership), funded by the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council). LAHP is a consortium of Higher Education Institutions in London. More information, including eligibility for a studentship and how to apply, is available from their website . Around 10% of applications for studentships are successful.

Applicants who are interested in LAHP funding must also have submitted a completed PhD application to UCL by Friday 5 January 2024. Once we have confirmed your offer of a place, you must then submit a completed LAHP application form,  including the supervisor statement,  by their  deadline   ( 26th January 2024 at 5pm ).  Your prospective supervisor will advise you on how to make your LAHP application as strong as possible. It is your responsibility to allow sufficient time for all of these processes.

If you have any further questions about the LAHP application procedure, please email Ms Natasha Clark ( [email protected] ) 

Research Excellence Scholarship (RES)

UCL Research Excellence Scholarships aim to attract high-quality students to undertake research at UCL. Up to 40 UCL  Research Excellence Scholarships (RES) are available to prospective and current research students from any country.

More details about the application process for the Research Excellence Scholarships, including deadlines, can be found here .

Wolfson Scholarships

The Wolfson Foundation is offering six postgraduate research awards in the humanities for 2024/25. These will be for three areas in history, literature and languages.

Details about the award scheme and the application process can be found here . 

Applicants should send the mandatory documents to Natasha Clark ( [email protected] ) by the end of 12 January 2024.

UCL Research Opportunity Scholarship

UCL's Research Opportunity Scholarship (UCL-ROS) supports UK BAME postgraduate research degree students. Details about eligibility, the award and the application process can be found here .

Each student works closely with their supervisor to develop research skills specific to their project. Regular completion of an online research log helps the student and supervisor to assess training needs.

The English Department provides a course in PhD Skills Training. The first term is on Research Skills and Methods, and is aimed at first-year students, who are required to attend. The second term is on Professional Academic Skills, and is open to all PhD students.

Across UCL, PhD training is co-ordinated by the Doctoral School . The Doctoral Skills Development Programme is delivered via the Inkpath platform, and benefits from participation by the Bloomsbury Postgraduate Skills Network , a consortium of leading Higher Education Institutions.

Training courses and events are also available from LAHP (the London Arts and Humanities Partnership). LAHP-funded students are given priority for booking, but places may also be available to other students.

Teaching opportunities for research students

PhD students who are making good progress with their research project are offered teaching opportunities. Those in their second year are normally offered experience in teaching one-to-one tutorials. Those in their third year are normally offered experience in teaching seminars.

PhD students in English also work with UCL’s Access and Widening Participation team to deliver a highly successful Summer School for Year 12 school students.

Employment Prospects

PhD graduates from the Department have an excellent record of securing employment in institutions of higher education. In recent years PhD alumni have progressed to academic positions here at UCL, as well as at Oxford and Cambridge, in the wider University of London, and at other universities across the UK. Others have successfully gained international appointments, in destinations including the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Our PhD graduates are also well placed to pursue careers outside academia, as the skills in research, analysis, writing, and communication obtained during the PhD transfer easily to high-level work in many sectors.

Please see the  UCL prospectus page for the MPhil/PhD programme  for full details and how to apply.

For further information, please email Natasha Clark ( [email protected] ).

We do accept some visiting students, if there is a suitable academic to act as supervisor. The first step is to identify someone who looks like a suitable supervisor by looking through the list of academic staff yourself:  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/english/people/academic-staff  . Then, you should contact them with your research proposal to see if they think they would be well-positioned to supervise and will be available to do so over the period of time you’d like to visit. If they are happy to supervise you, you must submit an application via our online system. Further details about this and the link for applying can be found on this page: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/international/study-abroad-and-exchange/visiting-research-students .

Student Views

"I am currently completing my PhD on Shakespeare. The English department at UCL is a very special place: the academic staff are dedicated, supportive. I would whole-heartedly recommend applying to study English at UCL."

Shani Bans, PhD Candidate

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The JNU library has over 22,000 theses and dissertations, which belongs to Humanities, Social Sciences & Sciences discipline awarded by the University and its affiliated Institutes. The collection contains approximately 19,000 unique theses and dissertation titles. The Library has digitised all M.Phil/Ph.D. Theses covering over 30 lacs pages and the metadata has been captured as per MARC21 standard. The full text of M.Phil./Ph.D. Theses and Dissertations can be access through JNU Web-OPAC on the intranet. For any information please contact Mr. Amar Professional assistant Ph:011-26704543

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MPhil by Thesis (MLM9)

The MPhil by Thesis is for students whose knowledge of linguistics is already substantial, and who already know the area which they wish to research for their thesis. It allows students to carry out focussed research on a specific topic in a way that foreshadows a potential PhD. To be eligible for consideration for the MPhil by Thesis, a student will need:

• a broad foundation in linguistics, with depth in at least some subfields
• a clear idea of the area in which the thesis will be written.

Students taking the MPhil by Thesis will follow some elements of the MPhil by Advanced Study as agreed with their supervisor, but formal assessment is by a 30,000 word thesis alone, submitted in early June. Progress will be monitored through the year by work submitted according to a schedule specified by TAL.

It is important that you only apply to a course in our section if your interests are properly represented by the research interests of our staff. Applicants may find it useful to look at the following lists of people to find out more about potential supervisors in their fields of interest:

• Staff and their Research Interests
• Full Section Staff List
• Members of the Faculty
• Current PhD Students

Please direct any enquiries regarding entry requirements and academic matters to the Postgraduate Secretary i n the MMLL Postgraduate Office, and any general admissions enquiries.  Applicants should apply online through the central  Postgraduate Admissions Office . 

Our English language requirements are absolute . Note that this course starts in October and submission falls in early June, and as a result it is quite intensive. Therefore there is no time or provision for improving one’s proficiency in English. We only accept candidates whose command of English meets the language test requirement in order to ensure that students can follow advanced lectures, often using specialist terminology, and formulate well-expressed, sophisticated arguments in their written work. The language test requirements stated in the eligibility criteria are the absolute minimum and are not negotiable. They must be met in full before admission to the course.

Michaelmas term

All students are required to follow a course in research methods and a statistics course to acquire skills needed for research and 'transferable' skills. Beyond that, each student will follow his or her own 'training plan', which allows the individual interests, needs, and strengths of the student to be met. At the start of the course the student draws up a Training Plan for the Michaelmas and Lent Terms (October to March), with advice (if needed) from the Course Director of the MPhil and subject specialists.

In the Lent Term students research forums, which might be PhD seminars, MPhil seminars, or other appropriate research seminars and courses in Linguistics or elsewhere in the university, as agreed with their supervisor.  

A proposed title and summary for the 30,000 word thesis, formulated in discussion with the supervisor, must be submitted in mid-February, and this will be subject to approval by the Linguistics Section, the supervisor, and the Faculty's Degree Committee. The thesis demands independent study under the guidance of the supervisor and will involve a substantial piece of original research. 

Easter Term

The thesis is submitted in early June, and about two to three weeks later there is an oral examination (viva) on the thesis.

The examination process is very similar to that of the PhD, and consists of two parts: scrutiny of the thesis by one internal and one external examiner, and a viva involving both examiners and the candidate. Some candidates may be asked to carry out corrections to their thesis which may mean graduating in October rather than in July.

Supervisions

Students following the MPhil by Thesis will normally have discussed their proposed research in advance with a staff member specialising in the relevant subject area, and this person or an equivalent will be appointed as supervisor throughout the year. It is expected that a student will be capable of largely independent work. For equity, there are norms for the amount of supervision each student can expect to receive.  Seven hours of supervision throughout the course is provided.  The University of Cambridge publishes an annual  Code of Practice  which sets out the University’s expectations regarding supervision.  

Students receive the overall outcome of pass/fail.   No mark is awarded for the MPhil By Thesis.

Part-time students

It is also possible to take a part-time route for the MPhil By Thesis course, and the expected timeframe would be 21 months, with a thesis submission date of early June in the second academic year of study.

Students taking the course over the period of two academic years will be required to attend the General Seminar and the Research Methods seminar (including statistics) in their first year. At least one of the two subject-specific Lent Term courses should also be attended in the first year. Monitoring can take place over the period of two years, except for the detailed plan of research which is to be submitted by Thursday of week 3 of Lent Term of the first year. Assessment will take place in the second year. 

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Master of Philosophy (MPhil)

What is an mphil.

An MPhil is an advanced postgraduate research degree. It is ideal for students who are not able to commit to the period of study required for doctoral research.

What will I get from an MPhil?

You will gain a significant grounding in research methods and skills that will equip you to enter a career as a professional in your field, or to continue your studies to complete a PhD. You will get a massive sense of personal achievement. Our training programmes will help you develop transferable skills invaluable in your future career. The research techniques and methodologies you master will enable you to directly contribute to advancing knowledge in your particular subject area.

After exploring The Open University online prospectus, you may wish to visit Vitae: researcher careers . Vitae is the UK organisation championing the personal, professional and career development of researchers.

How does it work?

Duration and pattern of study.

An MPhil may be offered on either a full-time or a part-time basis, with a maximum study period of 36 months for full-time study or 72 months for part-time study.

Once you have completed your research you must write a 60,000-word thesis, which you submit and then defend via an oral examination (a viva). The thesis will demonstrate your proficiency in research methods, knowledge and understanding, and a critical evaluation of your academic subject area. Your thesis must meet the expectations specified in the Quality Code .

Entry requirements

Applicants should normally hold, or be expecting to obtain, a bachelors degree with at least first or upper-second class honours, or an equivalent qualification. However, entry requirements differ between academic areas, and sometimes a taught masters degree is also required. The research topic pages (within research areas ) give details of specific entry requirements, and provide contact details to discuss your suitability for the MPhil.

English language proficiency

In order to study with us, you will need to have a good command of English. If your first language is not English, you will need to demonstrate your competence in the English Language in all four elements (reading, writing, listening and speaking). The University requires a minimum IELTS score of 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in any of the four categories (or approved equivalent). You should have your level of proficiency certified through a provider approved by UK Visas and Immigration and provide your certificate and grade with your application.

Application closing date

Entry may be permitted for direct registration with The Open University at the following points of year: October and February. This ensures that students benefit from development and training in peer groups.

For further information on how to apply see our Application process section. Application deadlines may differ between research topics and studentships; full information about the application period for the topic you’re interested is detailed in the research topic pages (within research areas ).

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For advice about applying for a research degree, or sponsoring a research student, email the Graduate School or call +44 (0)1908 653806.

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MPhil Theses

Permanent uri for this collection, recent submissions.

MPhil in English Studies (Medieval Period)

• Entry requirements
• Funding and Costs

College preference

• How to Apply

About the course

The MPhil is a two year programme designed for students wishing to attain a thorough grounding in medieval English language and literature and related subjects at an advanced level, either as a preparation for doctoral research or as an autonomous qualification.

Oxford is now very rare in offering a two-year taught and research postgraduate course in medieval studies. The time and space this affords makes the Oxford MPhil the very best preparation for later specialist research in medieval literary or cultural history. It also stands alone as a thoroughly satisfying qualification indicating significant levels of critical, linguistic, and historical skill, expertise, and research competence, transferable to any future career.

Course structure

In the first year, you will follow the MSt in English (650–1550) . This already includes a broad grounding in medieval literature and culture, technical training in manuscripts, palaeography, and codicology (depending on courses taken), and the opportunity to pursue specific personal interests in coursework essays and in the MSt dissertation. 

In the second year, students have the opportunity both to broaden and deepen their knowledge, adding further options in medieval languages, literatures, authors, philosophy, history and palaeography, taking advantage if they wish of courses offered by specialists in other faculties.

Students finally submit a second, longer dissertation, which may form the basis of doctoral research, or a substantial publication. Those intending to proceed to doctoral work after their MPhil should consult with their course convenors about their second-year option choices early in their first year of study. They may also wish to consult the Director of Doctoral Studies.

The extra time involved in the two-year MPhil allows for internationally-recognised standards of expertise. The opportunities for interdisciplinary engagement are multiple, and the depth of research possible is unparalleled at Master's level.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Faculty of English and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Faculty of English.

All course work will be completed by the end of the second term (Hilary term), leaving the summer term (Trinity term) for the writing of the dissertation, which is submitted in June.

Graduate destinations

Many English taught-course students go onto doctoral research, both at Oxford and at other universities worldwide. Other graduates pursue careers in occupations including teaching, librarianship and heritage industries, journalism, law, publishing and the civil service.

Students who progress from an Oxford MPhil in English Studies to the DPhil in English may be able to progress more rapidly through the DPhil, completing in 2-3 years rather than 3-4 years. In all cases, fee liability after the MPhil would be limited to two years only.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

Entry requirements for entry in 2024-25

Proven and potential academic excellence.

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. 

Degree-level qualifications

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 English literature and/or English language, or exceptionally a related subject.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.75 (with at least 3.85 in the major) out of 4.0.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Further guidance

• Publications are not required and the English Faculty does not expect applicants to have been published.
• There is no automatic transfer from a taught to a research course. Current students wishing to be considered for the DPhil submit applications that are assessed and considered alongside applicants with master's degrees from other universities.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's  higher level . If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) † Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides  further information about the English language test requirement .

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview

Interviews are not normally held as part of the admissions process.

How your application is assessed

Your application will be assessed purely on your proven and potential academic excellence and other entry requirements described under that heading.

References  and  supporting documents  submitted as part of your application, and your performance at interview (if interviews are held) will be considered as part of the assessment process. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed.

An overview of the shortlisting and selection process is provided below. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide  more information about how applications are assessed . 

Shortlisting and selection

Students are considered for shortlisting and selected for admission without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, sexual orientation, as well as other relevant circumstances including parental or caring responsibilities or social background. However, please note the following:

• socio-economic information may be taken into account in the selection of applicants and award of scholarships for courses that are part of  the University’s pilot selection procedure  and for  scholarships aimed at under-represented groups ;
• country of ordinary residence may be taken into account in the awarding of certain scholarships; and
• protected characteristics may be taken into account during shortlisting for interview or the award of scholarships where the University has approved a positive action case under the Equality Act 2010.

Processing your data for shortlisting and selection

Information about  processing special category data for the purposes of positive action  and  using your data to assess your eligibility for funding , can be found in our Postgraduate Applicant Privacy Policy.

Admissions panels and assessors

All recommendations to admit a student involve the judgement of at least two members of the academic staff with relevant experience and expertise, and must also be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Committee (or equivalent within the department).

Admissions panels or committees will always include at least one member of academic staff who has undertaken appropriate training.

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:

• the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the  About  section of this page;
• the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
• minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.

Offer conditions for successful applications

If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide more information about offers and conditions . 

In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:

Financial Declaration

If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a  Financial Declaration  in order to meet your financial condition of admission.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any  relevant, unspent criminal convictions  before you can take up a place at Oxford.

The facilities for English graduate students in Oxford are outstanding. In the faculty building you will find superb computing resources, a graduate common room, a café and an excellent discipline-specific library.

The English Faculty Library holds over 110,000 volumes and a wide range of print journals; it also provides regular information skills training to support teaching and research in English. Graduate students have access to all of Oxford's libraries, numbering over one hundred and including the world-famous collections of the Bodleian Library.

You will have the opportunity to hear lectures and papers by leading writers, critics, and theorists from inside and outside the University. You are encouraged to participate in the many research seminars and reading groups that run throughout term time, many of which are coordinated by graduates themselves.

There is an active and lively graduate organisation funded by the faculty, English Graduates at Oxford (EGO), that organises study skills, training and career development seminars, as well as social events and conferences.

Oxford’s Faculty of English Language and Literature is by far the largest English department in the UK and has a very distinguished research record, awarded top grades in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. The faculty leads the Complete University League Tables (2023) and QS World University Rankings (2022) for English Language and Literature. Teaching has been graded ‘excellent’ in every quality assurance review.

The faculty currently has 80 permanent members of academic staff, including 9 statutory professors. This is in addition to a further 100 or so members teaching in the colleges and temporary members of staff. There are currently around 900 undergraduate students (with roughly 260 admitted each year to the single honours school and a further 20 to joint honours school programmes). The Oxford English Faculty has the largest graduate school in the country, with approximately 95 master's students, with a further 120 graduate research students. For the publications and research interests of particular faculty members, please consult their individual webpages.

English Language and Literature

Oxford’s Faculty of English Language and Literature is the largest English department in the UK, with over 300 graduate students. The faculty has a very distinguished research and teaching record covering all periods of English literature.

The size and distinction of the faculty’s graduate school, as well as the intellectual diversity of its graduate students, make Oxford a very stimulating environment in which to study English.

The faculty’s taught master’s courses are designed to serve both as autonomous degrees and as a solid foundation for the pursuit of more advanced research in literature in Oxford or elsewhere. One of the special features of these courses is that, unlike many master's programmes, they offer you the opportunity to pursue topics across period boundaries if you so wish.

Research in English at Oxford covers a wide range of work in literature and language over all periods to the present. The Faculty has a lively programme of research seminars in which staff and students have the opportunity to give papers on their work, and to meet specialists from other universities and institutions from the UK and abroad.

View all courses   View taught courses View research courses

The University expects to be able to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across the collegiate University in 2024-25. You will be automatically considered for the majority of Oxford scholarships , if you fulfil the eligibility criteria and submit your graduate application by the relevant December or January deadline. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential. 

For further details about searching for funding as a graduate student visit our dedicated Funding pages, which contain information about how to apply for Oxford scholarships requiring an additional application, details of external funding, loan schemes and other funding sources.

Please ensure that you visit individual college websites for details of any college-specific funding opportunities using the links provided on our college pages or below:

Please note that not all the colleges listed above may accept students on this course. For details of those which do, please refer to the College preference section of this page.

Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the faculty's website.

Annual fees for entry in 2024-25

Further details about fee status eligibility can be found on the fee status webpage.

Information about course fees

Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges .

Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.

Where can I find further information about fees?

The Fees and Funding  section of this website provides further information about course fees , including information about fee status and eligibility  and your length of fee liability .

Additional information

There are no compulsory elements of this course that entail additional costs beyond fees and living costs. However, as part of your course requirements, you may need to choose a dissertation, a project or a thesis topic. Please note that, depending on your choice of topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses.

Living costs

In addition to your course fees, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the range of likely living costs for full-time study is between c. £1,345 and £1,955 for each month spent in Oxford. Full information, including a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs, is available on our living costs page. The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. When planning your finances for any future years of study in Oxford beyond 2024-25, it is suggested that you allow for potential increases in living expenses of around 5% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. UK inflationary increases will be kept under review and this page updated.

Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). 

If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief  introduction to the college system at Oxford  and our  advice about expressing a college preference . For some courses, the department may have provided some additional advice below to help you decide.

The following colleges accept students on the MPhil in English Studies (Medieval Period):

• Balliol College
• Blackfriars
• Brasenose College
• Campion Hall
• Christ Church
• Corpus Christi College
• Harris Manchester College
• Hertford College
• Jesus College
• Keble College
• Kellogg College
• Lady Margaret Hall
• Linacre College
• Lincoln College
• Magdalen College
• Mansfield College
• Merton College
• New College
• Oriel College
• Pembroke College
• The Queen's College
• Regent's Park College
• St Anne's College
• St Catherine's College
• St Cross College
• St Edmund Hall
• St Hilda's College
• St Hugh's College
• St John's College
• St Peter's College
• Somerville College
• Trinity College
• University College
• Wadham College
• Wolfson College
• Worcester College
• Wycliffe Hall

Before you apply

Our  guide to getting started  provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance . Check the deadlines on this page and the  information about deadlines and when to apply  in our Application Guide.

Application fee waivers

An application fee of £75 is payable per course application. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:

• applicants from low-income countries;
• refugees and displaced persons; 
• UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and 
• applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.

You are encouraged to  check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver  before you apply.

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

You do not need to make contact with the department before you apply but you are encouraged to visit the relevant departmental webpages to read any further information about your chosen course.

Completing your application

You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents .

For this course, the application form will include questions that collect information that would usually be included in a CV/résumé. You should not upload a separate document. If a separate CV/résumé is uploaded, it will be removed from your application .

If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.

Referees Three overall, academic preferred

Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.

The Faculty of English expects three academic references in all but exceptional cases, and never fewer than two academic references.

Your references will support intellectual ability, academic achievement and motivation.

Official transcript(s)

Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.

Personal statement: A maximum of 1,000 words

Your statement should be written in English and explain your motivation for applying for the course at Oxford, your relevant experience and education, and the specific areas that interest you and/or you intend to specialise in.

A statement which indicates the likely dissertation research area you wish to pursue is more useful than one which presents personal interests, achievements and aspirations.

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.

Your statement will be assessed for evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study and the nature of the course applied to; commitment to the subject; and evidence of a defined set of research interests.

Written work: Either two essays of a maximum of 2,000 words each or one essay of a maximum of 4,000 words

Academic essays or other writing samples from your most recent qualification, written in English, are required. Extracts from longer pieces are welcome but should be prefaced by a note which puts them in context.

It is preferable for your work to be related to the subject area you intend to study. The word count does not need to include any bibliography or brief footnotes.

This will be assessed for analytical and critical acumen; ability to construct and defend an argument; and powers of expression.

Instructions for submitting one long piece of work instead of two short pieces

To submit one longer piece of work in your application instead of two shorter pieces, you should upload this document in the first 'Written work' slot on the 'Supporting Documents' tab of the Application Form. In the second 'Written work' slot, you should upload a PDF document with the following statement:

' I have included one long essay in lieu of two short essays. I have checked the course page to confirm this is permitted for this course. '

Start or continue your application

You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please  refer to the requirements above  and  consult our Application Guide for advice . You'll find the answers to most common queries in our FAQs.

Application Guide   Apply

ADMISSION STATUS

Closed to applications for entry in 2024-25

Register to be notified via email when the next application cycle opens (for entry in 2025-26)

12:00 midday UK time on:

Friday 5 January 2024 Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships Final application deadline for entry in 2024-25

*Three-year average (applications for entry in 2021-22 to 2023-24)

Further information and enquiries

This course is offered by the Faculty of English Language and Literature

• Course page on the faculty's website
• Funding information from the faculty
• Academic and research staff
• Faculty research
• Humanities Division
• Residence requirements for full-time courses
• Postgraduate applicant privacy policy

Course-related enquiries

Advice about contacting the department can be found in the How to apply section of this page

✉ [email protected] ☎ +44 (0)1865 281140  or  +44 (0)1865 271541

Application-process enquiries

See the application guide

•  Help Desk 
•  [email protected] 
•  Screen Reader
•  051-111-112-468

Introduction

Based on a very realistic demand from the market and keeping in mind the popularity of higher degree programs in English language and applied linguistics, the Department decided to offer MPhil program in English (with specializations in linguistics and English literature) from Autumn 2020.

Title of the Degree:

The title of the degree will be:

MPhil in English

Whereas for research specialization, there will be two options:

1. Linguistics

2. Literature

MPhil English Coordinator 0519576573 / 0519576551

Eligibility Criteria

MPhil in English is a merit-based program. Any candidate having masters (MA) degree in English language and literature, ELT / TESOL / Linguistics / Applied Linguistics and TEFL with at least second division or 45% marks in annual system (or GPA 2.50/4 or 3.50/5 in semester system) from an HEC-recognized institution can apply for admission.

Selection Process

The applicants will be required to submit their GAT (General) result card (scoring 50% and above) as taken by NTS/HEC or any other organization established for the purpose. However, in case of university developed test, the passing marks will be 60% as per the existing rules of the university and the HEC of Pakistan. Along with academic record, experience, and publications, the final merit list will also include 20 marks for interview.

Medium of Instruction

Teaching methodology.

MPhil English programme is a regular face-to-face programme and the semester rules of HEC/AIOU will be applicable. The following will be the instructional methodology:

• Study Material

The university provides study materials during the first two semesters of course work.

• Classes (Coursework)

A 3-Credit Hour course for each subject will be taught in main campus (Islamabad) within a period of 18-classes (weeks) including mid-term and final-term exams during each semester. Attendance in these sessions is compulsory. Students failing to attain 70% attendance will not be eligible to appear in the final examination.

• Assignments/Quizzes/Sessional Tests/Presentations Each course carries a maximum of 100 marks. There are two assignments for each 3-credit hours course. Assignments are written by the students after studying the required readings recommended by the Department. These assignments are designed to enable them to relate their own ideas with the concepts covered in the required readings to facilitate the students in developing a thorough understanding of the subject.

Assignments/Quiz/Sessional Test/Presentation for each 3-Credit Hour course will be given. Students will complete the tasks within the semester. The marks obtained in these assignments contribute to the final course result. For successful completion of the course, it is imperative to obtain a minimum of 50% marks in each assignment. Students failing in the continuous assessment will not be eligible to appear in the final examination.

A student is required to carry research work under the supervision of an advisor having PhD degree in the relevant field (as per relevant HEC/AIOU rules). There is an intensive workshop to discuss research proposals of the students.

AIOU Credits Required

• Semester: 1
• Semester: 2
• Semester: 3
• Semester: 4

Participants are required to attend various workshops arranged by the department. Two-week research workshops at the end of course-work are compulsory.

Research thesis is a compulsory component of the degree program. A 12-credit hours research thesis is to be written at the end of the course-work on the topics to be duly approved by RPCs (Research Proposal Committees). 

Scholars are required to defend their thesis work in a public defense/viva voce committee as per AIOU/HEC rules.

The Allama Iqbal Open University was established in May, 1974, with the main objectives of providing educational opportunities to masses and to those who cannot leave their homes and jobs. During all these past years, the University has more than fulfilled this promise.

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Preparing to submit an MPhil thesis

• Degree Committee for the Faculty of Physics & Chemistry
• Change in student status
• First year review
• Exams MPhil (taught)

If you are holding an offer to continue to further postgraduate study you are strongly advised to plan your submission timetable carefully. Allow sufficient time for your examination to take place and your degree to be approved before the start date of your next course.

1. Notice of intention to submit

At least two months before you intend to submit your thesis you need to inform the Degree Committee of your proposed title, expected submission date and provide a short summary. Your submission date should be on or before your submission deadline . You will also have the opportunity to state your preference for an in-person viva (default) or viva by video conference at this stage.The intention to submit form initiates the Examiner appointment process and will open the submission portal to you, so it is very important that you remember to do this.

Your intention to submit notice will be normally be acknowledged within 4 working days. The acknowledgement includes a link to the Moodle course to which you will submit your thesis. The Degree Committee Office will then approach your supervisor for nominations of potential examiners.

If you do not give any/sufficient notice before submitting your thesis your examination will be delayed.

Online form: Intention to submit a research thesis

2. Examination access arrangements (optional)

Should you wish to make a voluntary disclosure of any disability/chronic illness that might affect the conduct of your viva please complete and email the disclosure form to the Degree Committee Office before you submit. We invite you to do this up to two months in advance to allow us time to consult with the DRC and make appropriate access arrangements . Please download the form, complete and sign it, then email back to us in the Degree Committee office.

Form for download:  https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/files/voluntary_disclosure_form.pdf         

3. Confidential Research (optional)

If your research is confidential (e.g. you are sponsored by industry and they claim rights over your findings), you may apply for a confidentiality agreement to be put in place for the examination. Contact the Degree Committee Office at least one month before you intend to submit your thesis.

4. Complete your thesis

Word limit : Be aware of the word limit and what is/is not included . Candidates are often confused as to how to include equations and formulas in the word count. We recommend you count them as as having the same number of words that text occupying the same area would have, using an average of 13 words per line or 350 words per page (at the 1.5 line spacing).

Format: The MPhil thesis is submitted electronically in A4 portrait format.  There is no requirement for a hardbound copy at any stage in the examination for the MPhil . You are strongly advised to check your thesis carefully prior to submission for typing errors, spelling mistakes and poor English. Number the pages consecutively and ensure work is fully referenced. Remember, the Examiners must be left in no doubt as to which parts of your submitted work are your own original work and which are not.

Including additional material : You may seek permission to submit additional material with your thesis by submitting an application on CamSIS. This process should be initiated and approved prior to you submitting your thesis.

Electronic copy: Please remember the electronic copy of the MPhil thesis you submit is the only document that can be examined. You should not attempt to send any additional documents to your Examiners as they cannot be taken into consideration. If your Examiner specifically requires a paper copy of your thesis they should make the request via the Degree Committee Office. If the Examiner makes the request to you directly please contact the Degree Committee Office.

Compulsory inclusions : the Cambridge Students website details what must be included in the thesis, and in what order.

Certificate of submission : Must be downloaded , completed and signed to confirm that you are the original author of the work and have kept to the word limits. 

Ukraine: If your progress was impacted by the situation in Ukraine, please see Research Impact Statement and extension information on our Coronavirus pages . The guidance only refers to COVID-19 but now also applies to the situation in Ukraine.

If you can't find the page you are looking for or find a broken link do let us know (please use the email link in the 'Contact us' section below).

Ukraine - University resources

Coronavirus advice from the University

Office closures

The Degree Committee for the Faculty of Physics & Chemistry will be closed from 5pm on Thursday 28 March 2024 and will reopen again on Tuesday 2 April 2024. Research degree theses should still be submitted by your submission deadline even if that falls over the holiday period.

Meetings schedule

Meetings of the Degree Committee and Degree Ceremonies

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Degree Committee for Physics & Chemistry, School of Physical Sciences, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1RX. Tel: 01223 746764 / 746766

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Master of Philosophy in Business

Master of philosophy in business .

Offered by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, USJ

through the Department of Business Administration , USJ

New Admissions for Academic Year 2024

About the programme

Applications are invited from interested candidates for the Degree of MPhil (Business) offered through the Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. MPhil (Business) is a Master’s by thesis which aims to facilitate students to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills required to be independent researchers and opens up a learner-centred pathway leading to a rigorous research project in the field of Business. Once enrolled students are required to successfully complete four non-credit taught courses and two workshop series parallel to which their research project will commence under the guidance of a supervisor.

Duration: 02 Year s

Medium: English

Course Fee:

Local Students LKR 560,000.00

Foreign Students USD 3450

*Course fee can be paid in two installments

Seminar and Workshops: Will be held on weekends during Term I and Term II (first six months)

Eligible for Registration:

Applicants who possess one of the following minimum qualifications and good knowledge of English are eligible to apply for the Degree of MPhil (Business) programme:

• Has a First‐Class or Second‐Class (Upper Division) Special/Honours Degree in Business Administration/Management or any other field in the broad area of Management Studies (equivalent to the level 6 of SLQF) with a substantial research component;
• Has a First-Class or Second-Class (Upper Division) Special/Honours Degree in Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology or similar discipline with a minimum of 30 credits in the broad area of Management Studies (equivalent to the level 6 of SLQF) and with a substantial research component;
• Has an M.Sc. (Management), MBA or any other Master’s degree in the broad area of Management Studies with a substantial research component (equivalent to the level 10 of SLQF);
• Has an M.A. in Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology or any other Master’s degree in a similar discipline with a substantial research component related to the broad area of Management Studies (equivalent to the level 10 of SLQF);
• Has a First-Class or Second-Class (Upper Division) Special Degree in Business Administration/Management or any other field in the broad area of Management Studies with at least three-year experience as a researcher or academic and/or with proven track record of publications in the broad area of Management Studies;
• Has an M.Sc. (Management), MBA or any other Master’s degree in the broad area of Management Studies (equivalent to the level 9 or above of SLQF) with at least one year experience as a researcher or academic and/or with proven track record of publications in the broad area of Management Studies;
• Has an M.A. in Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology or any other Master’s degree in a similar discipline (equivalent to the level 9 or above of SLQF) with at least one year experience as a researcher or academic and/or with proven track record of publications in the broad area of Management Studies;
• Has a Postgraduate Diploma in Management or in a similar discipline (equivalent to the level 8 of SLQF) with at least two-year experience as a researcher or academic and/or with proven track record of publications in the broad area of Management Studies;
• Has any other qualifications that can be accepted by the Senate of the University according to the minimum admission requirement/s of SLQF.

Application Closing Date: 30 th September 2024 

How to apply.

• Click on the “ Apply Now” button below or go to the “ Applications ” page.
• Select the Course “ Master of Philosophy in Business ” and log in with your email & NIC/passport number
• Enter your details and click on Submit .

• Account Holder      : University of Sri Jayewardenepura
• Account number    : 053010005139
• Bank & Branch       : People’s Bank, Gangodawila Branch
• If the bank officer informed you that this account number is incorrect, please ask the officer to contact People’s bank, Gangodawila branch.
• People’s bank account contains 15 digits normally. But this account contains only 12 digits. So, you cannot use Cash Deposit Machines or bank applications to pay.
• Login again by repeating the above 1 st & 2 nd steps again.
• Click on the “Next” Button at the bottom. (If necessary, you are allowed to edit your details)
• Color Photograph (3.0cm width x 4.0cm height with plain sky-blue background) – .jpg or .png file
• Scanned copy of Birth Certificate – .pdf file
• Bank payment receipt or Online payment receipt- .pdf file
• Scanned copies of Academic Certificates (First Degree & Masters/MPhil) – .pdf files
• Scanned copy/ies of Professional Qualifications Certificate/s- .pdf files
• Scanned copy/ies of Other Qualifications Certificate/s – .pdf file/s
• Service letter – .pdf file

** no need to upload your Research Proposal but

• Send the downloaded application (from the 4th step above) and a soft copy of the research proposal to [email protected] with scanned copies of the Degree Certificate, Transcript, Birth Certificate, Passport size Colour photograph, and payment receipt. Please write “ MPhil (Bus) – 2024 ” in the subject field of the email.
• Post the printed application (from 4 th step above) and a hard copy of the research proposal along with the certified documents included in the above 8 th step through a registered post to Senior Assistant Registrar, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda . Write “ Master of Philosophy in Business ” on the top left-hand corner of the envelope.

For further details, please contact:

Coordinator Master of Philosophy in Business Department of Business Administration University of Sri Jayewardenepura Phone: +94(0)11-2803472

Email: [email protected]

(If you have any issues with the online application, please contact Mr. Atheeq at  0762242138 / 0112881565 )

Contact Faculty of Graduate Studies Mrs. Kumudu Herath: (+94) 11 288 1553 / [email protected]

Registrar, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Download:  Proposal Template – MPhil in Business

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