Graduate Programs

Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (Ph.D.)

The graduate program in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures offers advanced training in the languages, literatures, art, archaeology, and history of the Middle East from antiquity to modernity. Students choose from eight concentrations for the major and minor fields of study: Ancient Iranian Studies, Arabic Language & Literature, Cuneiform Studies, Egyptology, Hebrew Language & Literature, Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Art & Archaeology, and Persian Language & Literature. Click the links below to find out more about applying to the MELC program, to locate resources and...

Italian Studies (Ph.D.)

The Department of Italian Studies is committed to the interdisciplinary study of Italian literature and culture, and its diverse faculty includes scholars of literature, history, music, anthropology, art history, architecture, and cinema. We are also fortunate to have frequent visiting faculty from Italy and elsewhere.

In order to encourage innovative work that crosses disciplinary boundaries, the combined M.A./Ph.D. program requires students to designate one primary and one secondary field. The primary field may be a 200 year period of Italian literature and culture, or a topic...

History of Art (M.A./Ph.D.)

The Department of History of Art offers a two-stage integrated master’s and doctoral program (MA/PhD) in preparation for college teaching, writing, and specialized curatorial careers. Students are not admitted to work for a terminal MA degree, though students may apply for the MA after meeting Stage I requirements toward the PhD. Students work closely with faculty in courses, seminars, and on independent research projects to develop independent thought and a thorough knowledge of the field and its critical methods. Cross-disciplinary work in Berkeley’s distinguished...

Medieval Studies (Concurrent Ph.D.)

The Committee on Medieval Studies offers a Concurrent Ph.D. in which candidates belong to a home department while also receiving training in the core disciplines of Medieval Studies. Applicants should apply to their intended home department (e.g. English) for admission to graduate study. Once accepted and enrolled in the home department, the student may then apply for admission to the Medieval Studies Concurrent Ph.D. program. The degree granted will be the Ph.D. in "X and Medieval Studies" (e.g. French and Medieval Studies, History and Medieval Studies, etc.)....

South and Southeast Asian Studies (M.A.)

This program is designed for students exclusively seeking a Master’s Degree in South and Southeast Asian Studies, as well as for those who would like to acquire the foundation necessary for applying to doctoral programs in their chosen fields. Emphases in the program include the languages and literatures of Hindi, Indonesian, Khmer, Sanskrit, Tamil, Tibetan, and Urdu.

Prerequisites for Admission to the M.A. Program

Two years of study in the language of emphasis or the equivalent, as determined by the Head Graduate Adviser; Five undergraduate courses concerning South and...

South and Southeast Asian Studies (Ph.D.)

This program offers emphases in the following languages and literatures: Burmese, Thai, Hindi, Urdu, Indonesian, Sanskrit, Tamil, Tibetan, and Khmer. Literature is understood in the widest sense to include not only creative writing and cultural expression in the various genres but also sources concerning religion, philosophy, history, and the fine and performing arts. The analysis of cultural expression is also understood to include attention to social, anthropological, economic, and political contexts.

Learn...

German (Ph.D.)

Our distinguished graduate program in German is both comprehensive and innovative, dedicated to German literature and linguistics, language and culture, but also to media, film, intellectual history, and theoretical approaches that reach beyond disciplinary boundaries.

We offer a broad range of research seminars that reflect the interests of our diverse faculty and most recent developments in the field. The topics of our courses range from Medieval literature to 21st century literature; from the...

French (Ph.D.)

The French Department’s doctoral program reflects the interdisciplinary priorities that have long defined the pursuit of knowledge here at Berkeley. We are committed not only to providing students strong coverage of the field of French and francophone literature and culture, but also to doing so through the critical application of innovative methodologies, and by continually bringing French studies into productive dialogue with developments in parallel disciplines. Our faculty’s interests are both historically and methodologically diverse; their strengths are complemented by a...

Film & Media (Ph.D.)

Students in the Film & Media Ph.D. are encouraged to situate moving images within the larger theoretical and analytical frameworks of a range of other disciplines. They integrate the traditions of History, Law, Literature, Religion and Political Theory to the newer disciplines of Film Studies and Digital Media, applying the tools of Post-Structuralism, Psychoanalysis, New Historicism, Frankfurt School, Feminist Theory, Queer Theory, Post-Colonialism and Deconstruction. Many combine their degree study with a campus Designated Emphasis (graduate “minor”) in New Media, in Critical Theory...

English (Ph.D.)

The Berkeley English Department offers a wide-ranging Ph.D. program, engaging in all historical periods of British and American literature, Anglophone literature, and critical and cultural theory. The program aims to assure that students gain a broad knowledge of literature in English as well as the highly-developed skills in scholarship and criticism necessary to do solid and innovative work in their chosen specialized fields.

Please note that the department does not offer a Master’s Degree program or a degree program in Creative Writing. Students can, however...