Near Eastern Languages & Cultures

Postgraduate

In Los Angeles (USA)

higher than £ 9000

Description

  • Type

    Postgraduate

  • Location

    Los angeles (USA)

The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures offers the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. It also offers the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Islamic Studies.

Facilities

Location

Start date

Los Angeles (USA)
See map
90095

Start date

On request

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Subjects

  • Doctor
  • Writing
  • University
  • Philosophy
  • Archaeology
  • Hebrew
  • Arabic

Course programme

A minimum of nine upper division and graduate courses (36 units) is required, of which at least six (24 units) must be at the graduate level.

In general, students choosing either the language, literature, or archaeology option are required to study two Near Eastern languages, one of which is considered the major language. Students in Semitics or in Old Iranian study three languages.

In Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations, students may choose as their major language any of the following: Ancient Egyptian (including Coptic), Akkadian, Aramaic (including Syriac), Hebrew (with Ugaritic and Phoenician), or Old Persian. For the second language, any of the above or Hittite or Sumerian may be chosen.

Students in Hebrew Bible choose Hebrew and another Semitic language. In Turkic, either two Turkic languages or Turkish and a second culturally related language may be chosen. In Arabic, Armenian and Iranian (modern), a major language and a second culturally related language are chosen.

Students in Semitics are required to study three Near Eastern languages, at least two of which should be Semitic (the third may be Hittite or Sumerian). In Old Iranian, Persian, Sanskrit, and Old and Middle Iranian are studied.

Students in Iranian language are required to study Old and Middle Iranian languages (e.g., Avestan; Old Persian; Parthian; Middle Persian; Khotanese; Sogdian; and Bactrian).

Only eight units of a 596 course may be applied toward the minimum graduate course requirement.

Teaching Experience

Not required. In order to teach Arabic, graduate students from any discipline are required to complete Arabic 496 (Arabic Language Pedagogy) or the equivalent as determined by the Arabic faculty.

Field Experience

Not required.

Capstone Plan

In general, students are required to take written final comprehensive examinations in their major and minor languages, as well as the history and literature of their major field. Further details can be found in the departmental Guide to Graduate Studies, available in the department.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

Normative progress from graduate admission to conferral of the master's degree is six academic quarters (and two summer terms).

MAXIMUM TTD

Advising

At the time of application, students will apply to a specific specialization and once admitted, the student will be assigned a faculty advisor in their given field. If a student decides to change their faculty advisor prior to advancement to doctoral candidacy, the student secures a new faculty on their own within the department, and the new faculty advisor informs the Student Affairs Officer in writing. After advancement to candidacy, a student must get their committee and department chair approval to change any faculty on their committee.

New students should make an advising appointment at the beginning of their first quarter. During this appointment, students and their advisors agree on a study list and their future program. In each subsequent quarter, it is the student's responsibility to discuss their plans for that quarter with their advisor and obtain approval for their study list. If a student wishes to make changes in the study list after it is approved by the graduate advisor, the changes must be approved by the department chair or the graduate advisor before the student accesses the online enrollment system. Departmental policy requires the signature of the chair or the graduate advisor for approval of all petitions.

Student progress is reviewed annually. At the beginning of spring quarter, all students meet with their faculty supervisors and provide them with a written summary of their progress toward the degree and their goals for the coming year. The faculty supervisors report to the interdepartmental degree committee which meets to review student progress and advises each student in writing by the end of spring quarter as to whether their progress is sufficient to warrant continuation in the program.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Major fields of specialization are Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations, Arabic, Armenian, Assyriology, Egyptology, Hebrew Bible, Iranian, Jewish Studies, Near Eastern Archeology, Semitics, and Turkic. Students may concentrate on either language or literature in their selected field but are required to do work in both.

Foreign Language Requirement

Two modern major research languages other than English are required. The choice of languages must be approved by the advisor, who may also require additional language skills in modern and/or ancient languages if such skills are needed for scholarly work in the area of the student's interest. The requirement is fulfilled by one of the following options: (1) a departmentally-administered examination with a Pass; or (2) two years of language instruction at a UC campus, with a grade of B or better. For modern language exams only, students are able to repeat a failed individual exam up to three times in subsequent quarters over a span of two years. Language proficiency must be demonstrated at the time of the scheduling of the Written Qualifying Examination for the doctoral degree.

Course Requirements

Students are required to achieve high competence in two languages and to familiarize themselves with the cultural backgrounds of each of the languages chosen. Students who study Arabic may request to use an Arabic dialect as their second language per faculty advisor approval given the dissertation topic. Students are required to familiarize themselves, through appropriate course work, with the history of the cultural area, and the methods of literary research and the history of literary criticism.

If the archaeology emphasis in the Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations specialization is chosen, students are required to achieve high competence in two ancient Near Eastern languages and must be well-versed both in the history of the cultural area and in archaeological methodologies.

Students who choose a language emphasis for the Ph.D. degree are required to add a third Near Eastern language to the two that are required for the M.A. degree.

Further details about the choice of languages and examination requirements may be found in the departmental Guide to Graduate Study, available in the department.

Teaching Experience

Not required. In order to teach Arabic, graduate students from any discipline are required to complete Arabic 496 (Arabic Language Pedagogy) or the equivalent as determined by the Arabic faculty.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

Written qualifying examinations must be passed before the formation of a doctoral committee. Candidates in languages are examined in three Near Eastern languages and the literary and historical background of at least two of them. Candidates in literature are examined in the literatures written in two languages within the cultural area of concentration and the historical and cultural background of these languages, with emphasis on one of them. Candidates in Arabic literature are also examined in one outside field to be determined in consultation with the advisor. Candidates in Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations are examined in two ancient languages and in the history and archaeology of the major areas of the ancient Near East.

Following successful completion of the course and language requirements and the written qualifying examinations, students are required to form a doctoral committee and take the University Oral Qualifying Examination.

To formally nominate a doctoral committee a student must email the Student Affairs Officer the committee, which is formed with email approval from all faculty committee members. The department chair or graduate advisor will sign off on the final committee.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)

Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree

Ph.D. students are expected to respect the following normative guidelines in carrying out their program. From admission to the Ph.D. program (i.e., after obtaining the M.A. degree) to:

(1) the written qualifying examinations - six academic quarters.

(2) the oral qualifying examination and approval of the dissertation prospectus - nine academic quarters (and three summer terms).

(3) the conferral of the Ph.D. degree - fifteen academic quarters.

MAXIMUM TTD

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

In addition to the standards reasons outlined above, a student may specifically be recommended for academic disqualification because of: (1) a terminal master's degree recommendation from the student's master's committee; (2) inadequate scholarship as recommended by the Graduate Committee; or (3) inadequate progress toward the degree as recommended by the departmental section in the student's specialization.

In all cases, the student's academic progress is discussed in depth by the departmental section that made the recommendation. A recommendation for academic disqualification is forwarded to the departmental chair for review and decision. The student is notified of a recommendation for termination in writing.

A student may appeal a recommendation for academic disqualification by stating the reasons in writing to the departmental chair. The chair transmits the appeal to the student's departmental section for consideration.

UCLA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and by numerous special agencies. Information regarding the University's accreditation may be obtained from the Office of Academic Planning and Budget, 2107 Murphy Hall.

Near Eastern Languages & Cultures

higher than £ 9000