Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science)

Program Requirements

A PhD student with an MA or equivalent in political science is normally required to complete a minimum of 18 units at the graduate level. Students will normally be required to complete the core courses in each of their two chosen fields of concentration. Students must take and pass written comprehensive examinations in any two of the following five fields: Canadian politics; comparative politics; gender and politics; international relations; political philosophy/theory. The student’s supervisor or supervisory committee may also determine that a special skill or area is essential to the student’s program and may require additional coursework. It is normally expected that all coursework will be complete within two terms and that students would take comprehensive exams and defend their dissertation proposals during the second year in the program.

Students will also be expected to prepare a thesis proposal for oral candidacy examination. This normally occurs within eight months of passing the comprehensive exams, i.e., within the third year of the program. The thesis proposal must be approved and the oral candidacy examination passed before students become full doctoral candidates.

Before defending the thesis each student must demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English. Students taking Canadian politics as a field will normally be required to take French.

All candidates for the PhD must prepare an acceptable thesis embodying the results of their research. Candidates will be examined orally on their thesis results.

The minimum period of residence is two academic years of full-time attendance at the University of Alberta.

Length of Program

A minimum of four years is normally required to complete the PhD.