Doctoral Studies
As a doctoral student at the Department of Languages and Literatures, you are part of an international research environment. The aim of our third-cycle programme is to provide in-depth knowledge in the specific language field, but also skills in research methodology and scholarly approaches.
Third-cycle subject areas
We offer third-cycle education in African languages, Arabic, English, Greek, Japanese, Latin, Romance languages, Sinology, Slavic languages and German. Within these different subjects, you can choose a specialisation that suits you, such as linguistics, general literary studies or language learning and teaching. We also accept doctoral students in humanities specialising in educational sciences in collaboration with Graduate School CUL (a graduate school in educational science).
The programme
The aim of our third-cycle education is to ensure that doctoral students are able to acquire a broad knowledge of the research subject and specialise in that part of the research domain on which the thesis focuses. You will also develop skills that will allow you to independently pursue a career as a researcher and university lecturer, or in other professions and roles requiring in-depth subject knowledge in combination with good skills in the fields of analysis, project work and knowledge transfer.
The programme towards a doctoral degree is a four-year programme (240 credits). Most of the programme is devoted to preparing a doctoral thesis, which will be assessed by means of public defence of the thesis. The thesis may take the form of a monograph or what is known as a compilation thesis comprising articles and a fairly long introduction. The equivalent of one year (60 credits) is made up of third-cycle courses, which are specified in further detail in the general study syllabus for each subject. Participation in seminars at the department and various forms of exchange in national and international contexts also form part of the programme.
The general study syllabi for each subject provide more information about which courses are included in the programme, the entry requirements that have to be met in order to be eligible, and the criteria that are applied when we review applications for third-cycle education.
Admission to third-cycle education
All doctoral students at the department are admitted in competition by means of regular open calls. This is also applicable to doctoral students who are funded by means of external funds from research funding bodies or external employment (known as collaborative doctoral students). Any vacancies on the doctoral programme are announced on this page and on the University of Gothenburg’s central page for calls.
