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Program Description
The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Islamic Studies offered by the Institute of Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Arts is a research-intensive program that emphasizes innovative and specialized learning opportunities. The program's objective is to equip students with skills in out-of-the-box thinking, literature synthesis, and the presentation of complex topics to pursue professional opportunities in academia or industry.
The program may also be taken as a Gender & Women's Studies option where students focus on gender and women's studies, and issues in feminist research and methods. In this option, the student's Ph.D. thesis must be on a topic centrally relating to issues of gender and/or women's studies.
Keywords: Arabic, Persian, Islamic Studies, Women’s Studies, Middle Eastern, Urdu, Turkish, South Asia, Islamic theology, Islamic philosophy, Anthropology of Islam, Qur'an, Sufism, Safavid, Shi’i, Islam and Politics, Ottoman, Africa.
Unique Program Features
- Students thrive in a vibrant international environment and benefit from a low student-faculty ratio, which fosters meaningful, face-to-face interactions with professors across all levels of study;
- The Institute regularly invites prominent scholars in the field of Islamic Studies to give guest lectures;
- Students may take courses in the Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu languages;
- The Institute houses the Islamic Studies Library (ISL), which is among the largest North American collections in Islamic Studies;
- The Institute has been successful in placing its graduates in top-ranking academic jobs in North America (such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and various Canadian universities). Graduates from the program help to ensure that a plurality of approaches to Islamic civilization is available to the students of today and tomorrow.
University-Level Admission Requirements
- An eligible Bachelor's degree with a minimum 3.0 GPA out of a possible 4.0 GPA. For this program, an eligible MA degree (or equivalent) in the Humanities or Social Sciences, with an emphasis on Islamic Studies or Middle Eastern Studies
- English-language proficiency
Each program has specific admission requirements including required application documents. Please visit the program website for more details.
Visit our Educational credentials and grade equivalencies and English language proficiency webpages for additional information.
Program Website
PhD in Islamic Studies website
Department Contact
Graduate Program info.islamics [at] mcgill.ca (subject: PhD%20in%20Islamic%20Studies) (email)
Available Intakes
Fall
Application Deadlines
| Intake | Applications Open | Application Deadline - International | Application Deadline - Domestic (Canadian, Permanent Resident of Canada) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FALL | September 15 | December 15 | December 15 |
| WINTER | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| SUMMER | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Note: Application deadlines are subject to change without notice. Please check the application portal for the most up-to-date information.