2008-2009 Program Requirements for UCLA Graduate Degrees

Applicable only to students admitted during the 2008-2009 academic year.

Doctoral Degree

Advising

Students are assigned an adviser at the beginning of the Fall Quarter of their first year. A formal evaluation of the research skills of all students is carried out no earlier than the second quarter of residence, and no later than the fourth quarter. Student progress is reviewed annually by the Ph.D. Program Committee.

Continuing students may petition to transfer from the M.A. to the Ph.D. program before completion of the M.A. thesis, but approval is granted only in exceptional cases. The student should consult the primary adviser to determine the feasibility of transfer from one degree program to another. If the primary adviser so recommends, an M.A. student may petition the Ph.D. Program Committee at the end of the fourth quarter. The request must be accompanied by a current transcript, a research sample, a research proposal, and a short written report by the primary adviser. Based on these materials the Ph.D. Program Committee recommends one of the following: a) immediate admission into the Ph.D. program; b) completion of a thesis leading to an M.A. degree and the option thereafter to apply separately for admission into the Ph.D. program; or c) that the student takes a terminal M.A. degree.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Major Field

Students are required to undertake a program of study that includes one major area, either critical studies in architectural culture or in technology.

Majors outside these areas, or a combination of the two, may be undertaken, subject to the approval of the Ph.D. Program Committee, if supported by qualified departmental faculty members who are available and willing to provide the necessary instruction and guidance.

Each major field is organized and coordinated by a major field committee consisting of faculty and students with active interests in that area. It is the responsibility of the field committee to initiate research programs, organize discussions, make curriculum and staffing recommendations, and serve as a source of consultation, guidance, and stimulation for the student.

Minor Field

Students are required to include in the program of study at least one minor field which must be chosen from outside of the department. The objectives of the minor field requirement are to ensure that Ph.D. students have academic breadth in their preparation, and to encourage them to participate in the general intellectual life of the University. In planning minor field work, students are advised in accord with these objectives, and the choice must be approved by the adviser.

Due to the wide diversity of backgrounds of Ph.D. students in architecture, it is appropriate to allow some flexibility in requirements for completion of the minor. The normal method of  demonstrating competence in the minor field is to complete at least 16 units of coursework, with a grade of B or better, which represents a unified course of study in that field. If a qualified departmental faculty member is willing to provide the necessary supervision, the Ph.D. Program Committee, in consultation with that faculty member and the student, may accept an alternative method of completing this requirement; for example, a substantial research project. Any proposal to complete the minor by an alternative method must explicitly demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Ph.D. Program Committee, that the objectives of the minor field requirement are met.

Foreign Language Requirement

Students are expected to develop adequate skills in one foreign language as appropriate to their field of specialization, and as approved by the Ph.D. Program Committee, and are strongly advised to complete this requirement as early as possible. Students may fulfill the foreign language requirement in French, German, or Italian by completing, with grades of B or better, coursework in the approved language to level 4, or by passing the equivalent placement examination in the appropriate foreign language department. The student's doctoral adviser or the Ph.D. Program Committee may recommend that other languages be taken if needed for the student's research.

Courses applied toward satisfaction of the language requirement may not be applied toward satisfaction of a major or minor field requirement.

Course Requirements

Students must be in residence in the Ph.D. program a minimum of two years. This is an absolute minimum; longer residence requirements apply to most students, as detailed below. In general, students are required to take sufficient coursework to provide adequate preparation for the qualifying examinations and the dissertation. Minimum course unit requirements are as follows:

All candidates are required to complete six quarters in residence and 72 units of coursework. For these required 72 units, at least 50 percent must be in courses in architecture and urban design.  Students are required to maintain an overall grade-point average of 3.0 or better in all courses. The Ph.D. is an academic degree and therefore it is expected that a substantial proportion of the coursework will be completed in the 200 series; the minimum requirement is for at least 32 units of coursework to be in 200 series. No more than eight units of Architecture and Urban Design 596 and eight units of 597 may be applied toward degree requirements; as many units of 599 as necessary may be applied. Students who choose the area of critical studies in architectural culture as their area of specialization are required to take a total of 30 units of Architecture and Urban Design 290 as part of their requirement for graduation. This set of six five-unit courses must be completed by the end of the sixth quarter of residency. Ph.D. students with no prior background in architecture are strongly recommended to take a summer studio course at UCLA.

Students who hold a professional degree in architecture before admission to the program are required to complete four quarters in residence and 48 units of coursework in order to establish eligibility to take the qualifying examinations.

Students who hold an M.Arch. I, M.Arch. II, or M.A. degree in Architecture and Urban Design from the department may petition the Ph.D. Program Committee to reduce these course requirements to a minimum of three quarters in residence and 36 units of coursework. Decisions on these petitions are at the discretion of the committee.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

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.

Students may take the two qualifying examinations after successful completion of (1) the first-year review evaluating research skills; (2) the mathematics, computing, or foreign language requirement; and (3) the coursework requirements, as detailed above. The committee application includes an outline and brief discussion of the proposed dissertation.

The purpose of the qualifying examinations is for students to demonstrate a broad mastery of the field of architecture, the required levels of competence in the major and minor fields, and the appropriateness of and adequate preparation for the proposed dissertation topic. The examinations consist of the following parts:

(1) The written and oral examination in the major field.

The written examination in the major field is a substantial exercise that is followed by an oral presentation to the examination committee. The standard for successful completion of this examination is for students to demonstrate that they have achieved the level of competence of a scholar specializing in the field, could teach an introductory course in the field, and can contribute to the progress of the field through scholarship and research.

The major field examination is conducted by a three-member examination committee appointed by the chair of the department on the advice of the Ph.D. Program Committee. The examination committee consists of faculty with regular appointments who also will serve as the inside members of the doctoral committee.

A student will fail the oral examination in the major field if more than one committee member votes not passed, regardless of the size of the committee. If a majority of the examining committee so recommends, the examination in the major field may be repeated once within an established time frame. Students may not replace more than one original committee member with a new member in the reconstituted committee. Students who do not meet these requirements within the time frame will be recommended for termination.

(2) The University Oral Qualifying Examination which focuses primarily on the subject of the proposed dissertation.

The University Oral Qualifying Examination is conducted by the appointed doctoral committee and explores the proposed dissertation topic and the ability to undertake the proposed work successfully.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy 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 Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

Time-to-Degree

Students are expected to receive their degree within six years (18 quarters) from admission into the program, and must be registered continuously or on official leave of absence during this period. Students who do not register and are not on official leave automatically lose their status in the program.

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

Academic Probation for M.Arch. I Students

In addition to University policy, M.Arch. I students are required to maintain a 3.00 average in studio coursework. Students who fall below a 3.00 average in overall coursework or below a 3.00 average in studio coursework are placed on departmental academic probation. Students on academic probation are required to attend bi-weekly meetings with their faculty adviser and the graduate adviser and are required to be assigned a student mentor. Students are free to choose their own faculty adviser with the consent of the graduate adviser. The department wants all students to succeed and indeed to excel in all of their academic endeavors.  Therefore, academic probation is intended to identify weaknesses and help students move forward through special support and remedial action.

Recommendations for Termination for M.Arch. I Students

Students whose overall grade-point average or grade-point average in studio coursework falls below 3.00 in two consecutive quarters are subject to a review to determine whether they will be recommended for termination of graduate study to the Graduate Division. No student will be subject to such a recommendation on the basis of a single grade of B- in a studio course.

At the beginning of each academic year, the department's Executive Committee selects a standing committee charged with reviewing all students subject to a recommendation for termination. The members of the standing committee serve in this capacity for a minimum of one academic year. The standing committee consists of three ladder faculty members: the department chair and two other ladder faculty members. A student's individual faculty adviser may serve as an additional member and consultant to the standing committee.

Once a potential recommendation for termination arises, the following procedures begin. Students receive additional academic advising and documentation of this advising, in the form of reports from the staff graduate adviser and the student's individual faculty adviser, that are placed in the student's file. Students meet with the standing committee at least once during the process and in addition to their faculty adviser, they may invite other faculty members to attend their meeting(s). The standing committee makes their recommendations in writing. If the committee chooses not to recommend termination, they must provide the student with a clear timetable for required improvements in performance. Students who fail to meet these requirements are recommended for termination based on a majority vote of the standing committee.

PAGE 1 -- Master of Architecture I
PAGE 2 -- Master of Architecture II

Program Requirements