Applicable only to students admitted during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

College of Letters and Science

Graduate Degrees

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.

Admission

Program Name

Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

Address

378 Humanities Building
Box 951511
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1511 

Phone

(310) 825-4165 

Email

nreast@humnet.ucla.edu  

Leading to the degree of

M.A., Ph.D. 

Admission Limited to

Fall, Winter, Spring 

Deadline to apply

December 1st 

GRE (General and/or Subject)

GRE: General 

Letters of Recommendation 

3 

Other Requirements

In addition to the University's minimum requirements and those listed above, all applicants are expected to submit a statement of purpose, and recent term paper (strongly recommended).

M.A.: A bachelor's degree or the equivalent in the language area chosen for the degree. As a rule, applicants selected for admission have a grade-point average of at least 3.25 and competitive GRE scores. The GRE must be taken within 24 months prior to the date of the application; use department code 2602 to have GRE scores sent to the department.

Ph.D.: A master's degree or the equivalent in the applicant's field (the master's degree need not have been completed at UCLA). As a rule, applicants selected for admission have a grade-point average of at least 3.25. The GRE must be taken within 24 months prior to the date of the application; use code department code 2602 to have scores sent to the department.

TOEFL scores: International applicants should use department code 57 to have TOEFL scores sent to the department. 

Master's Degree

Advising

Students are assigned a guidance committee composed of an adviser and at least two other faculty members whose interests touch on their area of specialization. The adviser is named by the chair to serve on the student's guidance committee.

New students should make an advising appointment at the beginning of their first quarter. During this appointment, students and their advisers 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 adviser 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 adviser, the changes must be approved by the department chair or the graduate adviser before the student accesses the online enrollment system. Departmental policy requires the signature of the chair or the graduate adviser for approval of all petitions.

Areas of Study

Major fields of specialization are ancient Near Eastern civilizations, Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Iranian, Semitics, and Turkic. Students may concentrate on either language or literature in their selected field but are required to do work in both. In the field of ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the department also offers an archaeology emphasis.

Foreign Language Requirement

Students are required to pass an examination in one major modern research language other than English by the beginning of their fourth quarter in residence. Students in the master's degree program specializing in Arabic study an Arabic dialect rather than a major modern research language. The choice of the language is determined in consultation with their adviser. Students may satisfy this requirement by one of the following methods: (1) a departmentally-administered examination with a minimum grade of B; or (2) two years of language instruction at a UC campus, with a grade of B or better. If students intend to continue toward the Ph.D. degree, it is strongly recommended that they acquire knowledge of a second major research language other than English while still a candidate for the M.A. degree.

Course Requirements

A minimum of nine upper division and graduate courses is required, of which at least six must be at the graduate level. Students are required to take one quarter of Near Eastern Languages 200.

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 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.

Twelve units of course 596 may be applied toward the total course requirement; eight units may be applied toward the minimum graduate course requirement.

Teaching Experience

Not required but recommended.

Field Experience

Not required.

Comprehensive Examination 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

From graduate admission to conferral of the degree - six quarters.

Doctoral Degree

Advising

Students are assigned a guidance committee composed of an adviser and at least two other faculty members whose interests touch on their area of specialization. The adviser is named by the chair to serve on the student's guidance committee. The guidance committee usually serves as the departmental members of the doctoral committee.

New students should make an advising appointment at the beginning of their first quarter. During this appointment, students and their advisers 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 adviser 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 adviser, the changes must be approved by the department chair or the graduate adviser before the student accesses the online enrollment system. Departmental policy requires the signature of the chair or the graduate adviser for approval of all petitions.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Major fields of specialization are ancient Near Eastern civilizations, Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Iranian, Semitics, and Turkic. Students may concentrate on either language or literature in their selected field but are required to do work in both. In the field of ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the department also offers an archaeology emphasis.

Foreign Language Requirement

Two modern major research languages other than English are required. The choice of languages must be approved by the adviser, 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 minimum grade of B; or (2) two years of language instruction at a UC campus, with a grade of B or better.

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 use an Arabic dialect as their second language. Students are required to familiarize themselves, through appropriate coursework, 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 but recommended.

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.

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 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.

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:

(1) From admission to the Ph.D. program (i.e., after obtaining the M.A. degree) to the written qualifying examinations - six quarters.

(2) From written qualifying examinations to the oral qualifying examination and approval of the dissertation prospectus - two quarters.

(3) From the oral qualifying examination to the conferral of the Ph.D. degree - six quarters.

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 termination 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 termination 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 termination by stating the reasons in writing to the departmental chair. The chair transmits the appeal to the student's departmental section for consideration.