Doctor of Philosophy in Global Affairs

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS 

Seventy-three (73) credits are required for the Ph.D. in global affairs. All students must complete:

• six core courses with grades of B (3.0) or better (18 credits);
• two semesters of the Colloquium on Global Change and Governance with grades of Pass (4 credits);
• two methodology courses (6 credits);
• four courses in a concentration (12 credits);
• four additional or elective DGA courses (12 credits);
• Dissertation Research (21 credits); and 
• a language requirement (no credit).

In addition, students must:

• pass the 52-credit review;
• pass the comprehensive examination;
• receive approval for a dissertation proposal; and
• write, successfully defend, and submit a dissertation.

Students must maintain a grade-point average of 3.50 or better in all non-language courses taken at Rutgers University, in order to acquire the Ph.D. If academic performance falls below the expected standard, students may fail to pass the 52-Credit Review and the Graduate School–Newark may refuse them the right of future registration and terminate studies. Students with an insufficiently high grade-point average may submit an appeal to the DGA deputy director.

Course Requirements

Core Courses (18 credits)

Students must complete six core courses with grades of B (3.0) or better in each in order to remain in the program. Students who do not receive a grade of B or better in some core course must either retake it or take another core course from within one of the nine courses below.

All core requirements must be completed at Rutgers–Newark. Transfer credits may not be used in fulfillment of core requirements.

Six of the following courses must be taken:

26:478:537  Global Governance

26:478:541/26:553:607  Global Political Economy

26:478:572/26:510:543  Evolution of the Global System

26:220:518/26:478:518  International Economics I or Fundamentals of Global Economics  26:220:512/26:478:512

26:478:599/ 26:070:599  Culture and Globalization or Social Movements  26:478:585/26:920:585

26:478:504  International Law or International Law and World Order 23:600:638 (note: dual J.D./Ph.D. students should take 23:600:638 since 26:478:504 is not accepted by the School of Law–Newark)

26:478:538/26:790:538/26:070:538  Global Environmental Issues

26:553:601/602/26:478:589/597  History and Theory of International Business

Colloquium on Global Change and Governance (4 credits)

Students must complete two semesters of the colloquium. Each 2-credit sequence (26:478:570, 571, 573, 574) consists of a series of seminars on a topic or geographical area of current significance. The colloquium is graded on a Pass/Fail basis. Grades are provided by the professor organizing the colloquium.

Students are encouraged to attend--on a noncredit, nonregistered basis--as many colloquia on Global Change and Governance as possible, but only 4 credits may be counted toward the M.S. degree.

Methodology Requirement (6 credits)

Students must complete two 3-credit methodology courses. One 3-credit qualitative and one 3-credit quantitative. 

See below for a list of DGA courses that fall within the methodology requirement:

Qualitative:

20:834:512/26:834:610  Research Design (advanced; Ph.D. only)

26:790:533  Research Methodology in Political Science (basic)

26:478:590  Doctoral Seminar in Theory and Methods (advanced; Ph.D. only)

Quantitative:

20:834:561  Analytical Methods (basic)

26:960:577  Linear Statistical Models (basic)

26:478:506  Quantitative Methods of Global Affairs (basic)

26:220:507/26:478:507  Econometrics (advanced)

26:960:670  Multivariate Analysis (advanced)

26:834:607  Quantitative Methods I (advanced; Ph.D. only)

26:834:608  Quantitative Methods II (advanced; Ph.D. only)

Note: Ph.D. students are encouraged to take advanced methodology courses as electives in addition to the required 6 credits.

Specializations (12 credits)

Students must complete at least four graduate-level courses, for a total of 12 credits, in any one of the following specializations:

Conflict and Human Rights

Global Business and Economics

Global Governance

Human and Environmental Security

for a list of courses within each concentration, please consult the DGA website.

Dissertations must be written within the discipline of the specialization.

Additional or Elective Courses (12 credits)

Students must complete at least four graduate-level courses, for a total of 12 credits other than the specialization. These courses should have a substantial global affairs component. Any courses considered that are not listed on the DGA website requires the approval of the deputy director prior to registering for the course.

Internships may be counted toward the additional DGA courses with prior approval from the DGA deputy director.

Up to 6 independent study credits may be counted toward the additional DGA courses with the permission of the dissertation adviser.

Recommended courses are listed on the DGA website.

Dissertation Research (21 credits)

After passing the comprehensive examination (see below), students must complete 21 credits of Dissertation Research (26:478:701, 702), either on a full- or part-time basis. Students may register for any number of Dissertation Research credits per semester. Students who register for Dissertation Research may be on or away from campus. During this time, constant communications with the student's dissertation adviser is a must.

Dissertation advisers provide grades of S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory) for Dissertation Research.

Up to one year after a student begins taking dissertation research credits, he or she must defend their prospectus in front of the full dissertation committee.  

The proposal should include:

• presentation of the topic (paradoxical observation/puzzle that is addressed in the dissertation)
  
• literature review (relevant books, articles, data sources) and theoretical perspectives
• research methodology (questions, hypotheses, variables, and measurement, as well as research methods used in the dissertation)
• preliminary chapter organization
• schedule for completion of the dissertation
• bibliography            

Language Requirement

All Ph.D. students must demonstrate, at any time during their course of study at Rutgers–Newark, reading knowledge of at least one modern language other than English. Reading knowledge involves comprehension of global affairs issues. Students can demonstrate reading knowledge by:

• completing four semesters of a language at Rutgers University or other approved and accredited institutions;
• passing reading-knowledge examinations at Rutgers University (administered by the DGA or the Rutgers–New Brunswick Language Institute); or
• having graduated from a foreign university where courses were offered in a language other than English.

Language courses do not count toward the credits necessary for a Ph.D. 

52-Credit Review

After completing 52 required credits in the program, all Ph.D. students undergo a review of their academic record by the DGA associate director. Students must complete a 52-Credit Review form which is available at the DGA. Only students who have a grade-point average of 3.50 or better in all nonlanguage courses taken at Rutgers University and who successfully pass the review will be permitted to continue with their doctoral studies at Rutgers–Newark. Students with an insufficiently high grade-point average may submit an appeal to the DGA deputy director.

Comprehensive Examination

Students have two chances to pass the examination. Failure to pass the comprehensive examination on the second try will result in the student's withdrawal from the Ph.D. program. Students taking the exam for the second time are required to submit the number of questions that were not passed the first time. These students may not retake the same sections of the exam that were passed during the first round. 

Students should take the comprehensive examination within six months of passing the 52-Credit Review. In order to complete your dissertation on time, this should not be later than four years after entering the Ph.D. program. Students who fail to take the comprehensive examination within this time may, after appropriate deliberations between DGA core faculty and students, faculty, or dissertation advisers, be asked to withdraw from the Ph.D. program. Students may submit a written request for an extension to DGA deputy director.

Comprehensive examinations are scheduled two times a year (September and January). The examination is distributed to students by the DGA associate director either by email or in person, depending on the current exam requirements. Students are prohibited from contacting the DGA faculty in charge of grading the exam during this period of time. 

Late answers will result in an automatic disqualification. Exams received and not completed will result in an automatic disqualification. 

The examination tests your ability to think analytically and creatively about global affairs. Although students are expected to demonstrate some knowledge of important relevant literature, lengthy quotations and paraphrases should be avoided Direct quotations or close paraphrases should be cited in end-notes. Plagiarism will result in automatic failure and possible further disciplinary action.

Upon completion students should complete the Application for Admission to Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (page 1 and part I, Qualifying Examination Committee Report) immediately after passing the comprehensive examination.  

Dissertation Proposals

Dissertation proposals are developed in consultation with the student's dissertation adviser following the student's successful completion of the comprehensive examination. Dissertation proposals must be approved by the student's full dissertation committee within one year of beginning dissertation research credits. A final version of the proposal--signed and dated by the student's dissertation adviser and committee--must be submitted to the DGA graduate program director.

Dissertation proposals must be approved within one year of a student's completion of the comprehensive examination. Students who do not receive approval for dissertation proposals in this time may, after appropriate deliberations between the DGA core faculty and students' faculty or dissertation advisers, be asked to withdraw from the Ph.D. program.

• presentation of the topic (paradoxical observation/puzzle that is addressed in the dissertation)
  
• literature review (relevant books, articles, data sources) and theoretical perspectives
• research methodology (questions, hypotheses, variables, and measurement, as well as research methods used in the dissertation)
• preliminary chapter organization
• schedule for completion of the dissertation
• bibliography     

Dissertations

Dissertations must address some dimension of global affairs--a multidisciplinary field concerned with theoretically informed, problem-oriented approaches to transnational issues and their interaction with local issues. Country case studies, single-issue studies, or comparative studies divorced from global affairs as defined above do not qualify as dissertation topics.

Dissertations must be written within the discipline of the concentration. They must situate their empirical findings within and address the theoretical debates of that discipline.

In general, dissertations consist of the following parts:

• statement of the problem or issue being addressed and explanation of its importance
• a thorough review of the relevant theoretical and other literature
• an elaboration of the argument or thesis
• a discussion of the methodology
• a detailed presentation of the empirical findings
• a conclusion 
• a bibliography

Dissertations (text and notes, minus the bibliography and ancillary quantitative material, if any) must be 200-250 pages in length, double-spaced. In mathematically oriented disciplines such as economics, dissertations may be shorter. Dissertations must be written in Standard English, adhere to proper academic form, and be free of typographical errors. Dissertations that do not meet these criteria will not be admitted to a defense.

The final draft of the dissertation must be prepared in strict accordance with the instructions given in the pamphlet Thesis and Dissertation Form, available at the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241.

Students must defend their dissertations within eight years of admission into the Ph.D. program. Students who fail to meet this deadline will have to withdraw from the Ph.D. program. Students may not submit a written request for an extension to the DGA deputy director. 

Dissertation Defense

A four-member faculty committee, formed by the student and the dissertation adviser and consisting of the student's dissertation adviser and three other professors, examines the completed dissertation at an oral defense. Dissertation committees must have four members. All members must be tenured or tenure-track (or the equivalent in foreign universities). The committee chair must be a member of the DGA core; a total of two members must be from the DGA core faculty (including the chair of the committee) and one member must be from an institution other than Rutgers University.  It is also recommended that one of the committee members be an expert in the field of study.

At the time of the defense, it is the responsibility of the student to obtain the forms necessary for completion by the committee at the defense. These forms may be obtained by the DGA or  the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241.

Deposition of the Dissertation
Once the defense is approved, students must electronically submit the dissertation to the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241, no later than the announced deadlines for completion of degree requirements. Specific instruction may be obtained from the DGA or the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241.