PhD in Humanities

At HKUST, we offer the largest interdisciplinary university-level program in humanities and social science in Mainland China and Greater China and the only one to have an explicit, program-wide, comparative focus as exemplified by our innovative Global China Studies degrees.

Like every university of excellence, we are dedicated to research and teaching. What sets us apart from our peers is our explicit focus on global, especially North American and Chinese, best practices in teaching, graduate training and placement, and our own research.

With 42,000 Google Scholar citations, we are particularly proud of the academic impact of our faculty and student research have given our small faculty size, our relative youth, and our emphasis on empirical research.

The Ph.D. program provides training for students who intend to pursue professional and academic careers. Students may specialize in linguistics, literature, history, and anthropology, or philosophy, and religion. They must undertake coursework, pass a qualifying examination, and present and defend a thesis.