Ph.D. in British and American Studies Pavol Jozef Safarik University Faculty of Arts

Our graduates have professional and methodological knowledge of linguistics, literature, and cultural-political and economic fields. They are able to apply this knowledge convincingly in argumentation while being aware of the relations with other areas, especially psychology, sociology, history, political science, and philosophy.

The graduates of the Ph.D. study program British and American Studies find employment mostly in areas that correspond to the graduate profile and in which graduates have the opportunity to use the skills and competencies acquired during their studies. The graduate’s competencies are:

• scientific evaluation of language phenomena in English and other languages,
• synchronous and diachronic comparison of linguistic phenomena, sub-systems, and the entire linguistic units in the genetic, typological, and area plans,
• comparative and critical research into literary works,
• familiarity with British and American life and institutions with an emphasis on cultural, historical, and political contexts and relations.

The study usually takes 4 years.

Applications are due by May, and the study commences in September.

The study program consists of two basic components – the study one and the scientific one. The basis of teaching in the study component is in full-time education; the scientific component is dominated by distance learning which is based on the nature of research in the field of study British and American Studies (study of library collections, work with corpora, the study of professional texts, visits to specialized institutions, etc.). We also consider the possibility of taking part in distance individual consultations as effective.

The first year of study includes passing all compulsory courses. In the second year, students must submit one chapter of their dissertation thesis and pass a probation exam aimed at demonstrating their ability to conduct research independently. The remaining years of study are dedicated to the dissertation thesis, attending conferences, and publishing articles. The research results are expected to be substantial and original. The study is completed by the public defense of the dissertation thesis. The condition for successful completion of the study is to publish at least one academic article.