PhD in Visual Arts at Institute for Doctoral Studies
The Course of Study comprises 60 credits over three years. At the end of the third year, candidates are required to pass oral and written qualifying exams before starting the dissertation.
IDSVA’s pioneering curriculum—fusing interactive online education with intensive residencies—allows working art professionals to pursue rigorous advanced scholarship without having to interrupt or abandon their teaching careers, art practice, or other professional responsibilities.
The PhD degree is granted upon successful defense of the dissertation. Dissertations are research-based scholarly manuscripts comprising 80,000-100,000 words. They are theoretical and interpretative works based on a chosen topic approved during the qualifying exams, supervised by individual dissertation directors. Total time to complete the degree, including the course of study period, is about five years.
Note on studio practice: Around half of IDSVA students are artists with an ongoing studio practice. Even though that practice cannot directly be included in the dissertation manuscript, students usually choose research topics which intimately inform what they do in the studio.