Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD)

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Overview

The PhD in Educational Studies is a research-oriented doctoral program for students interested in any of the study areas offered in the department, such as adult and community education and social movements; citizenship and human rights; continuing professional education; cultural politics, critical multiculturalism and feminist studies; educational leadership and policy; epistemology (the study of knowledge and knowing), ethics, and political philosophy; equity in education (on the axes of race, disability, gender, class, and sexuality); indigenous education; international and comparative education; media, popular culture and representation or youth and children in schools, families, and communities.

Students are required to take two first-year doctoral seminars and a second-year doctoral seminar. All other courses in a student's program are determined in consultation with faculty. Students in the PhD program typically devote two years to coursework, and two to four years to developing and carrying out a research project designed to make an original contribution to knowledge in the study area.

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Quick Facts

Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Subject
Education
Mode of delivery
On campus
Registration options
Full-time
Specialization
Educational Studies
Program Components
Dissertation
Faculty
Faculty of Education

Meet a UBC representative

Q&A with UBC Graduate Student Ambassadors

webinar
Date: Monday, 25 June 2018
Time: 16:00 to 17:00
Join our Graduate Student Ambassadors Samuel Adenyanju (MSc Forestry, Nigeria), Federico Andrade (PhD Public Health, Colombia), Maria Angélica Guerrero (MA Educational Studies, Colombia), Xining (Linda) Yang (PhD Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, China) and Dorine Akwiri (Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Kenya) who will be available to answer questions about their experiences at UBC, including topics such as accommodation, moving to a new city/province/country and settling in, making friends, being an international student, and more. This session is open to participants interested in different programs across all faculties at UBC. Please note that we will not be able to provide answers to questions regarding application or admissions policies or any that involve specific personal information.
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Requirements

TOEFL (ibT) Overall Score Requirement

92
22
22
22
22

IELTS Overall Score Requirement

6.5
6.0
6.0
6.0
6.0

Funding Sources

All full-time students who begin a UBC-Vancouver PhD program in September 2018 or later will be provided with a funding package of at least $18,000 for each of the first four years of their PhD. The funding package may consist of any combination of internal or external awards, teaching-related work, research assistantships, and graduate academic assistantships. Please note that many graduate programs provide funding packages that are substantially greater than $18,000 per year. Please check with your prospective graduate program for specific details of the funding provided to its PhD students.

Career Outcomes

74 students graduated between 2005 and 2013: 3 graduates are seeking employment; 1 is in a non-salaried situation; for 4 we have no data (based on research conducted between Feb-May 2016). For the remaining 66 graduates:


RI (Research-Intensive) Faculty: typically tenure-track faculty positions (equivalent of the North American Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor positions) in PhD-granting institutions
TI (Teaching-Intensive) Faculty: typically full-time faculty positions in colleges or in institutions not granting PhDs, and teaching faculty at PhD-granting institutions
Term Faculty: faculty in term appointments (e.g. sessional lecturers, visiting assistant professors, etc.)
Sample Employers in Higher Education
University of British Columbia (15)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (2)
Vancouver Island University (2)
Universite Laval
Calvin College
Brock University
University of Calgary
Whatcom Community College
Simon Fraser University
Sample Employers Outside Higher Education
BC School District (2)
World Vision International
Our Lady of Guadalupe Tonantzin Community Society
Yukon Department of Education
Kootenay Boundary Community Services Cooperative
Ismali Tariqua and Religious Education Board
Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group
Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association
St Paul's Hospital Foundation
Canadian eLearning Network
Sample Job Titles Outside Higher Education
Consultant (2)
Executive director (2)
Owner (2)
Director, Problematic Substance Use Prevention
Education Technical Lead, Integrated Programmes Department
VIce Principal
Author
Consultant (Therapist)
Contract Researcher
Teacher
PhD Career Outcome Survey
You may view the full report on career outcomes of UBC PhD graduates on outcomes.grad.ubc.ca.
Disclaimer
These data represent historical employment information and do not guarantee future employment prospects for graduates of this program. They are for informational purposes only. Data were collected through either alumni surveys or internet research.

Alumni on Success

Randy Wollf

Job Title
President
Employer
PaperLift Document Editing

Kenneth Tupper

Job Title
Director of Implementation & Partnerships
Employer
BC Centre on Substance Use

Kaela Jubas

Job Title
Associate Professor
Employer
University of Calgary

Suzanne Scott

Job Title
Manager, Major Gifts
Employer
St. Paul's Foundation
All Alumni Profiles

Tuition / Program Costs

FeesCanadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / DiplomatInternational
Application Fee$102.00$165.00
Tuition *
Installments per year33
Tuition per installment$1,632.61$2,868.22
Tuition per year$4,897.83$8,604.66
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible) $3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Student Fees (yearly)$923.38 (approx.)
Costs of living (yearly)starting at $16,884.10 (check cost calculator)
* Regular, full-time tuition. For on-leave, extension, continuing or part time (if applicable) fees see UBC Calendar.
All fees for the year are subject to adjustment and UBC reserves the right to change any fees without notice at any time, including tuition and student fees. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.

Statistical Data

Enrolment Data

 20172016201520142013
Applications6140442146
Offers1513121015
New registrations1011578
Total enrolment5958555249

Completion Rates & Times

This program has a graduation rate of 67.5% based on 40 students admitted between 2004 - 2007. Based on 21 graduations between 2013 - 2016 the minimum time to completion is 2.83 years and the maximum time is 8.66 years with an average of 5.46 years of study. All calculations exclude leave times.
Disclaimer
Admissions data refer to all UBC Vancouver applications, offers, new registrants for each year, May to April [data updated: 9 March 2018]. Enrolment data are based on March 1 snapshots. Program completion data are only provided for datasets comprised of more than 4 individuals. Rates and times of completion depend on a number of variables (e.g. curriculum requirements, student funding), some of which may have changed in recent years for some programs [data updated: 29 September 2017].

Upcoming Doctoral Exams

Tuesday, 17 July 2018 - 4:00pm - 2012, Ponderosa Commons, 6445 University Boulevard, V6T 1Z2

Sereana Elina Patterson
Beyond the Dusky Maiden: Pasifika Women's Experiences Working in Higher Education

Research Supervisors

This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.

  • Abdi, Ali (Citizenship and human rights education, International Development Education, Multi-centric Philosophies and Methodologies of Education, postcolonial studies in education, Social and Cultural Foundations of Education)
  • Ahenakew, Cash (Cultural studies, Higher Education, Indigenous Studies, Leadership and Organizations, Post-colonial studies, Race/ethnicity, Research methodologies, Social justice, Sociology of Education)
  • Andres, Lesley (Equity, Higher education, International and Comparative Education, International comparative higher education, Life Course research, Lifelong learning, Policy, Research methodologies, Social justice, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Higher Education)
  • Chan, Jennifer (transnational social movements, international and comparative education, Japanese civil society, Islam in multicultural societies, Adult education, Citizenship and democracy, Gender studies, International and Comparative Education, Multiculturalism, Post-colonial studies)
  • De Oliveira Andreotti, Vanessa (Education for/about international development, Social accountability in local and global engagements, Global Citizenship Education)
  • Ellis, Jason (Philosophy, History and Comparative Studies, History of education, Education policy, Politics of education, Special education, Disability, History of childhood and youth, Urban and suburban history, Canadian history, American history, Educational administration)
  • Fallon, Gerald (Indigenous Studies, International and Comparative Education, Leadership and Organizations, Policy, Research methodologies)
  • Frank, Blye (Boys’ and men’s sociology of health, Masculinities and schooling gender and schooling Sexualities and schooling professional development in education, Masculinity, sociology of boys)
  • Gill, Hartej (Cultural studies, Leadership and Organizations, Post-colonial studies, Teaching and Practice)
  • Gleason, Mona (History of Major Eras, Great Civilisations or Geographical Corpuses, history of education, history of children and youth, critical youth studies, gender and sexuality)
  • Kelly, Deirdre (Children and youth, Gender studies, Media and democracy, Social justice, Sociology of Education)
  • Marker, Michael (First Nations’ education, First nations education)
  • Mazawi, Andre (Citizenship and democracy, Higher education, International and Comparative Education, Leadership and organizations, Research methodologies, Sociology of Education)
  • Metcalfe, Amy (Science and Knowledge, Power and Organization, Imagery, Higher Education, Faculty, Internationalization, Campus Environments)
  • Poole, Wendy (Educational leadership and administration; Organizational change in education (reform of schooling); Teachers’ work; Teacher unions and teacher unionism; role of teacher unions in education, Leadership and organizations, Social justice, Teaching and Practice)
  • Rocha Perkerwicz, Samuel (Philosophy of education, Race/ethnicity, Research methodologies, Social and Cultural Foundations of Education, Teaching and Practice)
  • Roman, Leslie (Ethnography, Cultural studies, Disability studies, Sociology of Education)
  • Ruitenberg, Claudia (Philosophical Traditions in Education, Educational Approaches, Social Impact of Artistic Education, Professional Ethics, International education; political education; discourse and translation)
  • Shan, Hongxia (Adult education, Equity, Gender Studies, International and Comparative Education, Lifelong Learning, Policy, Research methodologies, Social justice, Teaching and Practice, Workplace learning)
  • Sork, Tom (Adult education, Lifelong learning, Teaching and Practice)
  • Stack, Michelle (Participatory research, Social Contexts, university rankings , media education, knowledge mobilization, student engagement, social justice and equity)
  • Taylor, Alison (Political Economy in Education)
  • Tom, Allison
  • Vanwynsberghe, Robert (Citizenship and democracy, Social justice, Sustainability; Sustainability; Environmental Education; Theory and Method)
  • Walker, Judith (Adult education, Higher Education, International and Comparative Education, International Comparative Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, Medical Education, Policy, Workplace learning)

Pages

Recent Doctoral Citations

  • Dr. Kalbir Heer
    "Dr. Heer explored how Sikh youth think about multiculturalism and multicultural differences in schools and wider societal contexts. Particularly relevant in this study are the ways contested understandings of race, ethnicity, religion and gender influence identity formation and the ways Sikh youth make meaning of others in multicultural Canada." (May 2018)
  • Dr. Patrick Mdelwa Radebe
    "Dr. Radebe examined the perceptions of Afrocentric education and Toronto Afrocentric Alternative Schools by Black parents. Findings shed light on how parents perceive the role of race, culture and history in education, particularly with respect to academic performance. This work will improve educational policies and practices in Afrocentric education." (November 2017)
  • Dr. Jennifer Tong
    "Dr. Tong studied schooling of BC students with behaviour disorders and mental illness. Enrolling in non-standard schools, repeating grades, frequent school changes and being Aboriginal were strong predictors that these students would not complete high school. This work informs policy and practice on a critical problem in British Columbia schools." (November 2017)
  • Dr. Kapil Dev Regmi
    "Dr. Regmi examined how educational policy agendas recommended by the World Bank have influenced lifelong learning policies of Least Developed Countries such as Nepal. He found that the World Bank has promoted a neoliberal understanding of lifelong learning that has almost no potential in addressing the multifarious problems faced by these countries." (November 2017)
  • Dr. Yao Xiao
    "Dr. Xiao studied the political emotion of pride through activists, artists, and educators of various Chinese heritages in Greater Vancouver. Discovering the power of pride in grassroots mobilization and public representation, his study has brought new depth to intellectual activism, identity politics, and cross-cultural learning." (November 2017)

Sample Thesis Submissions

Further Program Information

 
 

September 2019 Intake
Application Open Date
01 August 2018
Canadian Applicant Deadline
01 December 2018
International Applicant Deadline
01 December 2018

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