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Ph.D. in Jewish Education

Ph.D. Program in Jewish Education

The Melton Centre offers a Ph.D. program in Jewish Education. Graduates of the program have substantially contributed to the knowledge base of the field and are to be found in influential academic and educational positions in Israel and throughout the world

Overview
The doctoral program at the Hebrew University in general is concerned with the writing of substantial dissertation which makes contributes new knowledge and concepts to a given field of study.  The supervisor and the doctoral student’s advisory committee, determines what supplementary courses a candidate must take. The minimum course requirement is 12 credits which is 12 semester hours. The vast majority of a candidate’s efforts are dedicated to planning, carrying out, and describing the research in a dissertation.

Initial Admission Requirements
Doctoral studies are intended for students who have completed their Masters degree with a thesis and have received grades the following Hebrew University grades or their equivalents at other institutions of higher learning: Thesis: 90; GPA: 90;. Application are reviewed by an internal research committee of the Centre before they are submitted to the Authority for Research Students.
Graduates of foreign universities with must submit written proof that they have achieved a standard of excellence in their thesis and course work. In addition, they must submit their candidacy to a committee at the Authority for Research Students, which evaluates degrees (see below).

Selecting a Supervisor
Before registering, doctoral candidates in Jewish Education are expected to find a supervisor from among the faculty members of the Melton Centre for Jewish Education. Finding a supervisor is the responsibility of the candidate. The supervisor’s agreement to work with the student is required prior to registration. A list of the faculty at the Melton Centre and their areas of specialization can be found on the Faculty page of this web site.

Time Frame
A maximum of two years may be devoted to forming the theoretical foundation of the research and preparing the research plan (Stage 1). At the end of Stage 1, the student must submit a research proposal to be approved by the supervisor and the advisory committee. An additional three years are then allotted for the research itself and for writing the dissertation (Stage 2). Thus, the entire program consists of a total of up to five years, with the possibility of one additional year.

Candidates with a Masters from another Department or Institution
Candidates from other departments or universities are required, when applying (see Registration below), to include two letters of recommendation from academic lecturers that indicate that the candidate has sufficient qualifications to carry out doctoral research. Those with a masters’ degree and thesis (with honors) from branches of foreign universities in Israel, must, after finding a potential supervisor, submit their candidacy to a university committee at the Authority for Research Students which evaluates degrees. For the Authority for Research Students, click here (Hebrew) or here (excerpts of Regulations for Research Students in English).

Students Who Completed their Masters’ Studies without a Thesis
Those who completed a non-research track cannot register as a doctoral student at the Melton Centre. In exceptional circumstances such students have the option of registering as “special students” with the office for Masters’ Studies of the Faculty of Humanities and finding a supervisor for their masters equivalent thesis. Only after completing this thesis with the required grade will they be permitted to submit their candidacy for doctoral studies.

Registration
After finding a potential supervisor, candidates should apply for doctoral studies at the Melton Centre.

The application form is available from Ms. Eti Gershon-Cohen, telephone (02) 588-1282, email etige@savion.huji.ac.il . Once candidates receive approval from the Melton Centre, they are required to register as doctoral students at the Authority for Research Students of the Hebrew University, Section for Theoretical Sciences, Administration Building, Givat Ram, telephone (02) 658-4706.

Tuition Fees
Doctoral students must pay 40% tuition in their first and second years and 10% in each of the following years until the dissertation is submitted.

Scholarships
The Melton Centre grants a limited number of scholarships to outstanding doctoral students and  may allocate funds to students who have submitted a doctoral research proposal (Stage 2) in order to cover research expenses. The number and size of the scholarships varies from year to year in accordance with budgetary circumstances. Departmental scholarships are decided upon by an internal committee for doctoral students of the Melton Centre, chaired by the Director of the Centre.

For information on scholarships offered by the Melton Centre, please contact Ms. Eti Gershon-Cohen at (02) 588-1282 oretige@savion.huji.ac.il . For scholarships from other sources, both within and outside the University, please contact Ms. Oshra Pinchasi at the School of Education, 02-5881192.