Current Student Frequently Asked Questions:
For IHRP students in the PhD Human Rights and Peace Studies (International Program)
Question: Are there scholarship or tuition waver opportunities for the IHRP PhD Program?
Answer: Mahidol University and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Scholarship currently accepts applications from IHRP MA and PhD students who are Myanmar nationals or nationals of countries in the least developed countries listed by the World Bank.
For more information: https://ihrp.mahidol.ac.th/index.php/en/academic-admissions/scholarships/129-norwegian-scholarship
On a case by case basis there may also be opportunities for up to a 50 per cent tuition fee reductions. This is reserved for individuals who are working at a Southeast Asian university, or who have been working in human rights in the region for at least 5 years.
For further information please mailto: ihrpmahidol@gmail.com
Question: What are the steps to graduation from the IHRP PhD Program?
Answer: For the PhD coursework track, students are required to the complete 2 semesters (1 year) of coursework and a research dissertation. The research-only track requires the completion of Research Methods course and a research dissertation.
For both the PhD research and coursework tracks, students must pass a qualifying exam testing their aptitude to conduct human rights and peace research prior to commencing a dissertation. Upon passage of the exam, PhD students present and defend their research proposal for their PhD dissertation. After completing research, and producing a dissertation of approximately 80,000 words, students must present their PhD work publicly for examination.
For further information: https://ihrp.mahidol.ac.th/index.php/en/our-programs/phd-program
Question: Do PhD research track students need to attend courses?
Answer: Yes, they need to audit the Research Methods course and attend the relevant classes on the PhD Process at Mahidol University, including an ethics course. The ethics course is 30 hours in total, completed throughout the second semester.
For further information: https://ihrp.mahidol.ac.th/index.php/en/our-programs/phd-program
Question: How frequently do PhD coursework track students need to attend courses per week?
Answer: A course at Mahidol is 45 hours in total, taught at 3 hours per week for 15 weeks. For the PhD there are 3 courses per semester, which are taught over 2 days. A typical schedule is all day Wednesday (9AM-12PM and 1PM-4PM), and half day Thursday.
For further information: https://ihrp.mahidol.ac.th/index.php/en/our-programs/phd-program
Question: How long does the PhD program take to complete?
Answer: The PhD Program is a minimum 3-year program, which includes 1 year for coursework and 2 years for research, writing and defense of the dissertation. The maximum amount of time is 6 years but on average students take between 3-4 years for completion.
For further information: https://ihrp.mahidol.ac.th/index.php/en/our-programs/phd-program
Question: What is the word count for a PhD dissertation at IHRP?
Answer: A dissertation at IHRP should be approximately 80,000 words (400 pages).
Question: Are there part-time teaching jobs for me while I do my PhD?
Answer: The IHRP is a Graduate Institute, therefore it is expected senior teaching staff already hold a PhD. Consequently, PhD students do not teach classes but may give a seminar to MA students. Furthermore, because most of the undergraduate teaching at Mahidol University is in Thai, there are few teaching jobs for non-Thai speaking PhD students.
The IHRP does help students locate part-time work in research or advocacy on human rights and peace.