Information for Northwestern Students
Northwestern students enrolled in a dual PhD program should plan on spending two years at the partner institution, though students and their co-advisers can negotiate modifications. The student should be in a position to receive extensive mentoring/training from both supervisors and benefit from extensive exposure to two campus cultures.
Students conduct research, write their dissertation under the direction of a joint dissertation committee and become eligible for the PhD degrees of both institutions. All requirements, procedures and deadlines of the student’s home university continue to apply to students in this program. A student who fails to meet the requirements of his or her home university will not be eligible to receive a degree from the host university.
Northwestern students interested in a dual degree must consult with their adviser, director of graduate study and TGS's Kristine Emrich, assistant director of student services. Interested students may also consult with Michael Loriaux, political science and with the director of FIG.
The student who is interested in the dual PhD should proceed in the following fashion:
- The first step is to identify a French dissertation co-adviser and to secure that adviser's agreement.
- The second step is to secure the permission of the student's Northwestern adviser, who is now being asked to serve as co-adviser of a dual PhD dissertation.
- The third step is consult with Kristine Emrich and to begin to negotiate a contract or accord de co-tutelle with his or her two co-advisers, and to have this contract approved by the deans of the two graduate schools involved.
The dual PhD student then travels to France to register in the French university. This must be done during the month of September.
Eligibility
Dual PhD students may be drawn from any program or school whose interests match those of a partner French institution. As mentioned below, exceptions may be made for non-partner universities. The following five departments at Northwestern currently have formal dual PhD agreements with French partners:
- Department of Political Science
- Comparative Literary Studies Program
- Department of Sociology
- Department of Anthropology
- Department of History
Participation in this program, however, is not limited to students of these five departments. Current Northwestern dual degree students are enrolled in PhD programs at École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), École Normale Supérieure (ENS Paris) and Sorbonne Nouvelle University. But Northwestern students are not restricted to these four privileged partners. Students have also pursued the dual PhD at the University of Paris VII and the University of Paris VIII, for example. Students in Sociology, however, may be asked by their department to limit their choice to Sciences Po.
Funding
While dual PhD programs do not offer specific funding per se, Northwestern students interested in pursuing a dual PhD are encouraged to apply to a FIG-administered graduate research fellowship at the relevant institution as well as outside sources of funding.