Dear Patrick O'Neil,
I
am writing to inform you of an exciting new opportunity for students
seeking to begin work on their PhDs in political science. Recently,
Columbia University and Sciences Po in Paris established a PhD
Partnership that enables students in the PhD program at Columbia to
earn a PhD at Sciences Po as well.
Building
on a set of close relationships that have existed between Columbia and
Sciences Po for more than a decade, the PhD partnership grants students
access to the faculty and resources of two of the
most highly regarded departments of political science in the world.
The partnership seeks to take advantage of the complimentary strengths
of the two institutions to provide a unique and innovative graduate
training experience that opens up new intellectual
and career opportunities for students in political science.
The
program allows students to spend two years at the partner institution
where they take courses, serve as teaching assistants, pass qualifying
exams, conduct research, write dissertations under the direction
of joint Columbia-Sciences Po dissertation committees, and become
eligible to receive the PhD degrees of both institutions. Students will
be granted unique opportunities to broaden and deepen their knowledge of
their discipline in an international intellectual
environment and pursue their doctoral research under the supervision of
joint faculty teams of the highest academic quality.
The
program is much more than just the kind of exchange arrangements that
exist between many universities. Both institutions make deeper
investments in students in the partnership, who formally enter the
Doctoral School/Graduate School of the host institution and are treated
in the same manner as students in single-degree programs with respect
to rights, privileges, access, responsibilities, and registration
status. During the two-year stay at the host institution,
the student pursues a course of study and research not available at the
home institution. The student and the adviser at the host institution
design a course of study that advances the student's intellectual
interests and career goals. After fulfilling the
requirements of the partnership, students are awarded both a PhD from
Columbia and a PhD from Sciences Po.
Given
that Sciences Po is an academic and professional hub of the discipline
of political science in France and Europe, Columbia students in the
program will become members of an extensive network that
is not widely accessible to scholars trained only in the United States.
Since students will be fully enrolled at both Columbia and Sciences
Po--and not simply exchange students--the faculty at the host school
will be more invested in and familiar with their
work and therefore will be better able to support them in their
applications for positions in the United States and in France and
Europe. This will significantly expand the job market opportunities for
students in the partnership.
In
the links below, I have provided some suggested courses of study that
will give potential applicants an idea of the scholarly opportunities
available to them through the partnership. Additional information
may be found at http://alliance.columbia.edu/node/82.
We
have recently expanded the program to enable students who want to
pursue the educational opportunities offered by the partnership to apply
for admission when applying to the Columbia PhD program (in
previous years, students had to first be enrolled in the PhD program
and then wait until the third year of their graduate careers to apply).
On the Program of Study page in Columbia's online application system,
students should select “Political Science” for
their Program of Study and then select the “Autumn Ph.D. partnership
with Sciences Po 2013” as their Degree.
Please
forward this information to any students who you think might be
interested in the program. I would be happy to answer any questions
that you or interested students may have about the PhD Partnership.
Sincerely,
Gregory Wawro
Professor and Deputy Chair
Department of Political Science
Columbia University
gjw10@columbia.edu
------------------------
For more information:
·
FAQ for Sciences Po Student (.pdf)
