MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies

About the course

You will study this important region, with its rich history and its complex present-day societies, via an intensive language route or a non-language route, culminating in a substantial thesis.

The MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies is an exciting degree bringing together Oxford’s wealth of expertise on South Asia in a single course. You will gain access to teaching and expert supervision across departments in the Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions. You will receive rigorous training in one of two tailored modules in research methods, and have the option to build in Hindi, Urdu, Classical Hindi/Hindavi, Persian or other language training.

You may choose to explore the social, economic and political achievements and challenges of the present-day states of South Asia, and the connections between the countries’ democratic and developmental successes and failures, or to range more broadly across the states and societies of the subcontinent over the past five hundred years.

Since the MPhil is taught jointly by staff within the Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions, students will be part of a larger community of teachers, researchers and students with interests in South Asia.

For students who already have a grounding in a South Asian language, there are opportunities to proceed to an advanced level, and to develop reading skills to attain a research proficiency.

You will also choose between the language track or the non-language track. Language track students may take one of the following intensive courses both at beginner and advanced level: Hindi, Hindi and Urdu, Classical Hindi/Hindavi, and, if the timetable permits, Sanskrit, Persian or Tibetan. Students who are interested in any of these three substitute core languages are asked to flag this interest in their personal statement.

Subject to timetabling, students with at least an intermediate or colloquial knowledge of any South Asian language also have the opportunity to take less intensive training in Hindi, Urdu, Classical Hindi/Hindavi or Persian either continuing at an advanced level or beginning a new language. Subject to both timetabling and demand, Bengali, Gujarati or Marathi may be studied either in their modern-day forms at elementary level or in their classical forms at a more advanced level. Again, if you are interested in taking Persian either at advanced or beginner level you are asked to flag this in your personal statement.

You will experience a variety of teaching modes, including lectures, seminars, classes, student presentations, and small group teaching. The MPhil is jointly taught by staff within the Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions, who will also assess your application. The application process is administered by the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. Language teaching will be provided in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. For much of the course, students will work alongside those taking the nine month MSc in Modern South Asian Studies. For parts of the research methods course, students will be taught alongside those studying for other MPhil and MSc courses offered by the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, as well as doctoral students, opening up further possibilities for interdisciplinary learning and exchange.

You will be required to gather relevant materials for your thesis during the course, usually by working in libraries and archives in the UK but potentially also via fieldwork. Required hours of study will vary between students as you will come from different backgrounds and bring different experiences to your study. However, a typical week during term time will involve around 40 hours of study, including two to six hours of scheduled contact hours (more for those following the ‘language track’), two hours for the weekly seminar and at least thirty hours of independent study. In the second year of the MPhil course, the balance changes as students concentrate on the writing up stage of their theses.

Success on the course requires sustained effort across the academic year, with term-times being typically prioritised with preparation for, and participation in, course lectures, class presentations, class discussion, essay reviews, and thesis supervisions. The vacation periods are not holidays as such but instead represent extended periods in the academic year when private study and thesis research can be balanced alongside taking a well-earned break during national festivals such as Christmas and Easter. During the summer vacation between the first and second years of the course you will be expected to undertake at least six weeks’ research in archives or fieldwork as appropriate.

Course structure

This section provides an overview of the course structure, while details of the individual course components are provided below.

During the first year, you will attend the core course, introducing modern South Asia across the disciplines. You will also receive training in research methods, through one of the two specially tailored programmes.

An important purpose of the research methods course is to help you develop and refine your thesis topic.

You will also choose option papers.

By the end of the first year, you will have worked out a thesis proposal, and plans for field or archival work to be undertaken during the summer months between the first and second years.

In the second year, you will attend a course on advanced methods, as part of which you will make a presentation of your developing thesis project. Language track students will continue intensive language study. Both language and non-language track students will take an additional option. The major focus of the second year will be the thesis, for which you will receive expert supervision.

Core components

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You will take a core course, two methods courses, language study (for those taking a language track), and submit a final thesis.

Option modules

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You will take two options in year one (or one if you are completing the language track), and one option in year two.

Course details

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As a graduate student, you will have access to the University's wide range of resources including libraries, museums, galleries, digital resources and IT services.

The Bodleian Libraries is the largest library system in the UK. It includes the main Bodleian Library and libraries across Oxford, including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 13 million printed items, provide access to e-journals, and contain outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera.

The University's IT Services is available to all students to support with core university IT systems and tools, as well as many other services and facilities. IT Services also offers a range of IT learning courses for students to support with learning and research, as well as guidance on what technology to bring with you as a new student at Oxford.

For students whose research requires fieldwork, the University offers guidance on safe and ethical approaches to fieldwork and the conduct of interviews with local research participants.
Students will have access to the libraries, study spaces, common rooms and IT facilities of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, and of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, as well as to the social and networking events organised by these two university centres.

The Bodleian Libraries offer unparalleled library and archive facilities for South Asia, including one of the richest collections of official archival materials on South Asia in the UK. The main reference collection is accessed via the Charles Wendell David Reading Room at the Weston Library. Other important open shelf collections can be found in the Upper Camera, the Nizami Ganjavi Library and the Social Science Library. Students may access other Bodleian Libraries sites as necessary.

Oxford also offers a wealth of resources for the study of South Asian art and material culture. The Ashmolean Museum contains collections encompassing art from the Islamic world, the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia. The Pitt Rivers Museum holds important collections of ethnographic material from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The Museum of the History of Science houses an unrivalled collection of historic scientific instruments, including astrolabes and other instruments, with Persian, Arabic, or Sanskrit inscriptions, manufactured by artisans in India.

In addition to the faculties and departments who share in teaching for the MPhil, Oxford contains outstanding collegiate centres for study and research in relation to South Asia and its many regions, at Somerville College and St Antony’s College. Research seminars at these collegiate centres are open to all students.

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies.

All students are assigned a general supervisor at the start of term, who is usually a member of the core teaching staff on the MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies. The role of the general supervisor is to guide you through your course of study. If your research interests fall outside the expertise of your general supervisor, they will assist you in identifying appropriate expertise within the university, and help you approach suitable scholars for supervision. Applicants are advised to consider the research interests of relevant faculty teaching on the course and to choose a topic where appropriate supervision can be provided. Applicants with a research interest in art history should note that supervision is only available for research that relates specifically to items held in the Ashmolean's collection.

Depending on the range of your research interests, therefore, it is possible for you to have more than one supervisor - a general supervisor who oversees your general academic progress, and a different supervisor for your thesis. Supervision for the thesis will be offered as a series of individual meetings between you and your thesis supervisor. Your supervisor(s) will discuss your progress, and answer any questions before you submit assessed work. Your thesis supervisor will read one full draft of your thesis provided it is submitted.

In the case of students who require specific help to adjust to an academic programme or to a new range of skills, the supervisor will work with them to ensure that they have additional support.

The number of places and average number of applicants for this course are shown below. For a breakdown of admission statistics by department, please refer to our published graduate admissions statistics.

Places in 2026-27	c. 6
Applications/year*	15

*Three-year average (applications for entry in 2023-24 to 2025-26)

Entry requirements

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For entry in 2026-27

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our guidance to help you evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive.

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying.

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in any discipline.

The admissions board will consider the entire application and any qualifications beyond the minimum bachelor's degree will be taken into account. These may include a master's degree or professional qualifications.

For applicants with a bachelor's degree from the USA, the minimum overall GPA that is normally required to meet the undergraduate-level requirement is 3.6 out of 4.0. However, selection of candidates also depends on other factors in your application and most successful applicants have achieved higher GPA scores.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

Evidence of prior interest in South Asia, including research or working experience in one or more countries of the region, is an advantage.
For applicants for the language track, previous experience in a South Asian language is not essential. However, applicants should be able to demonstrate strong experience and aptitude in language learning in other languages.
Publications are not required but should be listed if this may help indicate the quality of the application. These may be academic works, journalism, blogs or other such writings.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's higher level. If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

Minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level requirement
Test	Minimum overall score	Minimum score per component
IELTS Academic (Institution code: 0713)	7.5	7.0
TOEFL iBT* including the 'Home Edition' (Institution code: 0490)	110	Listening: 22 Reading: 24 Speaking: 25 Writing: 24
C1 Advanced^†	191	185
C2 Proficiency^‡	191	185
Oxford Test of English Advanced	165	155

*Changes to the TOEFL iBT test are being introduced on 21 January 2026. The University will not accept TOEFL tests taken from that date to meet the English language condition until a review of the revised test has been completed. Our Application Guide provides full details of the tests we accept.

^†Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)
^‡Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides further information about the English language test requirement.

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

Funding and costs

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For entry in the 2026-27 academic year, the collegiate University expects to offer over 1,100 full or partial graduate scholarships across a wide range of graduate courses.

If you apply by this course's January deadline and receive a course offer, your application will then be considered for Oxford scholarships. For the majority of Oxford scholarships, your application will automatically be assessed against the eligibility criteria, without needing to make a separate application. There are further Oxford scholarships available which have additional eligibility criteria and where you are required to submit a separate application. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential.

To ensure that you are considered for Oxford scholarships that require a separate application, for which you may be eligible, use our fees, funding and scholarship search tool to identify these opportunities and find out how to apply. Alongside Oxford scholarships, you should also consider other opportunities for which you may be eligible including a range of external funding, loan schemes for postgraduate study and any other scholarships which may also still be available after the January deadline as listed on our fees, funding and scholarship search tool.

Details of college-specific funding opportunities can also be found on many individual college websites. To access this information, first select a college from the list of colleges that accept students for this course. Next, navigate to the Contact details section of the college page, where a direct link to the college's funding information will usually be provided.

For the majority of college scholarships, it doesn’t matter which college, if any, you state a preference for in your application. If another college is able to offer you a scholarship, your application can be moved to that college if you accept the scholarship. Some college scholarships may require you to state a preference for that college when you apply, so check the eligibility requirements carefully.

Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the following faculty websites:

Funding information from the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies
Funding information from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

In addition to your course fees and any additional course-specific costs, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

Living costs for full-time study

For the 2026-27 academic year, the range of likely living costs for a single, full-time student is between £1,405 and £2,105 for each month spent in Oxford. We provide the cost per month so you can multiply up by the number of months you expect to live in Oxford. Depending on your circumstances, you may also need to budget for the costs of a student visa and immigration health surcharge and/or living costs for family members or other dependants that you plan to bring with you to Oxford (if dependant visa eligibility criteria are met).

Further information about living costs

The current economic climate and periods of high national inflation in recent years make it harder to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. For study in Oxford beyond the 2026-27 academic year, it is suggested that you budget for potential increases in living expenses of around 4% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation.

A breakdown of likely living costs for one month during the 2026-27 academic year are shown below. These costs are based on a single, full-time graduate student, with no dependants, living in Oxford.

Likely living costs for one month in Oxford during the 2026-27 academic year
Expense	Lower range	Upper range
Food	£315	£545
Accommodation	£825	£990
Personal items	£160	£310
Social activities	£50	£130
Study costs	£35	£90
Other	£20	£40
Total	£1,405	£2,105

For information about how these figures have been calculated as well as tables showing the likely living costs for nine and twelve months, please refer to the living costs page of our website.

College preference

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Before you apply

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Completing your application

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Your statement of purpose/personal statement and research proposal should be submitted as a single, combined document with clear subheadings. Please ensure that the word counts for each section are clearly visible in the document.

Statement of purpose

The statement of purpose should be written in English and indicate your reasons for applying to the MPhil. It could include some of the following:

what motivated your interest in South Asia
why you want to apply for the MPhil
what particular aspects of the course interest you
how the course will help you in your future career
whether you hope to study further (perhaps progressing to a PhD/DPhil)

If you are applying for the language track, you should indicate the language you wish to study and the nature of any prior experience you have in this language.

Research proposal

For the research proposal, you should describe the topic of research you hope to pursue for your thesis. This should include the reading you have done in the general field, an outline of the research project, why it is interesting and important, and an indication of the source material to be used for the project.

The department is not just looking for those of excellent academic potential but also those who will make a significant contribution to the small group teaching and learning experience in Oxford.

It will be normal for your ideas subsequently to change in some ways as you investigate the evidence and develop your project. You should nevertheless make the best effort you can to demonstrate the extent of your research question, sources and method at this moment.

Assessment

The statement and proposal will be assessed for:

your reasons for applying
your relevant academic experience
evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study, including (where applicable) language study
the quality and feasibility of your research proposal
how your MPhil will help you in your future career

Contact details

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Fee status	Annual Course fees
Home	£21,930
Overseas	£32,020

MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies

About the course

Course structure

Core components

Option modules

Course details

Language Track (first year)

Language Track (second year)

Non-language Track (first year)

Non-language Track (second year)

Entry requirements

Degree-level qualifications

GRE General Test scores

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

English language proficiency

Declaring extenuating circumstances

Financial Declaration

Disclosure of criminal convictions

Funding and costs

Fees for the 2026-27 academic year at the University of Oxford

Fee status

Annual Course fees

What do course fees cover?

How long do I need to pay course fees?

Where can I find more information about fees?

Living costs for full-time study

Further information about living costs

College preference

Before you apply

Completing your application

Statement of purpose

Research proposal

Assessment

Contact details

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MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies

About the course

Course structure

Core components

Core courses

Research methods

Language study

Thesis

Option modules

Typical options

Course details

Attendance

Resources to support your study

Supervision

Assessment

Graduate destinations

Information about the department offering this course

Number of places and applications

Changes to this course

Entry requirements

Proven and potential academic excellence

References

Supporting documents

Performance at interview

Offer conditions for successful applications

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

Funding and costs

Funding

Annual course fees

Additional course costs

Living costs

College preference

Your college preference

Colleges accepting applications for this course

Before you apply

Getting started

Application fee waivers

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

How to start or continue an application

Completing your application

Instructions for completing the application form

Referees (three overall, academic preferred)

Official transcript(s)

Statement of purpose and research proposal (statement a maximum of 500 words and proposal a maximum of 1,000 words)

Written work (two essays of a maximum of 2,000 words each)

After you've submitted your application

Contact details

Course-related enquiries

Application process enquiries

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