Purdue University College of Liberal Arts

Information for

Foreign Language and Residency Requirements

Foreign Language Requirement:  
  • Before a student may advance to Ph.D. candidacy, reading competence in one foreign language is required. This language must be German, Ancient Greek, French, or Latin unless the student's Advisory Committee recommends that some other language be substituted. This requirement must be satisfied either by means of a written translation examination administered by the Department of Philosophy or by passing (with a grade of B or better) the appropriate 605 course in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. (Additional languages may be required by the nature of the student's Ph.D. research; this shall be determined by the student’s advisory committee.)  A student sitting for the translation examination will be allowed the use of a lexicon; the exam time will be 90 minutes.  The examiner(s) will be appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies from among the faculty of the Philosophy Department.

Residency Requirement:

  • The total number of hours of academic credit used to satisfy residency requirements consists of all course credit hours that appear on the plan of study, other graduate course credit hours with grades of C or better that appear on the Purdue transcript, and research hours that appear on the Purdue transcript.
    1. At least one-third of the total credit hours used to satisfy the degree requirements must be earned (while registered for doctoral study) in continuous residence on the Purdue campus where the degree is to be granted.
    2. At least 90 credit hours are required
    3. A master's degree from any accredited university is considered to contribute 30 credit hours toward satisfying
      this residency requirement.
    In fulfilling these requirements, a maximum of 15 credit hours will be allowed from any one semester (maximum 
    hours proportional to length of summer session).