Academic Policies
Graduate Education is subject to the oversight of the Graduate Council, a standing committee of the Academic Senate, Irvine Division, charged with reviewing and regulating graduate education. The Graduate Council sets policies and standards for admission to graduate student status; defines eligibility for fellowships and assistantships; establishes policies relating to graduate degrees; approves changes in degree requirements; establishes procedural rules for graduate study; sets policy for satisfactory academic progress, graduate student course loads, transfers of academic credit, part-time study, and leaves of absence.
Academic requirements and standards for students, time to degree policies, eligibility for funding and other campus resources, and all other academic aspects of graduate education are the purview of the Graduate Council. Please refer to Graduate Policies and Procedures for all policies relating to graduate education.
UC Irvine Time to Degree Policy for PhD Programs
| Doctoral Program | A | N | M | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claire Trevor School of the Arts | ||||
| Drama & Theater Ph.D. | 4 | 5 | 7 | |
| Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology Ph.D. | 3 | 4 | 6 | |
| Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences | ||||
| Biological Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Developmental & Cell Biology | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Biological Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Biological Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Biological Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Neurobiology & Behavior | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Mathematical, Computational & Systems Biology (MCSB) | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Joe C. Wen School of Population and Public Health | ||||
| Public Health Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 8 | |
| Health, Society and Behavior Ph.D. | 3 | 5 (4) | 6 | |
| Environmental Health Sciences Ph.D. | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Epidemiology Ph.D. | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| School of Medicine | ||||
| Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Anatomy & Neurobiology | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Biological Chemistry | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Experimental Pathology | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Microbiology & Molecular Genetics | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Physiology & Biophysics | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| School of Education | ||||
| Education Ph.D. with a Specialization in Educational Policy and Social Context | 4 | 5 | 7 | |
| Education Ph.D. with a Specialization in Language, Literacy, and Technology | 4 | 5 | 7 | |
| Education Ph.D. with a Specialization in Learning, Cognition, and Development | 4 | 5 | 7 | |
| Henry Samueli School of Engineering | ||||
| Transportation Science Ph.D. | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Biomedical Engineering | 2(2) | 5(4) | 7(7) | |
| All Other Ph.D. Programs | 3(2) | 5(4) | 7(7) | |
| School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences | ||||
| Pharmacological Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Pharmacology | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Pharmacological Sciences Ph.D. with a Concentration in Pharmaceutical Sciences | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing | ||||
| Nursing Science Ph.D. | 3 | 4 | 7 | |
| Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences | ||||
| Networked Systems Ph.D. | 3(2) | 6(5) | 7 | |
| Computer Science Ph.D. | 3(2) | 6 | 7 | |
| Informatics Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Software Engineering Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Statistics Ph.D. | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| School of Humanities | ||||
| Classics Ph.D. | 4 | 6 | 8 | |
| Comparative Literature Ph.D. | 4 | 7 | 9 | |
| Culture & Theory Ph.D. | 4 | 7 | 8 | |
| East Asian Studies Ph.D. | 3 | 7 | 8 | |
| English Ph.D. | 4 | 7 | 9 | |
| Film and Media Studies Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| German Ph.D. | 3 (2) | 6 (5) | 8 | |
| History Ph.D. | 3 | 7 | 9 | |
| Philosophy Ph.D. | 4 | 7 | 9 | |
| Spanish Ph.D. | 4 | 7 | 8 | |
| Visual Studies Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| School of Physical Sciences | ||||
| Chemistry Ph.D. | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Chemistry-ChaMP | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Earth System Science Ph.D. | 2 | 5 | 7 | |
| Mathematics Ph.D. | 4 | 6 | 7 | |
| Physics Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Physics-ChaMP | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| School of Social Ecology | ||||
| Criminology Law and Society Ph.D. | 4(3) | 6(5) | 7(6) | |
| Social Ecology Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy Ph.D. | 4 | 6 | 7 | |
| Psychology Ph.D. | 4 (3.67 for the Clinical Psychology concentration) | 5 (6-7 for the Clinical Psychology concentration) | 7 | |
| School of Social Sciences | ||||
| Anthropology Ph.D. | 3 | 7 | 8 | |
| Global Studies Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Economics Ph.D. | 2 | 6 | 7 | |
| Language Science Ph.D. | 3.3 | 5 | 6 | |
| Logic & Philosophy of Science Ph.D. | 3.3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Political Science Ph.D. | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Cognitive Sciences Ph.D. | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| Social Science Ph.D. with a Concentration in Mathematical Behavioral Science | 4 | 6 | 8 | |
| Sociology Ph.D. | 4 | 6 | 8 | |
| The Paul Merage School of Business | ||||
| Management Ph.D. | 3 | 5 | 6 |
UC Irvine Time to Degree Policy for Masters Programs
| UCI TIME TO DEGREE POLICY FOR MASTER OF FINE ARTS (MFA) PROGRAMS* | ||
|---|---|---|
| MFA Program | Normal Time to Degree (years) | |
| Claire Trevor School of the Arts | ||
| Studio Art | 3 | |
| Drama | 3 | |
| Music | 2 | |
| Dance | 2 | |
| School of Humanities | ||
| Writing | 3 |
Notes
- A=Normative Time to Advancement; N= Normative Time to Degree; M= Maximum Time to Degree
- Time to degree is approved by the Graduate Council.
- This table reflects the current time to degree requirements for each program. Please note that these requirements may have been updated since a student’s initial admission into their graduate program. Students are held to the time to degree standards that were in place at the time of their admission. For the official time-to-degree requirements of their program, students should refer to the UC Irvine catalogue corresponding to the year they entered their program.
- Parentheses represent reduced time to advancement and degree for those students entering a Doctoral program with a Master’s degree. For the Health, Society, and Behavior Ph.D. program an MPH.
- Please note that any time spent in a gateway program counts towards a student’s time to degree.