Admission Criteria & Application

To apply to the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme, applicants need to meet these minimum requirements:

  • A Master’s degree from a recognized institution which is relevant to the proposed areas of research; 
  • A Bachelor's degree with minimum 2nd Upper Class Honours or Honours (Distinction) or equivalent in a field relevant to the proposed research topic from a recognized university;​​

  • For applicants whose native language is not English, they must meet the English Language Proficiency Requirement of having at least an IELTS score of at least 7.0. The score must be attained within the last 2 years at point of application. TOEFL is not accepted in place of IELTS. This requirement is waived for applicants who have completed both their Bachelor's and Master's degrees at an English-medium university, with a minimum of three years of study.

  • Include a research proposal; artistic portfolio (if applicable), samples of academic writing; and a personal statement to demonstrate their ability to pursue academic research.

  • For applicants whose Master’s degrees are completed in 1 year or less, scholarly/academic writing samples in the English language should be submitted to demonstrate the level of English proficiency.

There are two application periods each year - October to January (for admission in July) and June to July (for admission in January). Most students are admitted during the first period.

For more information about admission procedures (including the list of required supporting documents and application fees), please visit NTU Graduate Admissions.

 

There are two application periods each year: October to January (for admission in August) and June to July (for admission in January). Most students are admitted during the first period. The next application deadline is shown below:

Intake

Application Period 

(To submit online application with supporting documents)

August 2025

 

Reviews of applications have begun. Interested applicants are encouraged to consider the next January 2026 intake.

To apply by 15 December 2024

January 2026

To apply by 31 July 2025


Applicants are selected for interviews on the basis of their academic record, portfolio, and research proposal. Your research proposal must show that you are ready to write a PhD thesis that can be supervised at the School of Art, Design and Media, NTU.

Interested applicants can submit an online admission application during the two application windows.

All excellent applications with research proposals from all areas in art, design and media are welcome, subject to the availability of potential supervisors. The School particularly welcomes research proposals in these  research areas

Applicants are reminded to submit their research proposals by using the template provided  here.

 

Application Instructions

Applicants are requested to upload electronic copies of the following supporting documents via NTU’s on-line Graduate Application System. Documents uploaded must be in English language. Otherwise, they must be accompanied by certified translations in English language.

The code for ADM's Ph.D. programme is [184].

  • Academic transcripts and certificate for Bachelor degree (in English language and original language if applicable)

  • Academic transcripts and certificate for Master degree (in English language and original language if applicable)

  • A research proposal, with bibliography
    Click to download the research proposal template in Word

  • Artistic Portfolio
    An original and creative piece of work related to the proposed research area. It could be a drawing, computer animations, short films, etc. It could be an undergraduate essay or a published / unpublished article.

  • Scholarly writing sample  
    It could be an undergraduate essay, Master thesis, or a published / unpublished article

  • Report from 2 academic referees
    Before you provide the name and official institutional email address of your referees, please ensure that they have already agreed to fill out the online referee report form for your NTU application.

  • Personal statement
    A short essay on your aspirations and why you have identified ADM as the place to pursue your PhD.

  • IELTS, if applicable (Please ensure validity date within 2 years for the IELTS score).

  • Personal Particulars page of passport / Identification card

  • One recent passport-sized colour photograph​

  • A short introductory video (3 mins)
    Applicants can talk about their personal qualities, passion, motivation to pursue postgraduate study at NTU ADM, proposed research interests. Provide a URL of the video in the online application form or email adm_graduateprog@ntu.edu.sg


Application Fee

There will be an application fee of $53.50 per programme.

The system accepts online payments via VISA or MasterCard only.


How to Apply

Applications are to be submitted online at:
http://venus.wis.ntu.edu.sg/GOAL/OnlineApplicationModule/frmOnlineApplication.aspx​​​​​​​​​​​​​​