Admission Criteria & Application

• A Master’s degree from a recognized institution which is relevant to the proposed disciplines or areas of research; and

• A Bachelor's degree with minimum 2nd class honours upper or Honours (Distinction) or equivalent; in a field relevant to the proposed research topic from a recognized university;​​

• For applicants whose mother tongue is not English, a good IELTS score of at least 7.0 is required. IELTS score must be attained within 2 years prior to date of application. This requirement is waived if applicants have earned their Bachelor's degree from a university where English is the medium of instruction (must be at least 3 years of study). For applicants whose Bachelor’s degree is not taught in the English language but they have earned a Master’s degree from an institution where the language of instruction is English, they are strongly encouraged to submit an IELTS test score of at least 7.0. Applicants may be asked to produce further proof to demonstrate their level of English proficiency on a case-by-case basis. 

• To demonstrate the ability to pursue research in the applicant's proposed field of advanced study, applicants should include with their application a research proposal; artistic portfolio, if applicable; samples of academic writing; and a personal statement on why they intend to pursue the proposed area of study.

• 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.

• It is important to note that besides meeting the basic academic requirements, applicants will also be assessed on the strength of their portfolios which have to meet the highest professional and academic standards.

Nanyang Technological University's academic year commences in August and ends in July the following year. ADM has two intakes in January and August per academic year. The application deadline is shown below:

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.