Admissions Requirements

A master's degree is required for admission to a PhD program. Exceptions might be considered in rare instances where there are extenuating circumstances. Please consult the OISE Bulletin (http://ro.oise.utoronto.ca/Bulletin_Inter.htm) for admission requirements to a PhD program.

Should you feel your specific case might warrant special consideration, contact the Office of the Registrar: Telephone: 416-978-1682, Fax: 416-323-9964, E-mail: gradstudy@oise.utoronto.ca.

Qualifying Research Paper
Applicants who have graduated from a non-thesis M.A. program are required to complete a QRP or provide a sample of previous work that may satisfy the criteria as described by the Registrar’s Office, Graduate Studies Admissions Unit.

A previous work submitted to satisfy the QRP requirement must demonstrate "the candidate's potential for undertaking the advanced research activity of an OISE doctoral program" as required in the Guidelines for the Qualifying Research Paper. The reader is strongly encouraged to consult the specific documents issued by the Registrar’s Office at: (http://ro.oise.utoronto.ca/QRP_Guide_Grad_Adm.PDF).

The work should generally consist of the following elements:

1. A clear statement of the problem addressed in the study, usually in the form of a question or questions;
2. A rationale or justification for the study, in terms of its implications for educational theory and/or practice, i.e., what will this study contribute to theoretical and/or practical knowledge in the field;
3. A critical review of relevant literature, to determine what is and is not known about the problem, what the outstanding issues are, and how the research fits with this larger context;
4. The assumptions which underlie the research and, where appropriate, the major hypotheses to be tested;
5. A description of the methodology and procedures which were followed in the study and an explanation of their appropriateness to the questions being asked;
6. A description of the results of the study;
7. A discussion of these results, how they are related to earlier research in the field and the implications for future research.