Prior to formal acceptance as a PhD candidate, students join the Pre-Doctoral Programme (PDP) under a Supervisor. The PDP has several objectives:

• To develop the student’s comprehensive general knowledge of their discipline;
• To reach reading competency in research languages as relevant to the specialization;
• To identify a possible topic for research;
• To allow the Supervisor to assess the student’s ability to engage in PhD level research.

The PDP will normally take 6-12 months when the student will:

• Read at least 1500 pages per month;
• Meet every two weeks with the Supervisor, bringing a written report or paper for discussion;
• Credit or audit modules (at MTh level) deemed relevant;
• Attend and participate in departmental doctoral seminars;
• Attend and participate in Doktorklub;
• Complete the required language studies.

(The following are the Departmental language requirements in addition to English: Biblical Greek and Hebrew; one modern European language; other languages as deemed necessary e.g., Aramaic, Arabic, Sanskrit, Urdu, Syriac, Ugaritic, Arabic.)