PhD in Art, and Design offers a wide range of fields from a solid foundation in cultural histories and philosophies both past and present to contemporary art and critical theory. Students individually pick a specific area of interest which relate to major issues in the following areas: image/text relations, representational theory, history of art, philosophy of art, art/design criticism, aesthetics and perceptions, visual media, museum/gallery exhibitions, ritual, cult objects, iconography, iconoclasm, patronage, collecting/connoisseurship, propaganda, monuments and memory, communities and polities, publics, gender, ethnicity, class, tradition and modernity, landscape, eco-centricism, historic preservation, architectural history and theory, among others. Positions on art/design are to be addressed through rigorous analysis and reflective evaluation of their contexts. Quality is to be varied from 2-dimension through 4-dimension. Historical developments from cultural studies through visual culture, visual studies, and to popular visual culture are to be handled within the context of larger global significance of those practices. Here the mode of delivery will be by thesis and its examination.

The Ph.D. Programme in Art, and Design is again designed to train new generation of scholars who will be at the wave-front in advancing and disseminating art/design knowledge, whether in research universities, teaching colleges or institutions, museums and galleries, or other related professions. Interdisciplinary scholarship is encouraged. The programmes are individually or student planned centering on professional studies such as: history, philosophy, sociology, and psychology of art; curriculum development; arts of the book; arts administration; computer graphics; art, and design and special populations or community arts; popular visual culture; material culture; art, and design criticism; museum/gallery education; jewelry and metal smithing; application of new technologies in art for special audiences; and a variety of special topics in visual arts enquiry and education. Students are encouraged to carry out research in any aspect of technology in education and harness reflective practice in art, and design education. Here the mode of delivery will be by thesis and its examination.

The Ph.D. Programme in Art, and Design finally involves individual student original enquiry undertaken with the aim of gaining new knowledge partly by a student producing a body of work by means of practice and critical analysis based on the outcomes of that practice. In a doctoral thesis, claims of originality and contribution to knowledge are demonstrated through creative outcomes which may include artifacts such as images, music, designs, models, digital media or other outcomes such as installations, exhibitions and performances. While the significance and context of that knowledge is expressed through a written thesis, a full understanding of it shall be obtained with direct reference to outcomes from the executed work. The textual description includes documentation of the research process, as well as textual analysis or explanation to support its position demonstrating critical reflection that clarifies the basis of the claim for originality and of the creative artifact as basis for contribution to knowledge in the field. Practice-based doctoral submissions for examination must include a substantial contextualisation of the creative work. Enquiry is possible in the following majors: Ceramics, glass, painting, textiles, drawing, printing, illustration, graphic design, photography, and other visual art/design areas. Students should be able to demonstrate advanced research ability so as to meet general scholarly requirements showing doctoral level analysis and mastery of existing contextual knowledge. The Ph.D. programme in Art, and Design Practice-based requires a public exhibition of the executed contextualised creative work and a supportive written thesis. Here the mode of delivery will be by execution of practical work, which will be exhibited for evaluation, and the thesis that explains the exhibited work will also be examined.