PhD Theology (PhD)

A Doctorate of Philosophy is the highest level of degree that a student can achieve, demonstrating academic excellence through independent, creative thought and the ability to interact with modern scholarship. To earn a PhD, students must write an 80,000-word thesis on a topic defined by their research proposal under a relevant faculty member's guidance. PhD students research their own topics, working closely with their supervisors to write their theses. Staff at Union College have a long history of supervising PhDs successfully in a wide range of theological areas.

Union Theological College, originally known as the Assembly’s College, dates back to 1853. In the early nineteenth century, those who hoped to serve as Presbyterian ministers were educated either in Scotland or at the Belfast Academical Institute, opened in 1814 as both a secondary school and a college. Irish Presbyterianism underwent a significant change in 1840 when the General Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod were united to establish the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI). The new denomination’s first General Assembly was held on 10 July 1840.