Program Overview

Doctorate in Social Sciences

Description

The mission of the Doctorate in Social Sciences is to train graduates of the highest level in the country, capable of developing original and autonomous research in social sciences, as well as comprehensive, critical and purposeful interpretations of social phenomena through the management of complex theoretical and methodological systems, updated and accompanied by the characteristics of our local and regional realities in the context of globalization.

Specific Objectives

• Train specialists who can satisfy the needs of university research and teaching in the area of social sciences with excellence at an international level and autonomously, particularly in the field of epistemology, research methodology in social sciences, theory and applied social sciences.
• Occupy the leadership role in the generation, cultivation, transmission and integration of the knowledge taught in the lines mentioned above. Its option is to train postgraduates equipped with theoretical and methodological tools of the highest level.
• Promote, through the approaches of its lines of research, the treatment of relevant and emerging problems of the Chilean and Latin American reality, promoting the use of knowledge for the benefit of the comprehensive development and increase in the quality of life of our populations.
• Prepare its graduates to develop scientific research and studies, as well as to integrate and lead interdisciplinary teams and teach at the university level.

Research Lines

The Doctorate program in Social Sciences at the University of Chile is organized into three lines of applied research in social sciences. They organize their specialty Seminars and their Academic Faculty.

• Line 1. Contemporary Latin American psycho-sociopolitical and cultural processes.
• Line 2. New identities, subjectivities and subjectivation processes.
• Line 3. Social sciences of gender, sexualities and minority groups.

Study Plan

The Program is organized into bimesters (which correspond to 8 or 9 weeks of classes, depending on the corresponding semester). The Doctorate program in Social Sciences lasts 4 years, that is, 16 bimesters. The minimum allowed permanence of a student in the program is 12 semesters (equivalent to 6 semesters) and the maximum is 20 semesters (equivalent to 10 semesters), including the development of the thesis, to which 8 semesters are dedicated.

• Mandatory seminar (Theory 1 and 2, Methodology 1 and 2, Epistemology 1 and 2 and International Seminar)
• Specialty seminars
• Thesis Design Seminars (1 to 4)
• Thesis Seminars (1 to 10) At the end of the third semester, students must take a qualifying exam, the approval of which entitles them to continue their studies as a Doctoral Candidate.

Admission Requirements

Those who hold a Bachelor's or Master's Degree in any discipline of Social Sciences may apply for the Doctorate program in Social Sciences. In addition, exceptionally, other graduates with the degree of Bachelor, Master or Doctor may apply, subject to approval by the Academic Committee.

• The determination of the disciplinary or related professional fields corresponds to the Academic Committee of the Doctorate in Social Sciences program, which will ensure the level and prior training of the applicants in relation to the purposes and demands of the program.
• The applicant must submit a complete dossier that certifies academic training, research experience, publications, teaching experience, and language skills.
• An initial proposal for a doctoral thesis project will also be presented, which will be discussed with the Selection Committee.

Applications

• Application period 2026: between July 1, 2025 and October 20, 2025
• The application is made exclusively online.

Program Information

• Academic degree: Doctorate in Social Sciences
• Accreditation: Accredited program in accordance with the provisions of article N°58 of law 21,526.
• Application period: Start: July 1, 2025 Closing: October 20, 2025
• Tariff:
  • Annual Tariff Value 2025: $5,956,077
  • Tuition fee for 2026: $243,900
  • These values could vary for the year 2026.
• Coordinator: Prof. Andrés Gómez S.
• Faculty or Institute: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Decree No.: No. b