This program is designed for applicants with a strong research agenda who already have an academic background in medieval history or related disciplines such as philology/literature, philosophy, art history or archaeology with a focus on medieval Latin, Slavonic, Byzantine or early modern Ottoman culture. Students in the program pursue an intensive, multidisciplinary study of Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, including an emphasis on modern research methodologies and the languages of medieval source materials.
The department provides intellectually challenging comparative and multidisciplinary postgraduate education on all aspects of the history and culture of the period between 300 and 1600 C.E. International faculty members cover Central and Western Europe as well as the Byzantine, Slavic, Jewish, Arab and Ottoman worlds.
Graduates find employment in education and research, cultural institutions, including museums, libraries and archives, as well as business and international organizations. Master’s students often continue their studies on the doctoral level at CEU and other international universities.
CEU is committed to attracting talented students and scholars from around the world and provides generous merit-based scholarships available to students from any country.
Our innovative MA in Classics and Ancient History gives you the chance to study for a world-class degree with the flexibility to tailor the programme to match your own interests. We will give you a supportive and stimulating environment in which to enhance the knowledge and skills you picked up at Undergraduate level.
You can choose to follow an open pathway to mix your modules and interests or one of the specially designed research streams that match our own specialisms. The research streams we currently offer are:
• Ancient Philosophy, Science and Medicine
• Ancient Politics and Society
• Cultural Histories and Material Exchanges
At the heart of the Department is the A.G. Leventis Room, our dedicated Postgraduate study space, which you will have full access to. You might also take the opportunity to participate in Isca Latina, our local schools Latin outreach programme. We have a vibrant Postgraduate community which we hope you will become an active part of.
If you decide to join us at Exeter you will become part of one of the largest and most successful Classics and Ancient History Departments in the UK. We have an excellent reputation for both our teaching and our research with league table rankings to match.
The programme is divided into units of study(modules).
The optional modules determine the main focus of your MA study. Some examples of the optional modules are as follows;
The modules listed here provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.
Our academic staff have a broad range of expertise and ground-breaking research interests, some of the research streams available on our MA reflect these. We regularly review and update our MA programme to reflect both the needs of our students and the latest emerging research within the field.
Some of the areas we have a special research interest include:
• Ancient and modern philosophy, especially ethics
• Classical art and archaeology
• Classics in the history of sexuality
• Comparative philology and linguistics
• Food in the ancient world
• Greek and Roman epic, tragedy and comedy
• Greek and Roman mythology, religion and magic
• Greek and Roman social history, especially sexuality
• Hellenistic history, especially the barbarian interface and the Greek culture of Asia Minor and dynastic studies
• History of medicine in antiquity, especially Galen
• Later Greek literature, including Lucian, Athenaeus, ecphrasis
• Latin literature
• Palaeography
As a postgraduate research student of Italian studies, you will be exposed to an environment that celebrates both language and culture, through rigorous research and vibrant social events.
Studied informally here at Edinburgh since the late 16th century, Italian was formally added to the curriculum in 1919. Since then it has developed into a broad area of study that engages with both contemporary culture and historical times, when Italy shaped our civilisation.
Postgraduates are an integral part of our research community. We can offer you supervision in:
Your place in our graduate school will see you taking part in a thriving research community, attending regular seminars, publishing papers, presenting your research at national and international conferences, and participating in interdisciplinary research clusters across the School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures.
Just a few minutes away from our base in George Square is the Italian Cultural Institute, where you will receive a warm welcome and the opportunity to mix with Scotland’s wider Italian academic community.
You will also have access to its extensive library and programme of events. Also extending cultural and academic networks is the Edinburgh Journal of Gadda Studies, which is produced here at the School and offers opportunities for you to contribute to the editorial team as a research or editorial assistant. Through our membership of this network we also host the Edinburgh Gadda Prize, presented biennially.
You’ll learn to make connections between the past and the present. You’ll research the ways in which current traditions came to be, and how current views on the past emerged, as well as their role in the present.
See the website http://www.ru.nl/masters/history
During the Master’s in History, you’ll develop a set of academic skills such being able to collect different sources and critically analyse them, to interpret data and to form constructive arguments. You’ll also learn how to clearly present research results and how to enter into a debate with historians and other interested parties.
As an academic historian, you’ll have lots of options. You could work for museums, heritage institutions, libraries, archives, political parties, think-tanks or as a policy maker, journalist, teacher or information officer.
The History Master’s has three specialisations: one is English-taught and the other two are Dutch-taught.
- Eternal Rome
In this specialisation, you’ll analyse Rome and its impressive legacy to become acquainted with its ancient history, medieval history, art history, classical philology, archaeology, and literary theory.
- Actuele geschiedenis (i.e. Current History)
You’ll study the tension between current events and history in this specialisation; how it affects the current interpretation of the past and how history is used and abused to give direction to the future.
- Politiek en parlement (i.e. Politics and Parliament)
In this multidisciplinary specialisation history, political science and constitutional law meet. You’ll learn to put political phenomena in a historical context.
As an historian, you’ll be able to identify developments and historical events. You’ll be able to ask different questions and approach issues from a variety of perspectives. Each Master’s specialisation focuses on different professional perspectives. Thus, Politics and Parliament (Dutch) will give you the foundation you need to work in politics in The Hague, whilst the specialisation Eternal Rome will make you an expert in Rome and its many influences on Western society. Read more about your career prospects as a historian with each specialisation:
- Eternal Rome
- Actuele geschiedenis
- Politiek en parlement
Want to become a History teacher in secondary education? After completing your Master's in History you can get your ‘eerstegraads bevoegdheid’ to become a teacher in the Netherlands (leraar geschiedenis of maatschappijleer). With this degree, you can teach the higher grades of secondary school in the Netherlands (HAVO and VWO). This one-year postgraduate programme is offered in Dutch by the Radboud Docenten Academie.
If, upon completing your Master’s, you want to become a researcher in this field, you could choose to start a PhD. You’ll need to apply for a temporary position at a university, where you can carry out research and write you PhD paper. Many PhD candidates also teach in their field. A small number of graduates become PhD candidates.
See the website http://www.ru.nl/masters/history
Whether it is the history of Europe, the development of modern European literature or the art of Rome that fascinates you, the Research Master's specialization are an excellent choice for talented students who want to prepare themselves for an international academic career. Indeed, the diversity of interests of our teaching and research staff will allow you to specialize in almost any subject, and the space we offer within the Master's specialization for research and studies at home and abroad allows you to put together a training programme that perfectly meets your wishes.
See the website http://www.ru.nl/masters/hlcs
Within the Master's programme in Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies, you can choose between three English-taught Master's specializations:
1. Historical Studies
Students can specialize in any historical theme from antiquity to the present day. Many students specialize in Ancient History, Medieval History, Cultural History from 1500 to the present, the History of Dutch Catholicism, Gender studies, Modern Political History, Globalisation and Presented History. Students, working in small numbers, will pursue their own specialty and discuss developments in contemporary historiography, debate research ideas and critique other's writings and research.
2. Literary Studies
If you have completed your Bachelor's degree in one of the classical or modern languages and have strong ambitions to conduct international research, this programme is your springboard to an academic career in literary studies. The specialization admits students of various languages and literatures, including German, French, Spanish, English (both American and British), Dutch, Ancient Greek and Latin as well as other languages and literary studies. Central to this programme is the attention paid to methods of textual interpretation and New Philology. Students select courses to fit the needs of their specialism and discuss contemporary developments and research ideas. Whether you prefer ancient Greek tragedy, contemporary American literature or Dutch poetry, the new Literary Studies Research Master's is very well suited for talented students wishing to contribute to (inter)national research in this field.
3. Art and Visual Culture
If you are interested in visual and material culture from Antiquity to the present and aspire a career in international scientific research in the fields of art, visual culture or classical archaeology, Radboud University Nijmegen is pleased to offer a two-year research Master's specialisation which offers exactly that. This programme is based on the unique cooperation of the departments of Classical Archaeology, Cultural Studies and Art History, allowing a broad perspective on the visual heritage of western culture from classical antiquity to the present as well as specialist training.
The Research Master's in Art and Visual Culture is designed for highly motivated students who are interested in the art and visual culture of Europe from classical antiquity to the present, and have ambitions for an international career in these fields.
The HLCS institute greatly values the close interaction between students and top researchers, which is why our courses are open only to small numbers of students working under the supervision of experienced professors. At the start of the first year, you will choose a tutor (always an excellent researcher with relevant expertise) who will personally guide your development as a specialist in your field. Regular meetings with your tutor will ensure the steady increase of your academic skills. They will also offer the opportunity to exchange research ideas at an advanced level. Your tutor will help you apply for international funding to support research trips and the attendance of conferences, as well as guide the preparation of your PhD proposal, which is an integral part of the course programme.
During the Master’s programme you will gain a broad perspective on the humanities in general because of the collaboration between the programmes of Historical Studies, Literary Studies, and Art and Visual Culture. Through your personal Master’s research, you will also have concentrated on a very specific phenomenon in your own field. This combination of broad and specific focus will open a lot of doors for you. Our research programme has produced graduates that are appreciated by employees for their research skills as well as their insightfulness and analytical skills, and who have not only learned how to delve into large quantity of data and master it but also how to place their results in a larger context.
In short, at the end of the programme you’ll:
- Have acquired heuristic research skills at an advanced level.
- Have gained general knowledge of leading perspectives, theories, concepts, and paradigm shifts in the humanities and advanced knowledge specifically for own field.
- Be able to engage in the public debates regarding issues in the humanities.
- Have acquired English academic writing skills and have practiced writing a publishable scholarly article and a proposal for a PhD project.
- Have started to build up a professional international network.
Academia and beyond
This programme is initially intended to prepare its students for an academic career, in particular as PhD researchers. About half of our graduates find such a position in the Netherlands or abroad. The other half also obtain academic positions with research orientated duties. Examples include:
- Researcher at a cultural or scientific organisation or research centre
- Assistant of a senior researcher
- Teacher at an institution for higher education
- Policy-making official in the fields of culture and science
- Editor in the field of historical or cultural scholarship
- Staff member of a publishing company or and text agency, usually with regard to scientific, historical or cultural journals
- Curator of a cultural heritage institution or in the museological sector
- Consultant for a political party
See the website http://www.ru.nl/masters/hlcs
This course entails analysing Rome in terms of its impressive legacy to become well versed in its ancient history, medieval history, art history, classical philology, archaeology, and literary theory.
Surpassed by no other city in the Western world, Rome is renowned for its overwhelmingly rich history. The city embodies an architecturally magnificent metropolis, the impressive capital of the once mighty Roman Empire. Notions of change, continuity and eternity, have played a prominent role in the historic city. What is it that makes the image of Rome so pervasive in the past, as well as the present?
Eternal Rome's Master's programme offers an in-depth examination of the city of Rome as the capital of the Roman Empire, and of the representation of the ‘idea' of Rome throughout the centuries. Eternal Rome presents a unique programme that focuses as much on the transition between ancient and medieval history as on those periods themselves. A group of specialists from the fields of ancient and medieval history teach this specialisation. Their expertise also includes study of the status of Rome beyond the Middle Ages into the Renaissance and modern times as well.
Expanding your knowledge and ideas of Rome will deepen your insight into many questions relevant for the functioning of our modern society. An in-depth specialisation like this helps our students gain critical and thorough analytical skills that broaden the future options of our history graduates. Our graduates have found employment in public relations, industrial and public service management, librarianship, archive and museum work, teaching and lecturing and journalism.
See the website http://www.ru.nl/masters/er
- Our focus on Rome is unique as the specialisation captures both the Byzantine history as well Western European developments.
- In addition to critical knowledge of Rome, you’ll also gain important skills such as being able to select, analyse and interpret pertinent historical information.
- Our staff has a wide network that includes contacts at the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome and the Netherlands Institute in Turkey. They can point you in the right direction if you want do have an internship or other opportunities in the field during your studies.
- Students may also write their Master's thesis in French, Italian, or German if that is their native tongue.
- International students looking for a semester abroad could opt for half a year in this Master’s programme, namely by following the courses in the first semester at Radboud University.
1. A completed Bachelor's degree in History or BA/MA degrees in related fields like Greek and Latin or Archaeology
2. proficiency in English
In order to take part in this programme, you need to have fluency in both written and spoken English. Non-native speakers of English without a Dutch Bachelor's degree or VWO diploma need one of the following:
- A TOEFL score of >575 (paper based) or >90 (internet based)
- An IELTS score of >6.5
- Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) or Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) with a mark of C or higher
Graduates of the Master’s specialisation in Eternal Rome are able to identify and contextualise the enduring impact of Rome, and the multiple roles of Rome as a political, religious and cultural centre. Our graduates are able to recognise how and why different users throughout the centuries have appropriated images and symbols of Rome. They are also able to analyse a historical debate and tackle a current problem related to historical developments.
The students in the programme concentrate on a very specific historical phenomenon and acquire skills that open a broad number of career options to them. Our specialisation has produced graduates that are appreciated by employers for their insight and analytical skills. They are able to delve into historical documents and extract the most useful parts. Our graduates have found employment in the following fields: public relations, industrial and public service management, librarianship, archive and museum work, teaching and lecturing and journalism.
Education and research go hand in hand at Radboud University. All of the lecturers of Eternal Rome are members of the research institute Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies (HLCS) where there is a long tradition of research on the subject of European history in a variety of fields. The focus is on 'Europe and its Worlds' and researchers are brought together in 13 thematic research groups. Research groups that are interesting and particularly relevant for Eternal Rome students are the groups The Ancient World and Radboud Medieval and Early Modern Studies that study the ‘beginnings of Europe’.
See the website http://www.ru.nl/masters/er
This MSc gives students all of the intellectual and practical skills to engage in linguistics research, either for its own sake, or as part of cross-disciplinary research.
Students graduating from our programme will understand how to analyse key data in syntax, semantics, phonology, and morphology, how to theorise such data, and how to exploit empirical methods to test their theories.
The key aims of the programme are to:
We offer a strong focus on theoretical understanding: students will learn how to analyse data in the context of current theoretical understanding of linguistic structure at all levels, drawing on the expertise of the department, which is particularly strong in theory development, and will be well placed to compare and evaluate competing proposals, both from within the same theoretical model, and from competing models. Additionally, students will acquire the necessary data-elicitation skills, and skills in naturally occurring data in corpora.
All of these skills provide a firm foundation for further PhD study, either in Linguistics or in a related discipline that makes heavy use of core Linguistics (e.g. Developmental Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, etc.).
The programme is best suited to applicants whose academic background is in Linguistics, English Language, Philology or Cognitive Science.
The programme (a total of 180 credit points) requires students without a background in Linguistics to take the following five core courses totalling 50 credits:
Students with a background in Linguistics may be exempted from any or all of the courses at the Programme Director’s discretion.
Students will also need to choose, under the guidance of the programme director, additional course options (totalling 70 credits for students with no background) from an approved list of level 11 courses; students who are exempted from any of the courses listed will have to choose courses to ensure that their total number of credits excluding the dissertation comes to 120.
It is possible for students to take up to 20 credits of their optional courses from other MSc options offered within the School subject to the Programme Director’s approval.
All students will be required to write a dissertation of approximately 8,000 words.
Students graduating from this new programme will understand how contemporary research approaches the study of language.
Students will acquire and enhance the following professional/subject-specific/practical skills:
The master’s programme in Classics and Ancient Civilizations at Leiden University covers the entire range of present-day research on the civilisations of Greece and Rome, Egypt and the Ancient Near East.
This master's programme distinguishes itself from similar programmes by consistently integrating Greek and Roman Antiquity, the world of the Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism, emerging Christianity, Egypt (ancient, antique and late-antique) and the cuneiform cultures of Ancient Mesopotamia, into their broader context. The number of specialisations on offer at Leiden University is unparalleled.
The programme makes creative use of a wide range of research methods, all of them well-represented at Leiden University. Traditional philology with its intimate knowledge of languages and texts, while still indispensable, is enriched by literary studies, cultural history, and the analysis of material culture.
At Leiden, our master’s students are considered valued members of a close-knit academic community. Small classes, regular individual mentoring, and an informal, open-door policy create an environment that is ideal for the exchange of ideas and the development of your knowledge and intellectual abilities.
An important goal of the programme is to develop your ability to conduct high-quality scientific research using a wide variety of research methods. This is a particularly exciting field in which to conduct research, with different research sources opening up the possibility of completely fresh interpretations of the past. Many students conduct field research in a country abroad, visiting excavation sites, or participate in one of our department’s own research projects including excavations at Saqqara and the Dakhla Oasis.
The Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) programme at Leiden University covers the entire range of present-day research on the civilisations of Greece and Rome, Egypt and the Ancient Near East.
The research master's programme distinguishes itself from other similar master's programmes by consistently integrating Greek and Roman Antiquity, the world of the Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism, emerging Christianity, Egypt (ancient, antique and late-antique) and the cuneiform cultures of Ancient Mesopotamia, within their broader context. The number of specialisations offered by the Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) programme is unparalleled.
The programme makes creative use of a wide range of research methods, all of them well-represented at Leiden University. Traditional philology with its intimate knowledge of languages and texts, while still indispensable, is enriched by literary studies, cultural history, and the analysis of material culture.
You will be able to tailor your study programme to your personal interests by creating your own combination of courses within the specialisation of your choice from other research master’s programmes within the Faculties of Humanities.
