Masters degrees in German Society & Culture examine the socioeconomic and cultural institutions, practices and customs which originate from, or are related to, Germany.
Related postgraduate specialisms include German Studies, and European Culture and Thought. Entry requirements typically include an undergraduate degree in an appropriate subject, such as Cultural Studies or Languages and Literature.
The German History pathway of the MA in Language, Culture and History allows students to investigate in depth the rich, diverse traditions and violent upheavals of German and Austrian history. Drawing on the expertise of an unparalleled range of specialists at UCL, this programme provides a foundation for understanding some of the most important junctures and developments of the modern era.
The MA offers students the opportunity to explore a range of aspects of German history, and gives students a grounding in one of the principal areas of modern history, essential for an understanding of contemporary Europe and its past. Text-based language teaching is available for students wishing to develop their linguistic skills.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. The programme offers two pathways: taught and research.
Taught: one core cross-language module (30 credits), three optional modules (90 credits), and a dissertation (60 credits). Research: one core cross-language module (30 credits), two taught modules (60 credits), and a research dissertation (90 credits).
A Postgraduate Diploma, one core module (30 credits), three optional modules (90 credits), full-time nine months or part-time two years, is offered.
A Postgraduate Certificate, one core module (30 credits), one optional module (30 credits), full-time three months, part-time six months, is offered.
Core module
The core Language, Culture and History module permits research into two areas of major contemporary interest, such as:
Optional modules
Students choose from a range of optional modules on topics such as the following:
Dissertation/report
All MA students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of12,000 words (taught pathway) or 18,000 words (research pathway).
Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials. Formal teaching occurs in the first two terms and the third term is devoted to revision sessions, examinations and detailed supervision of the dissertation project. Student performance is assessed through coursework essays, a dissertation, and unseen written examinations.
Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: Language, Culture and History: German History MA
The degree offers a graduate qualification in its own right, as well as serving as a pathway towards doctoral research in the field of German and European history. Many students progress from one of our MA programmes to an MPhil or PhD research degree.
Employability
With their specialist knowledge and language skills, German Master's graduates can be found in business, finance, the media, international agencies, teaching and academia.
UCL is ranked third in the UK for Modern Languages in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017.
UCL's central location offers students easy access to excellent resources, including the British Library, the Institute for Germanic Studies, the German Historical Institute and the Institute of Historical Research.
The cultural offerings of the Goethe-Institut, the Austrian Institute, and a wealth of exhibitions, films and theatrical performances are all nearby.
The Research Excellence Framework, or REF, is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. The 2014 REF was carried out by the UK's higher education funding bodies, and the results used to allocate research funding from 2015/16.
The following REF score was awarded to the department: School of European Languages, Culture & Society
74% rated 4* (‘world-leading’) or 3* (‘internationally excellent’)
Learn more about the scope of UCL's research, and browse case studies, on our Research Impact website.
The German Studies pathway of the MA in Language, Culture and History offers a wide range of modules covering many aspects of German language, culture and history. This highly flexible programme allows students from a diversity of backgrounds to pursue topics in more depth, to acquire new areas of interdisciplinary expertise and to enhance their German language skills.
This MA enables further exploration of aspects of German literature, culture, history, politics, and social and political thought, within an explicitly thematic and theoretical framework. Students can specialise in particular areas of interest through the optional modules. Text-based language teaching is available for students wishing to develop their linguistic skills.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. The programme offers two pathways: taught and research.
Taught: one core cross-language module (30 credits), three optional modules (90 credits), and a dissertation (60 credits). Research: one core cross-language module (30 credits), two taught modules (60 credits), and a research dissertation (90 credits).
A Postgraduate Diploma, one core module (30 credits), three optional modules (90 credits), full-time nine months or part-time two years, is offered.
A Postgraduate Certificate, one core module (30 credits), one optional module (30 credits), full-time three months, part-time six months, is offered.
Core module
Optional modules
Students choose from a range of optional modules on topics such as the following:
Dissertation/report
All students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a 60-credit dissertation of 12,000 words, or a 90-credit dissertation of 18,000 words.
Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials. Formal teaching occurs in the first two terms and the third term is devoted to revision sessions, examinations and detailed supervision of the dissertation project. Student performance is assessed through coursework essays, a dissertation, and unseen written examinations.
Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: Language, Culture and History: German Studies MA
The MA provides an excellent foundation year for subsequent doctoral research in all areas of the department's research specialisms. Many students progress from one of our MA programmes to an MPhil or PhD research degree.
Employability
With their specialist knowledge and language skills, German Master's graduates can be found in business, finance, the media, international agencies, teaching and academia.
UCL is ranked third in the UK for Modern Languages in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017.
UCL's central location offers students easy access to excellent resources, including the British Library, the Institute for Germanic Studies, the German Historical Institute and the Institute of Historical Research. The cultural offerings of the Goethe Institut, the Austrian Institute, and a wealth of exhibitions, films and theatrical performances are all nearby.
The Research Excellence Framework, or REF, is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. The 2014 REF was carried out by the UK's higher education funding bodies, and the results used to allocate research funding from 2015/16.
The following REF score was awarded to the department: School of European Languages, Culture & Society
74% rated 4* (‘world-leading’) or 3* (‘internationally excellent’)
Learn more about the scope of UCL's research, and browse case studies, on our Research Impact website.
The Haifa Center for German and European Studies (HCGES) is a joint venture of the University of Haifa and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD – Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst). HCGES was founded in 2007 with the goal of exposing students, researchers, and the community at large to a rich spectrum of topics related to modern Europe, and Germany in particular, since 1945.
The international Master of Arts program in German and European Studies at the University of Haifa is being launched as part of the teaching activities of the HCGES. The MA program is designed to acquaint students with topics related to Germany and Europe, highlighting Jewish and Israeli perspectives as well as the relationship between the Middle East and Europe. The program is interdisciplinary and allows students to approach German and European studies from a variety of angles while providing students with the opportunity to engage with other departments for a well-rounded education.
The MA program in German and European Studies aims to deepen students’ knowledge of Germany, Europe, and the European Union. The program is structured using the “area studies” model and offers a challenging and unique interdisciplinary curriculum that combines many fields of study including economics, law, political science, geography, environmental studies, sociology, history and literature. In addition to the core curriculum, students in the program acquire a strong command of the German language by studying 4-8 language hours per week. The program is available in two tracks: a thesis track and a non-thesis track. Students have the option to complete the program in one or two calendar years.
The program also includes an optional, though highly recommended, study tour to Germany and other European countries. The study tour is built around a chosen theme which changes every year. During the study tour, students visit EU institutions as well as other sites relevant to their studies. The cost of the study tour is not included in the program tuition.
For full curriculum please visit here.
Graduates of the program will be well placed to pursue career paths in cultural institutions, Europe-related NGOs, museums, galleries and places of learning, as well as other points of contact between Israeli and European countries.
Required Courses
Elective Courses (the list changes every academic year)
For more details on the current program curriculum, please visit here.
The Haifa Centre for German and European Studies is directed by Professor Eli Salzberger and includes staff with a number of subject-related area specializations. Also at the faculty is Winfried Schumacher who is our German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) lecturer at University of Haifa. He teaches language and additional culture and media courses at the Center for German and European Studies. He is also responsible for consulting students and researchers for the DAAD in Haifa and at the Goethe Institut in Tel Aviv.
For the full list of faculty staff please click here.
The program offers 15 DAAD scholarships annually, which covers tuition fees (around 14.000 NIS for the two years track and 27.000 NIS for the one year track). To obtain more information on DAAD scholarships and on how to apply, please click here. You can also visit the HCGES website for more information on scholarships.
This program is now eligible for Masa scholarship. For more scholarship information please visit the International school's Scholarships page.
What critical role do artists, philosophers, writers and poets play in today’s society? What is the point of art in public spaces? What can your role as a future student of culture mean to society? If you are passionate about such issues, the master’s programme in Art, Literature and Society could be the programme for you. The programme is aimed at critical and creative thinkers who have a large array of interests. As a graduate of this programme, you will have broad insights into modern day questions of national and international importance. You will also have experience conducting incisive debates and will be able to contribute to contemporary discussions surrounding art and literature.
You can choose to follow this programme completely in English or completely in Dutch.You will get an MA in Arts and Culture with a specialisation in Art, Literature and Society.
Why this programme?
The master Art, Literature and Society addresses contemporary debates in literature, art, religion, philosophy and culture. The key term here is interdisciplinarity: you learn to approach debates not as a philosopher, student of literature, sociologist or art historian, but rather as a student of culture who can combine different approaches from all of these various disciplines.
You will use interdisciplinary insights to debate issues such as:
The debates and discussions you will have during the programme, as well as the lectures and skills trainings, will help you:
You’ll develop a critical understanding of the most important current issues and controversies within Germanic Studies.
You choose one specialised area within the general field of Germanic Studies (for instance German politics, 19th and 20th-century German and Dutch literature, German thought, German and Dutch linguistics or Luxembourg studies).
This focus helps you develop in-depth knowledge and the capacity for independent investigation and critical analysis.
If you’re sure you don’t want to progress to a PhD, choose this course. It has a shorter dissertation and a greater proportion of coursework than the research track.
You’ll study in a lively, sociable and intellectually stimulating environment. We’re part of the School of Languages and Cultures. We have nine permanent academics, a DAAD Lektor, an Österreich-Kooperation Lektor, and numerous language assistants and research associates. Our teaching is informed by new developments in the field and by our strong interdisciplinary outlook.
Your degree is rooted in our long and distinguished history of research. Our expertise spans Germanic languages, literature and society from the Enlightenment to the present day. Our research is world-leading and internationally recognised.
Fortnightly research seminars bring together students, departmental staff and visiting academics from the UK and abroad.
We’re based in modern premises at the heart of the University campus. Shared with the School of Languages and Cultures, English and History, the building is designed with student needs in mind, and features modern flexible learning, teaching and research spaces.
Our library has a wide range of materials, including major collections in modern literary, cultural and social studies, nineteenth-century German studies, contemporary German theatre and drama, Germanic linguistics, Dutch studies and Luxembourg studies.
Your course will train you in the techniques you need to prepare, write and present your work. You’ll also learn about research principles and ethics, interview techniques, formulating professional applications and the academic job market.
For information about funding opportunities for postgraduate study, please visit our website.
Choose either the Research Track or the Programme Track, depending on your future plans. Each can last one year (full-time study) or two years (part-time study).
Within Approaches to Germanic Studies I or II, choose from:
Teaching takes place through small group seminars (on average two to three students) and one-on-one supervisions. Assessment depends on the module.
You’ll develop a critical understanding of the most important current issues and controversies within Germanic Studies.
This course will prepare you for doctoral research and improves your chances of obtaining funding from the AHRC and other funding bodies.
You’ll study in a lively, sociable and intellectually stimulating environment. We’re part of the School of Languages and Cultures. We have nine permanent academics, a DAAD Lektor, an Österreich-Kooperation Lektor, and numerous language assistants and research associates. Our teaching is informed by new developments in the field and by our strong interdisciplinary outlook.
Your degree is rooted in our long and distinguished history of research. Our expertise spans Germanic languages, literature and society from the Enlightenment to the present day. Our research is world-leading and internationally recognised.
Fortnightly research seminars bring together students, departmental staff and visiting academics from the UK and abroad.
We’re based in modern premises at the heart of the University campus. Shared with the School of Languages and Cultures, English and History, the building is designed with student needs in mind, and features modern flexible learning, teaching and research spaces.
Our library has a wide range of materials, including major collections in modern literary, cultural and social studies, nineteenth-century German studies, contemporary German theatre and drama, Germanic linguistics, Dutch studies and Luxembourg studies.
Your course will train you in the techniques you need to prepare, write and present your work. You’ll also learn about research principles and ethics, interview techniques, formulating professional applications and the academic job market.
For information about funding opportunities for postgraduate study, please visit our website.
Choose either the Research Track or the Programme Track, depending on your future plans. Each can last one year (full-time study) or two years (part-time study).
Within Approaches to Germanic Studies I or II, choose from:
Teaching takes place through small group seminars (on average two to three students) and one-on-one supervisions. Assessment depends on the module.
Research Methods in Modern Languages is assessed by two 1,500-word reviews of texts in your chosen area, as if for publication in a suitable journal (including initial draft, revisions, adapting to journal house style and copy-editing).
Approaches to Germanic Studies is assessed by a 3,000-word essay. Research Colloquium is assessed by a presentation and participants are required to actively participate in the organisation of the colloquium. Your final dissertation will be 18,000–20,000 words for 90 credits.
Our research staff are experts in German literature, culture, film and history; their research and teaching both include, and move beyond, the more traditional areas of German studies, making Royal Holloway an ideal place to study for a postgraduate degree in German.
This degree enables you to independently explore your area of interest in real depth, it can also provide you with the chance to test or try out an area of study in preparation for doctoral study. Whilst you will be working independently, you won’t be alone, you will receive specialist one-to-one tuition throughout your degree. You will work closely with your specialist supervisor, or supervisors, to develop a clearly defined research topic and complete a 30,000-40,000 word dissertation.
You will be part of our research-led environment in which academic staff are working at the frontiers of their subjects. The breadth of our teaching and research expertise means that we are able to provide the latest thinking, expert support and intellectual challenges. Our cutting-edge work ranges from the medieval to the 21st century and spans literature, cinema, thought and the visual arts. We offer postgraduate supervision by scholars of national and international standing in a large range of fields from the 18th to the 21st century, with emphasis on the Enlightenment and Goethe (including gender and political issues), realism and 19th-century women’s literature, film and literature in the Weimar Republic, Modernism and the European avantgarde, Austrian literature, post-war German cinema, contemporary women’s literature and gender studies. Our academics would be pleased to hear from anyone interested in postgraduate research in their areas of expertise.
In addition to your dissertation you will undertake a taught course designed to equip you with an array of theoretical and historical approaches to the study of literature, art and culture. This will enable you to articulate, refine and persistently test your own approach to your chosen topic within this broader theoretical and methodological framework. You will also have access to skills training and enjoy the additional support of a dedicated Research Advisor.
Theories of Literature and Visual Culture
This module is taught across two terms. It provides you with knowledge of a range of historical and modern theoretical approaches to the study of literature and the visual arts. It refines your theoretical understanding and provides you with the methodological tools needed to proceed to PhD research if you so wish.
Dissertation
You will write a 30-40,000 word dissertation on a subject of your choice, receiving one-to-one support from your supervisor.
Theories of Literature and Visual Culture is assessed by an essay and presentation.
The dissertation is examined by a Visiting Examiner and includes a viva voce.
On graduating you will have a proven ability to undertake focused research, improved your written and oral presentation skills, and honed skills in critical analysis. In addition, you will have an understanding and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights in literature, film, cultural studies or the visual arts. All of the these skills will be appealing to employers and enable you to pursue your chosen career. Alternatively, you will also be in a strong position to continue onto doctoral study, having demonstrated that you have the self direction, originality and initiative required.
In recent years a number of our Modern Languages, Literature and Culture postgraduates have gone on to successful academic careers both in Britain and internationally in the fields of modern languages, critical theory and film.
Postgraduates have also embarked upon many interesting and successful careers outside academia – in the UK, continental Europe and the United States – including journalism at The Independent, work for NGOs, trade sales, publishing, professional translating, teaching, opera direction, museum curatorship, creative arts, and librarianship.
Building on a long tradition of successful cultural sciences education in Lüneburg, the Masters degree in Culture, Arts and Media opens an interdisciplinary dialogue with various humanities and social science disciplines. Students will have the opportunity to explore the full complexity of a research question, to understand its historical context and to formulate new answers through the interplay of various different perspectives. Early on, the programme gives students the opportunity to concentrate on their own topics and to pursue independent projects.
Application is extended until 31 August
One of the University’s larger modern language subject areas, German has earned its place as a significant centre for research, with half of our research ranked as internationally excellent or world leading in the latest Research Assessment Exercise.
The size of our graduate school means we are able to support a broad range of German and Austrian cultural and literary research themes, from the medieval period to the present.
Current interests include:
We promote the connection between language and culture through a number of extracurricular programmes, both formal and informal.
You will have the opportunity to take part in our annual play, which is commonly a collaborative effort with a noted German author or playwright.
We organise regular film nights, followed by Stammtisch, and gallery visits are also offered.
We maintain close links with the Scottish arm of the Goethe Institut and the Edinburgh German Circle, which both provide opportunities to make contacts and socialise with the city’s sizeable German community.
Testament to our breadth of research expertise and lively graduate school community, our RAE ranking also reflects world-class resources (such as our well-stocked libraries and the expansive Karin McPherson collection of GDR writing) and commitment to publishing, most notably through our production of the esteemed Edinburgh German Yearbook.
This programme will introduce you to the intrinsic complexities of the history of Anglo-German cultural relations since the late eighteenth century, and the current practices of cultural exchange between the two countries. The programme will offer you a unique opportunity to engage with practitioners from the media, publishing and cultural organisations and familiarize you with theoretical, critical and methodological questions in the field of cultural transfer. We aim to engage you in reflecting on the development and significance of Anglo-German cultural relations, analysing history and current practice.
The core course focuses on the theory and practice of cultural transfers and brings students into contact with representatives of cultural institutions working in this field, through work experience placements. It will make students aware of how to build on and deepen the skills and knowledge gained as undergraduates when analysing and assessing the various aspects of cultural transfers, such as the significance of translation relations, or patterns of mutual perception since 1800.
Theory and Practice of Anglo-German - Cultural Transfers
(choose two of the four)
• Anglo-German Travel Writing
• In pursuit of prejudice?
• Thinking Translation
• The Rise and Fall of the Hero(ine)
All modules will be assessed through essays in English or German:
For the core course, you will be expected to produce 2,000 words on research methodology, plus two 3,000-word essays.
You will also produce a 4,000-word essay for each of your other two modules. Your final dissertation will be between 10,000 and 12,000 words.
This MA will enable you to have a career in intercultural relations, be it with the media (print and digital), publishing, cultural institutions, translation, and/or (non-) political cultural organisations. It will provide you with intellectual and analytical skills which you can apply in further research towards PhD and an academic career.
Join one of our 16 International English-language Master’s programs at the University of Haifa
