Masters Degrees in Linguistics & Classics, Germany

About the programme

The Master of Arts programme in Semiotics of Texts and Culture conveys competences in linguistics, literary studies, visual culture and media semiotics. This is done under the aspect of general cultural semiotics, as the systems of signs – the shared basis of the above branches of science – require deciphering both as a singular phenomenon and in terms of their complex interrelationships. As a student, you can select subjects to create a study focus including only subjects from the field of linguistics, literary studies or semiotics, as well as specialising in the philology of a language (e.g. German or English). Moreover you will acquire additional application-oriented communication, intercultural and IT skills.

Features

– Research-oriented
– Core subjects: linguistics, literature and visual culture in their semiotic form, as well as media semiotics
– Individual focus combinations in German Studies, English Studies, Romance Studies, Slavic Studies, Literary Studies

Syllabus

The degree programme consists of three module groups and a thesis:
A) Core modules
B) Skills modules
C) Expansion modules
A) The core modules pick up on the competences in linguistics, literary studies, visual culture and media semiotics gained over the course of related Bachelor's degree studies while at the same time providing a framework for advanced scientific analysis of the research subjects of the semiotics of texts and culture. In addition, these modules impart the necessary methodological and theoretical skills for scientific research.
B) The skills modules give you the opportunity to specialise in two freely chosen subjects from:
– Language and Signs (Linguistics)
– Texts and Signs (Literary Studies)
– Signs and Symbols (Visual Culture/Art History and Media Semiotics)
C) The expansion modules allow you to develop practical skills in the area of communication studies, intercultural communication and computer science with a view to your future occupation
At the end of the Master's programme, you will write a Master's thesis on a topic derived from module group B.

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Program Brief

The LCT program is an international distributed Master program. It is designed to meet the demands of industry and research in the rapidly growing field of Language Technology. Research and innovation in Language Technology is vital for many of the smart applications that are pervasive in modern daily life, such as virtual assistants, automatic translation services, search engines, voice-driven technology, social media analytics etc. Language Technology (also known as Computational Linguistics or Natural Language Processing) is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of Linguistics, Computer Science and Mathematics (logic, probability theory, formal language theory, statistics). Hence, students in this program choose appropriate combinations of modules in Language Technology, Computational and Theoretical Linguistics, and Computer Science. Moreover, the students are able to acquire practice-oriented knowledge through our strong and continuous links with industry through internships, joint industry-academia supervisions, and the like.

Mobility

The program involves studying one year each at two different European partner universities. Optionally, a stay at one of the non-european partners for some months is possible, as well as an internship at any of our industrial partners. After completing all study requirements, the students obtain two Master degrees: one from each of the two European universities where they studied.

Study program

The course consists of compulsory core modules, as well as elective advanced modules in Language Technology and Computer Science, possibly complemented by an internship project, and completed by a Master Thesis.

 

History

The LCT Masters program has been successfully implemented since 2006, being funding by the Erasmus Mundus Programme from 2007 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2017. In 2012 the LCT Program operated as an Erasmus Mundus Brand Name. Intake 2018: the program commits to respecting the Erasmus Mundus requirements and to maintain the high quality of the implementation during the years of funding.

Key facts:

+ duration 2 years (120 ECTS credits)

+ in-depth theoretical and hands-on instruction in computational linguistics methods and technologies

+ study one year each at two different partner universities in Europe

+ double degree

+ possibility to visit one of two non-European partners for a part of the study

+ language of instruction and academic and administrative support is English

European partners:

1. Saarland University in Saarbruecken, Germany (coordinator)

2. University of Trento, Trento, Italy

3. University of Malta, Malta

4. University of Lorraine, Nancy, France

5. Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

6. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands

7. The University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko University, San Sebastian, Spain

 

Non-European partners:

8. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

9. The University of Melbourne, Australia

 Frequently Asked Questions

You can find answers to our Frequently asked questions here: https://lct-master.org/contents_2014/faq.php

Careers

The LCT program offers education and training opportunities for the next generation of leaders in research and innovation in artificial intelligence as well as language and speech technologies. Examples of jobs held by the LCT alumni include: PhD student; university professor; company founder, data scientist, software engineer, IT consultant, senior analyst, researcher, senior linguist, information extraction engineer, project leader, computational linguist, assistant professor, post-doctoral researcher. 

 

Visit the European Masters Program Language & Communication Technologies page on the University of Malta website for more details!

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