Empires and Transcontinental Spaces (M.A.)
Explore the world in all its complexity and widen your horizons in the Master’s degree program Empires and Transcontinental Spaces. Stays abroad allow you to gather practical experience and delve into transatlantic, transpacific and European-Asian relations. The interdisciplinary program leads to exciting career opening. Become part of a global community that critically questions and shapes the history and future of the world.
Please note: Application will be discontinued for the summer semester 2025. Course offerings will continue for enrolled students.
Fact Sheet
- Degree
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Admission
- Qualification assessment
- Duration of studies
- 4 semesters
- Teaching language
- German and English
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology
- Start of degree program
- Degree program has been discontinued; enrollment is no longer possible.
- Number of students
- 1-50
- Special features
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Special features of the degree program:
- Interdisciplinary team teaching in the profile modules (modules 8 – 13), i.e. seminars are offered by lecturers from at least two disciplines
- Research stays focusing on fieldwork in Germany and abroad (tailored to the student’s research interests)
- Intensive teaching of key academic skills such as academic writing and academic speaking
- Acquisition of skills in knowledge management and organization
Program overview
What is the degree program about?
Master’s degree program in Empires and Transcontinental Spaces is an interdisciplinary degree program offered by the departments of American Studies, Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies, and Modern and Contemporary History.
The degree program focuses on taking a critical approach to topics such as populism, nationalism, regionalism, fluctuating international-geopolitical power relations and global threat scenarios such as climate change and terrorism as well as the connected societal challenges such as refugees and migration.
The Master’s degree program conveys a broad knowledge of the densely woven historical relations in transcontinental (Europe-Asia, transpacific and transatlantic) spaces required in order to understand the origins of global problems and explore and discuss sustainable long-term strategies.
A central element of the degree program Empires and Transcontinental Spaces is its interdisciplinary and integrative approach. The Master’s degree program combines methods from area studies with those from history and cultural studies, and explicitly focuses on research.
1st year of study:
- Foundation modules on the history of North America, East Asia and Europe
- Academic work and writing in English and German
- Independently organizing a workshop or an excursion (skills in knowledge management)
2nd year of study:
- Interdisciplinary seminars in the chosen area of specialization: Transatlantic, transpacific or Europe-Asia
- Four week long research stay either in Germany or abroad (see website for partners)
- Compulsory elective modules from subjects such as philosophy and the Master’s degree program in Development Economics and International Studies
The master’s degree program is aimed at Bachelor’s graduates in history, cultural studies and political science, as well as students with a degree in area studies (American Studies, English Studies, Japanese Studies, Sinology, Slavic Studies, or related disciplines).
Possible fields of work:
- Mass media, journalism and specialist journalism
- Consulting in the areas of politics and culture
- Political foundations, international institutions and NGO’s
- History marketing and storytelling agencies, cultural institutions and cultural sponsoring
- Doctoral degree
Application for a Degree Program
Admission Requirements and Application
Admission
- Master: Qualification assessment
Language skills
- Proficiency in English (B2) and one further modern language (for example Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish) at level B2 of the Common Framework of Reference for Languages. If applicants have not completed a degree or their final school leaving examination qualifying for university entrance in German, they must prove that they are proficient in German, at least to level DSH2.
- German language skills for international applicants: DSH 2 (written 2 / oral 1) or equivalent
Content related master requirements
In order to be admitted to the Master’s degree program in Empire and Transcontinental Spaces, student must have completed a subject-specific or subject-related undergraduate degree.
Subject-specific degrees are degrees in history, cultural studies, political science or area studies (in particular Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies and other degrees related to Asia, English Studies, American Studies, Slavonic Studies or related disciplines). Subject-related degrees are in particular two-subject and three-subject Bachelor’s degrees, Diplom degrees, degrees from universities of applied sciences and international degrees in the above-mentioned areas, provided they include at least 40 ECTS credits from one of the involved disciplines. Applicants with a degree graded 2.50 or above are admitted directly to the Master’s degree program. Applicants with an overall grade of 2.51 to 3.00 are only admitted after successfully completing a selection interview.
Detailed information on the admission requirements can be found in the degree program and examination regulations for the Master’s degree program Empires and Transcontinental Spaces and in the General Degree Program and Examination Regulations for the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology.
