European Master: Global Studies – A European Perspective

The degree Master of Arts certified by the master certificates of this program ("Master-Urkunde") entitles the holders to the legally protected professional title "Master of Arts". In addition to the master certificates the graduates receive a consortiums' certificate of successful completion of the master course, a transcript of records, an examination certificate and a diploma supplement. All the final documents of the master course are issued both in English and in German.

The Master course is an interdisciplinary program combining different disciplines of Social Sciences and Humanities e.g. Global History, Political Sciences, Economics, Cultural Studies and Area Studies.

The course is divided into different modules. Within each module students are supposed to select 2-3 courses from approx. 5 courses offered. Altogether the program includes 10 modules at each study place. 

Example for Leipzig:

1st Semester: Students attend courses within three introduction modules (Introduction to Global History, Introduction to Socio-scientific Theories of Globalisation Research, Introduction to Methods of Globalisation Research).

2nd Semester: Students chose courses within two of the interdisciplinary, regionally orientated modules (Globalisation in Africa South of the Sahara, Globalisation in America, Globalisation in Asia, Globalisation in Europe, Globalisation in the Middle East). Students also attend a research colloquium and a summer school.

3rd Semester: Students choose two of the interdisciplinary, regionally orientated modules (Globalisation in Africa South of the Sahara, Globalisation in America, Globalisation in Asia, Globalisation in Europe, Globalisation in the Middle East). Students attend a research colloquium.

4th Semester: Students attend two further modules (Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation, Economic and Political Dimensions of Globalisation) and a research colloquium. Students complete their master thesis.

Each student graduating in the program needs to collect 120 ECTS during the entire two years study period. To collect these credits students need to attend the required classes as well as to hold presentations, to submit essays and a Master thesis (28,000 words).

Approx. 70% of the courses are offered in English and 30% in German.

Currently exactly 100 students are enrolled in the program. The students are coming from all over the world. All of them do hold at least a BA degree (or a recognized equivalent) in the field of the Social Sciences or Humanities. 

As the Master program stresses the common, though differentiated debate of globalisation effects, it contributes to Europe's socio-economic and cultural cohesion, particularly since dealing with the consequences of globalisation will become a major task of Europe's future elites and will characterise their conceptions to elites outside Europe. ‘Global Studies' thus prepares young scholars not only for an academic career, but also for a variety of job opportunities in academia and elsewhere in an increasingly deterritorialised world (e.g. in cross-national and supranational agencies, non-governmental organisations, as intercultural mediators or in the field of development cooperation, economy and management.

Since the first cohort of the Master program graduated on September 30, 2007, currently only a few data on the career is available. But indeed some students started a PhD program and some of them are working in the Foreign Service in their home countries while others entered international governmental or nongovernmental organizations.

“Global Studies - A European Perspective” is an interdisciplinary and international Master course offered to excellent students by a consortium of four European universities (the University of Leipzig, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Vienna and the University of Wroclaw). It is supported by the European Commission with a generous grant scheme for non-European students and a mobility scheme which links the consortium to four non-European partners (the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Stellenbosch, Macquarie University at Sydney, the University of Dalhousie). English and German are the main languages of instruction.

The University of Leipzig has a long tradition in global oriented and culturally comparative historical research and third-level teaching. Several international research groups and PhD programs at the Centre for Advanced Study where the MA in Global Studies is located do research on the following topics:

• The role of space and the spatialization of social and cultural processes
• Cultural comparisons and global interaction
• Institutions in the modern age
• The mechanisms of communication

The Economic History Department at the LSE is home to by far the largest group of researchers in economic history in the UK and probably the world. The composition and international diversity of its staff, academic visitors and research students mean that its interests range from the medieval period to the current century, from Latin America to China via Africa and Europe, from questions about the institutions of economic change to ones on technology and finance, and from the history of economic ideas and policy to the measurement of past human well-being and explanations for global trade patterns. The fruits of the research have been used by international agencies, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, government departments and local communities.

At the University of Vienna there has been, for many years, a conscious effort to advance global historical themes within the Humanities and Cultural Studies. The main focus of attention in relation to the area of “Global History” has, in the organisational as well as the conceptual sense, been influenced by the discipline of History. Since 2002 there has been a definite sense of cooperation at the University of Vienna between "Global History" and the well established "Area Studies" such as African, Japanese, Chinese, Oriental, Southern Asien, Tibet and Buddist Studies, but also with Human Geography. This academic exchange has continually intensified over the last few years and has exhibited itself in the publication series "Edition Weltregionen" and "Edition Weltgeschichte" (World history).

The European Studies Centre at the University of Wroclaw coordinates the activities of academics from various institutes and faculties in the Humanities with the stated aim of strengthening the internationalization of teaching forms and content and increasing students’ mobility. Present research projects investigate the transformation of Eastern and Central European states since 1989/1990, as well as general processes of transnationalization. The Cultural Studies approach of the Centre is complemented by analysis from Political Science and Economic History. In a short space of time the ‘Willy Brandt Centre' has put in place various networks of communication with different European universities. It has achieved this through research projects on the European politics of memory, the problem of borders, cultural communication in border areas, and migration, especially forced migration in the twentieth century, with its connected problems of social structure and integration in the society of countries from which people were expelled, and into which they fled.

The European Master “Global Studies – A European Perspective” is partially financed through the Erasmus Mundus program of the EU. The Master course is offered by four European universities (University of Leipzig, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Vienna and University of Wroclaw) and holds intensive partnerships to the University of Santa Barbara (USA), Dalhousie University (Canada), Macquarie University (Australia) and Stellenbosch University (South Africa).  As above described it is based in independent programs with faculty and curriculum at all four participating universities.

The program can be studied for one year at one of the Consortium’s universies (London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Vienna, University of Wroclaw) and for the second year at a different university.  Futhermore the European students have the possibility to study one semester at one of the non-European partner universities of the Consortium (the University of California in Santa-Barbara, the University of Stellenbosch, the Macquarie University in Sydney, the University of Dalhousie).  

Centre for Advanced Study

University of Leipzig

Emil-Fuchs-Str. 1

04105 Leipzig 

Germany