European Studies at Aarhus University

Lisanne Wilken

The Department of European Studies offers two different multi-disciplinary programmes in European Studies: a one year Supplementary Subject on undergraduate level open to students who have completed 1½ years of bachelor studies in either the Humanities or the Social Sciences, and a two years Master’s Programme open to students who have completed a relevant bachelor degree in the Humanities or the Social Sciences. Both programmes are taught in English and aim at providing students with qualifications and competences that will enable them to pursue an academic career either in the university sector or in international or intercultural enterprises and organisations.

The one year Supplementary Subject which is part of a bachelor degree is particularly relevant for students who either wish to prepare for a career in international organisations or who want to add knowledge about Europe combined with intercultural competences to their education.

The aim of the programme is to give students an understanding of European affairs with particular emphasis on cooperation and integration. Through participation in the international and intercultural study environment at European Studies, students will achieve academic qualifications and skills in relation to understanding and analysing political, cultural and historical problems of European relevance and at the same time they will become familiar with interdisciplinary working methods, team-building techniques and negotiation techniques.

The two year Master’s Programme aims at giving students a broad knowledge about European affairs and to work with this knowledge in relation to themes and projects. The programme is based on theories and thinking from the Humanities and of the ‘softer’ end of the Social Sciences introducing students to cultural and political aspects of European affairs.

In two different aspects the Master’s programme in European studies at the University of Aarhus is unique among European studies programmes. One is that we combine perspectives taken from the humanities and the social sciences; this gives our programme a more ‘sociological’ approach than you will find in programmes that strictly place themselves in the humanities tradition, and a more ‘humanistic outlook’ than you will find in programmes that place themselves strictly in the political science tradition. Another is that we pay particular attention to teamwork, project work and intercultural cooperation. During the Master’s Programme there will be a lot of working-together across disciplinary and national lines, which we believe enhances intercultural competences, team-building skills and interdisciplinary analytical work.