The Global Studies Programme (GSP) is a two-year Master's degree programme in Social Sciences. The programme is jointly organized by Albert-Ludwigs-University (Freiburg), Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), FLACSO Argentina (Buenos Aires), Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi) and University of Cape Town (Cape Town). Students from around the world study at three of the five universities and learn to approach the world and globalization from various regional perspectives and disciplines.

Master

The GSP builds its curriculum upon two dimensions which both widen and deepen the academic training of the students. On one level, students reflect upon globalization processes, their meaning, causes and consequences through four modules. Each module sheds light on different theoretical and empirical aspects of globalisation, stemming from different fields of the Social Sciences. This contributes to the systematic analysis of globalisation within a rich, cross-disciplinary framework.

On another level, these four modules are integrated with the different approaches and views on globalisation from five campuses: Albert-Ludwigs-University (Freiburg), Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), FLACSO Argentina (Buenos Aires), Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi) and University of Cape Town (Cape Town). The programme thereby creates space for comparative and dialogical forms of scientific inquiry and academic cooperation. In this way, the GSP deals not only with the current social science research agenda worldwide, but also bridges the gap between academic inquiry and the contemporary real world by sending the students abroad.

Consequently, the transdisciplinary coherence of the Global Studies Programme does not arise from a misunderstood interdisciplinary dialogue between different social scientific subjects. On the contrary, unlike a neokantian understanding of the social sciences would suppose, it rather comes from a realist understanding of the selected real objects of research which are the conflictual cultural and societal experiences of globalization processes in different world regions:

1. Processes of globalization which appear in different conceptual maps seen from the North, the South and the East (module 1: Globalization)
2. Structures and institutions of a hierarchical world-system whose macrodynamics generate the scope for decentralized actors and structures of action (module 2: Global Governance)
3. Scientific and everyday world views and identities in which violent ethnic, political and religious answers to cultural or economic homogenization and geographical distribution are mirrored, as well as the search for a fair world order (module 3: Cultural Change)
4. Interdisciplinary mixed methods of inquiry which are required to decode these processes (4: Methodology)

Application: Master of Social Sciences

To apply for the Global Studies Programme – a two-year Master degree programme in Social Sciences – you need the following documents:

1. Application form. Please use our application form (pdf-file).
2. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
3. Motivation letter: Essay (approximately 1200 words)
4. Copy of passport (1 page)
5. Certified proof of your Bachelor of Arts and other relevant testimonials for the programme mentioned in your CV
6. Certificate of English language
7. Two letters of recommendation.