Cultural Studies explores arts and culture within their social and historical contexts. Cultural organizations, for example, are expected to work more towards their target audience, while art is used as an instrument for promoting social cohesion, and heritage tops the political agenda. Sociological and historical frameworks are used to analyze these developments.

Interdisciplinary study abroad programs focus on the analysis and critique of culture in its varied forms, including values, ideas, belief systems, and expressive acts, and the relationship between cultural forms, everyday life, and structures of power. Includes instruction in anthropology, communications, history, literary studies, philosophy, political economy, and sociology, as well as recent theories and methodologies such as semiotics, deconstruction, postcolonial studies, gender theory, and ethnography.

What are Cultural Studies programs about?

Cultural studies as an academic discipline draw principally on the fields of anthropology, education, history, law, literary studies, politics, sociology, psychology, economics, media studies and communication, philosophy, and other physical sciences.

Cultural studies degree programs examine cultures from all over the world and can combine several subject areas, including literature, sociology, history, philosophy, and media. It’s possible to study specific cultural regions, for example, African studies or American studies, and cultural studies programs are often combined with other subjects like media, sociology, or language.

You'll learn to analyze images, texts, technologies, and cultural practices in order to develop a critical view of the major challenges facing us in the globalizing world today. You’ll also develop your cultural understanding of things like gender, race, class, sexuality, and religion.

Cultural Studies program structure

Cultural studies programs are available to study abroad at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. If you study a bachelor’s, you can choose cultural studies as your major alongside general studies and other minor subjects.

Bachelor’s degrees can take three or four years to complete, depending on where you’re studying. Some programs include a placement year that allows you to work or spend a year studying abroad. Master’s programs usually take one or two years to complete, and if you want to earn a doctoral degree in cultural studies, you can study a Ph.D. over three to five years.

A lot of your contact time will be spent in lectures, tutorials, and group workshops. Most programs will also expect you to spend a lot of time doing personal study. You’ll be assessed through things like written coursework, presentations, essays, and exams, but this will vary depending on the program and individual module.

Choose the best university

According to the QS World University Rankings by Subject, one of the best universities for studying this program are Leiden University , University College London, and University of Essex. All these universities offer very high-quality education, as well as guaranteed employment. Excellent students are provided with scholarships and other types of funding.

Career after graduation

Cultural Studies majors often seek employment in the following areas:

• Arts and Cultural Institutions.

• Government Agencies and Institutions.

• Media Organizations.

• Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's)

• Non-Profit Agencies.

• Museums.

• Organizations that address cultural safety, diversity and oppression.