German-Japanese study course
Heidelberg University and Kyoto University in Japan now offer a joint international Master’s in Transcultural Studies. Students in the joint Master of Arts programme will receive an MA awarded by both partners. The graduate programme is organised by the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS) and the Graduate School of Letters on the Kyoto side. Students in Heidelberg could register for the first time in autumn 2017 in order to obtain a place on the course. It is not only the first joint degree of this kind established by Kyoto University, but also the first one to be offered in Japan in the humanities and social sciences in cooperation with an international partner.
The HCTS already offers a Master in Transcultural Studies (MATS), its international variant was accredited in 2016. Now, a counterpart major at Kyoto University received its accreditation this June. The programme focuses on transcultural dynamics between and within Asia and Europe in a global context. After an introduction in basic theories and approaches, the students can select one of three study foci. The first concerns political, social and economic relations and exchange processes. The second deals with religious practices, knowledge systems and the history of ideas. The third engages transcultural processes relating to the production, description and critical reception of images, films and objects.
Students who registered for the Master‘s in Transcultural Studies at Heidelberg University in October 2017 could, for the first time, also apply for places in the joint programme. At Kyoto University this will be possible for the semester starting in April 2018. The graduate programme is in English and takes two years. The total of ten participants in each year – five students in Heidelberg and five in Kyoto – will study for a year at their home university and in the second year at the partner university. The course will conclude with a thesis, also written in English. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has made five scholarships available for the study abroad in Kyoto. As a research-oriented course, the joint Master’s in Transcultural Studies is intended to primarily train graduates for a successful career in international academia.
Heidelberg and Kyoto are founding members of the Japanese-German university consortium HeKKSaGOn, whose partners cooperate in research and teaching. Its members include the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Göttingen University, along with Tohoku University and Osaka University. Kyoto has an international office at Heidelberg, and Heidelberg likewise has an office at Kyoto University.
