POSTGRADUATE: Global Communication: Politics and Society

The Master’s programme “Global Communication: Politics and Society” is a predominantly English language consecutive degree dealing with media systems and communication cultures in international comparison.

Classical fields of research in social and political communication as well as media communication are framed in a global perspective. The Master's programme is innovative in that it considers global communication through international comparison rather than as isolated national processes. Moreover, international cross-border communication, foreign news reporting, and the globalisation of everyday environments are analysed. As a result, sensitivity for the common communicative challenges of the world is growing.

Exemplary issues and fields of application are:

• the role of media in democracies, political transitions, wars, and conflicts in different regions of the world (i.e. foreign reporting, war and crisis communication)
• the interplay between media and globalisation (i.e. information society, global entertainment culture, global public sphere)
• media developments in Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Latin America
• migration and the public sphere (i.e. hate speech, racism, intercultural communication)
• globalisation and everyday communication (i.e. communication and tourism)
• communication in Islamic-Western relations (i.e. media and stereotypes, diplomacy communication, terrorism as a communication strategy)
• global business communication (i.e. corporation networks, marketing, and culture)
• contemporary changes in media production and usage in international comparison (i.e. journalism and ethics in global perspective)

While the programme is primarily oriented towards the social sciences, it also takes approaches from the field of cultural studies into account. Besides developing academic research skills and learning quantitative and qualitative empirical methods, students will acquire knowledge of academic communication consultancy in dedicated teaching units.

The Master's programme "Global Communication: Politics and Society" prepares students to work in the professional fields of academic or commercial social research, market analysis, and media research. Moreover, students will be qualified to work in various professions in the fields of journalism, public relations, and academic communication consultancy for politics and society, for example, in government bodies, foundations, and NGOs. Due to the research-oriented specialisation, students may also choose to pursue an academic career. For this purpose, the programme provides an optional “fast track” programme for PhD students. Owing to the focus on global comparative research perspectives and consultancy skills in international contexts, the programme opens up further professional fields at home and abroad.