Master program Contemporary East Asian Studies (CEAS)

The Masters in East Asian Regional Studies is an English-language degree program with a social scientific, contemporary and interdisciplinary profile. The program offers research-focussed training for highly qualified graduates with BA degrees in political science, sociology, cultural geography or economics.
The principal focus of the MA teaching is the theoretical and problem-centered analysis of social, political and economic phenomena in East Asia, with an aim to deepening and enriching the capability of the student in assessing contemporary change, the challenges for the East Asian region and the implications of such developments for Europe. The intensive development of three specific capabilities inform the curriculum of the MA program:

(1) the methodological skills, which students bring with them from their BA programs will be deepened and applied specifically to analyses of the East Asian context,

(2) the development of regionally specific, deeper disciplinary as well as broader interdisciplinary knowledge of East Asia and

(3) development of language skills in one of two East Asian languages (Chinese and Japanese).

The structure of the MA program includes intensive language training, interdisciplinary modules focussed on Chinese and Japanese Studies as well as discipline-specific modules on Chinese and Japanese Studies. Methodological training in both regional studies and the specific disciplines is integrated into the regional and discipline specific modules.
The Masters thesis will bring together theoretical, methodological, regional and language capabilities in the form of an independent research project about a cutting-edge theme in contemporary East Asia.
Students completing the MA degree will be prepared for further study at the doctoral level or for high-level positions in politics, including political consulting, government and non-governmental think-tanks, in the economy and in international organisations where intensive knowledge of East Asia and language competency is in high demand. A doctoral course is currently in preparation for students wishing to advance to higher study.