Course content and focus areas
The master’s program in Scandinavian Studies is designed for graduates of the bachelor’s programs in Scandinavian Studies (major) or Empirical Linguistics with a focus on Scandinavian languages (major) at Goethe University, as well as graduates of comparable programs, provided they have the required language skills (see below).
The master’s program builds on the academic knowledge acquired during the bachelor’s degree in Older and Modern Scandinavian Studies. It is philological and literary in focus, incorporating cultural studies issues and methodologies. The program covers the modern North Germanic languages—Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic—and their historical predecessors, as well as texts written in these languages, their historical and cultural contexts, the history of their reception, and the history of science in Scandinavian Studies. Students can choose between three areas of focus:
The philological focus emphasizes literary and linguistic questions and methods in both Older and Modern Scandinavian Studies, while also incorporating other philologies.
The medieval focus centers on Older Scandinavian Studies, which covers the period from the beginnings to the end of the Middle Ages.
The modern focus is based on Modern Scandinavian Studies, which spans the period from the Reformation to the present day.
The master’s program in Scandinavian Studies offers a theoretically grounded education aligned with current research and the concept of research-based learning. It systematically builds on the knowledge acquired during your bachelor’s degree and expands it to enable you to participate in research-oriented projects and develop your own contributions to research. We place particular importance on perfecting language skills, and a study visit to a Scandinavian university can play a key role in achieving this. The program’s educational goals include mastering one continental Scandinavian language with excellence in both spoken and written communication, acquiring strong passive knowledge of the other Nordic languages, including their historical forms, and gaining a broad understanding of Scandinavian literatures within the context of culture, history, and society.
The master’s program in Scandinavian Studies prepares you for a doctorate and an academic career, as well as for demanding professional roles in fields such as media, cultural work (theater, museums, adult education centers, etc.), academic institutions in Germany and abroad, publishing, tourism, and more. Since the program emphasizes text, research, and foreign language skills, we recommend that you further enhance your qualifications for your professional goals through hands-on training such as internships and traineeships.