Studienbüro der Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät

MASTER'S DEGREE PORGRAMME IN SOCIOLOGY

PROGRAMME

The aim of this master's degree programme is to teach students in-depth specialised knowledge and give them the ability to master the core elements of the subject and apply basic theories and methods. The well-founded knowledge imparted about sociology and its theories and methods aims to enable students to independently formulate sociological questions to guide their research, analyse social structures and processes and thereby understand social issues.

It is about a research-oriented master´s degree programme. Therefore all students get the opportunity to design and work on their own research project in a two-term training research project class.

Besides the methods of empirical social research, the content of the programme will focus on:

  • (Historical)-comparative sociology and its topics and methods
  • Labour and industrial sociology, sociology of the labour market, educational sociology and analysis of the social structures of modern societies
  • Political sociology and sociology of the welfare-state
  • Cultural sociology, particularly research in migration and religion

The courses are taught in German language and a sufficient German language proficiency is required latest by matriculation. A matriculation without a proof of language proficiency is not possible.

JOB PERSPECTIVES

The degree opens doors to an academic career and facilitates entry into various professions, such as press, mass media, public relations, work for associations, in further education and extracurricular youth education and the youth welfare sector, in the field of public administration on the national, regional and local levels and in the human resources sector at companies and organisations.

In addition to the subject-related knowledge, students in this Master's degree programme will learn competencies that qualify them for admission to doctoral degree programmes.

STRUCTURE OF THE MASTER'S PROGRAMME

The degree programme starts in the summer and winter semester. The standard period of study is four semesters. Students enrolling in this Master's degree programme can select between an exclusive major in sociology or combine sociology with another subject. Please observe the admission requirements for module packages stipulated in the Examination Regulations for the respective subject.
Further information on elective module packages (German)

The course of studies comprises 120 credits distributed over 4 semesters as follows:
a) 78 credits for the major:
Sociology comprising 78 credits or sociology comprising 42 credits in combination with an admissible module package outside the major comprising 36 credits
b) 12 credits for the key competencies
c) 30 credits for the master's thesis.

This Master's degree programme is suited for part-time study. This applies when a specialised major is combined with an admissible module package outside the major subject.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Applicants must have a bachelor‘s or equivalent degree in sociology or a closely related field. For studies not yet completed at the time of application, a minimum of 150 credits (ECTS points) is required. For further information, please refer to the Application for the Master`s Degree Programme Website.

Formal requirements are as follows:

  • at least 50 C in sociology (including at least: 9 C in sociological theory + 9 C in analysis of the social structures of modern societies + 9 C in empirical social research);
  • applicants whose native language is not German must show proof of German language proficiency (e.g DSH-2, TestDaF (4x4) or telc C1 till matriculation (30.09., respectively 31.03.)).