Master of Arts in African Studies
Ghent University’s Master in African Studies is the only Master’s programme of its kind in Belgium, and has a unique academic focus on the African continent. The programme starts from a truly interdisciplinary approach as its course units take an in-depth perspective on Africa’s peoples, cultures, literatures and languages, with an emphasis on Central and Eastern Africa.
What
Ghent University’s Master in African Studies is the only Master’s programme of its kind in Belgium, and it has a unique academic focus on the African continent. The programme starts from a truly interdisciplinary approach as its course units take on an in-depth perspective on Africa’s peoples, cultures, literatures and languages, with an emphasis on Central and Eastern Africa. It combines broad thematic course units and specialised seminars, training students in disciplines as diverse as anthropology, history, literature studies and linguistics. This unique multidisciplinary programme will stimulate your critical thinking about Africa’s position in the world with a true sense of appreciation for cultural diversity.
For whom
The admission requirements vary. Depending on your prior education, you are either able to enrol directly, or there are additional requirements.
Structure
The Master in African Studies consists of three main course units at five ECTS each, four course units at five ECTS each selected from a list of specialist Africanist course units, ten ECTS worth of elective course units to be chosen freely from the university’s course catalogue, and a Master’s thesis at fifteen ECTS.
Main Course Units
The Master in African Studies focuses on Central and Eastern Africa but not without establishing connections with other parts of the continent, especially Western and Southern Africa. This area is studied from different academic subdisciplines in the three main mandatory course units: ‘Language, History and Identity in Central and Eastern Africa’, ‘Literature, Media and the Arts in Central and Eastern Africa’, and ‘Conflict and Society in Central and Eastern Africa’.
Elective Course Units
Students enjoy a great degree of freedom to shape their own curriculum by choosing course units from various subdisciplines, based on their individual research interests. They choose four course units from the following list: ‘Anthropology of Affect and Materiality', Anthropology, Africa and the Anthropocene, ‘Poverty, Development and Inequality in Modern African History’, ‘History and Theory of African Urbanism’, ‘Bantu Corpus Linguistics and Lexicography’, ‘Comparative Bantu Grammar’, ‘Gender and Identity in African Literatures’, and 'African Archaeology'. In addition, students choose an additional ten ECTS worth of course units either from the Africanist course units listed above, or from the university’s wider course catalogue, including courses on Swahili and Lingála, the two most important languages of Central and Eastern Africa.
Master's Dissertation
The Master's programme culminates in a Master’s Dissertation. This is a research paper based on independent, empirical research, and preferably (but not necessarily) the result of fieldwork in Africa. By writing a Master’s dissertation, students testify to their ability to conduct independent research, their mastery of a methodological framework and to their thorough knowledge of a specific Africanist topic.
If you want to combine your Master’s degree with a Teacher’s degree, then there is the option of taking a Master's Programme in Teaching (in Dutch: 'Educatieve master') instead of the master described above. The Master's Programme in Teaching, however, is a Dutch-taught programme, except for the Africa-related classes. More information can be found on www.ugent.be/educatievemaster.
Labour Market
In a globalising world, in which Africa plays an increasingly important role, our society needs graduates with academic expertise on Africa. A thorough understanding of African cultural frameworks, languages and history provides students with the knowledge and skills to build bridges between cultures. Graduates in African Studies find jobs in the NGO sector or cultural sector, international relations, academic research, immigrant support programmes and diversity sector, education, the tourist industry, governmental institutions or business world, both in Europe and in Africa.
Several government jobs require our graduates' specific knowledge of African cultural and linguistic diversity. For example, certain alumni work as international relations experts, integration officers or Swahili teachers. Others are active in international organisations such as UNESCO and other UN institutions.
Our alumni are also wanted by international companies, which is not surprising. The economies of many African countries are booming. Governments and companies from around the world invest in the South.
Certain alumni continue doing PhD research within a specific subfield of African languages and cultures.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Languages and cultures: You acquire deep insight in Africa’s high linguistic diversity, and you have the possibility of studying one or two African languages (Swahili and Lingála). Through course units on anthropology, history and literature you will also immerse yourself in the continent’s rich cultural diversity. Gradually, you will come to understand the interaction between language, culture and society. You will also become acquainted with decolonial thinkers, providing you with the tools to frame current debates and developments in a knowledgeable and nuanced way.
- Building bridges: Multidisciplinarity and multiperspectivism. In addition to the African Studies core course units, you will choose elective courses with a broadening and/or professionally oriented focus, or with a focus on advanced studies. You acquire the skills necessary for creative and problem-solving thought and action.
- Internationalisation: International experience at home and abroad is one of our programme’s key aspects. Our fully English-taught Master’s programme strengthens the international character of your training: you will study together with a group of fellow students from all over the globe and be taught by frequent international guest lecturers and visiting lecturers. All of the above contributes to reinforcing your linguistic, social and intercultural competencies.
- Talent development: By balancing practice-oriented course units with course units on research and methodology, and leaving room for choices based on personal interests, our curriculum stimulates talent development. You learn to adopt a critical and academic attitude.
- Broad career perspectives: Our alumni combine advanced knowledge of their discipline with a solid methodological skills set, which opens up broad career perspectives. The English-taught Master’s programme is a further asset on the national and international labour market.
Strengths
- The African Studies programme relies a dedicated team of lecturers, who combine their teaching practice with conducting internationally acclaimed research. Teaching assistants often have a unique connection to the work field and the language(s) they teach. Lecturers often use new media and active teaching forms in their classes. Additionally, we stimulate immediate and intensive personal contact between our lecturers and our students. We coach and closely monitor our students throughout their entire study trajectory.
- The Master programme is rich in internationalisation opportunities. You will be studying in English, with an international group of students, and frequently meet with guest lecturers or guest speakers from Africa-based institutes.
- The programme brings together a broad range of insights and perspectives. In so doing, we capitalise on our students’ diverse talents and interests, and stimulate multiperspectivism and talent development. You can tailor your curriculum according to your own interests.
- Our study programme boasts strong ties between research and education, and teaches our students how to create new academic knowledge. The curriculum stimulates critical thinking, specialisation and knowledge creation.
- The African Studies programme – with its interdisciplinary, internationally-oriented and English-taught Master’s curriculum – offers broad career perspectives, and prepares you for positions in the (inter)national public and private sector. The knowledge of specific languages and cultures combined with broad academic skills form a preparation for the labour market or advanced studies that not many other programmes offer.
- Benchmarking: Compared with other Africa-courses abroad, we can boast a sharp insight in our curriculum. We continually work to integrate good practices into our programme.
Challenges
- Stakeholder involvement in striving for excellent education, involvement of our students, alumni and the professional field deserves stimulation. We want to achieve this by (1) introducing prospective students with alumni, by (2) continuously encouraging students to participate in meetings, surveys and focus groups, and by (3) keeping in touch with the local and international professional field to keep in tune with the labour market.
- Good communication and outreach initiatives: The quality and the quantity of student influx needs to be maintained, and improved where possible. For that purpose, we already avail ourselves of promotional yet correct information during study information days (SID-ins) or other information days, in brochures, on websites and on social media, in open classes, lecture series, and classes for a secondary school audience. We want to reach yet a bigger group of young adults to emphasize the impact and importance of African Studies and put our programme in the picture.
- We want to thoroughly prepare our students for their future careers. We have taken initiative in that regard, and statistics show that most of our students find a job without any problems. Still, we think it’s important to connect the expertise of our students to potential employers.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This information was last updated on 01/03/2025.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.