Master of Arts in Oriental Languages and Cultures (Middle East Studies)
The (two-year) Master in Oriental Languages and Cultures offers a combined languages and cultures degree in the academic study of the following regional areas: China, India, Japan and the Middle East. You will be offered intermediate to advanced teaching in two language varieties from the area of your choice, specialist courses on related socio-cultural issues (including on interactions between the different subareas), and training to carry out academic research.
What
The Master’s programme is only accessible after having successfully completed a Bachelor’s degree in Oriental Languages and Cultures or after having obtained an intermediate level of the relevant languages and completed a sufficient number of background courses about the area you selected.
The (two-year) Master in Oriental Languages and Cultures offers a combined languages and cultures degree in the academic study of the following regional areas: China, India, Japan and the Middle East. You will be offered intermediate to advanced teaching in two language varieties from the area of your choice, specialist courses on related socio-cultural issues (including on interactions between the different subareas), and training to carry out academic research.
A major difference with the bachelor’s programme is a more integrated approach to language, culture and research: you no longer ‘learn’ a language, but you study language, text and context simultaneously. Within the Master’s programme, you choose four ‘Language, Text and Context’ courses (in line with the specialisation of your Bachelor’s programme):
- China: the courses modern Chinese and traditional language and culture;
- India: the courses Hindi, Sanskrit and Middle Indian;
- Japan: the courses modern Japanese and traditional language and culture;
- Middle East: the courses Middle East Politics and Society/Culture as well as Islam in the past and the present.
The course ‘Culture in Perspective’ engages with the variety of approaches in the academic study of diverse themes.
In the Master’s programme, you can opt for one of the various professionalisation trajectories, as an extension of the minors of the Bachelor’s programme. You will have the opportunity to benefit from a professional work experience by performing an internship in a company, a cultural institution, a government agency or any other relevant organisation of your choice. Internationalisation is an important aspect of the Master’s programme in Oriental Languages and Cultures. You are encouraged to spend one or two semesters abroad, either in a country from the chosen area or in Europe. The internship can also be performed abroad. The programme culminates in your preparation of a master’s dissertation, through which you demonstrate your ability to contribute actively and adequately (including via your language skills) to current academic (and wider) understandings of China, India, Japan or the Middle East and their diverse but interrelated socio-cultural landscapes.
Aandachtspunten
Disregard the warning above the programme is taught both in Dutch and English.
For whom
The admission requirements depend on previous degrees (type of degree, country of issue etc ...) or additonal experience.
Structure
During the Master’s programme, you will perfect your linguistic, academic and critical skills. Socio-cultural phenomena are studied in depth, providing you with a wide range of generic and specific competences and opportunities for the future. The Master’s programme has a strong academic orientation and offers various opportunities for wider training in the humanities and social sciences.
The programme consists of the following components:
- Language, text and context (for each language; taught in the language of choice and English): in-depth academic study of particular socio-cultural phenomena, in combination with integrated language training at an intermediate to advanced level;
- Culture in perspective (for each cultural area; taught in English): advanced engagement with the variety of approaches in the academic study of diverse cultural themes related to China, India, Japan or the Middle East;
- Humanities and social sciences module: you can choose between the modules ‘Academic Proficiency’ (English research module), ‘Society and Diversity’, ‘Political and Social Sciences’ and ‘Economics and Business Administration’;
- Internationalisation module: study at an institution of higher education in a country from the chosen area or at another European university. Students who opt to stay at Ghent University, take the module ‘Internationalisation@Home’ with the courses ‘Globalisation’;
- Internship: in the framework of the humanities and social sciences or the internationalisation module, allowing you to acquire a first, very valuable pre-professional work experience. The programme can rely on a wide range of internship partners (companies, public authorities, museums etc.);
- ‘Master’s Dissertation’ and ‘Dissertation Seminar’: in these courses you demonstrate that you are able to contribute actively and adequately (including via your language skills) to current academic (and wider) understandings of China, India, Japan or the Middle East and their diverse but interrelated socio-cultural landscapes.
Labour Market
The master in Oriental Languages and Cultures provides you with the same future opportunities as any other academic programme in the humanities (Linguistics and Literary Studies, Languages and Cultures). Graduates find employment in the cultural sector (museums, publishers, theatre companies, literary organisations, archives, the press, libraries and cultural centres), as well as at various governmental institutions and internationally oriented companies. They are often asked to welcome and escort trade missions, to manage trade contracts and to assist business leaders in the various countries of Asia.
Students having a keen interest in furthering their acquaintance with research in humanities and social sciences related to China, India, Japan or the Middle East can also consider a career as a researcher.
Kwaliteitszorg
People who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow, that is what we aim for. That is why education at our university is firmly anchored in six major objectives.
- Think broadly. Thinking as broadly as possible and offering the opportunity to question oneself. Not only Dare to Think, but also dare to change the way of thinking.
- Keep researching. Research is the foundation of our education. Ghent University keeps linking its way of educating to the dynamics of science.
- Support Talent. Everyone starts with equal opportunities. All students get the opportunity to develop their talents, regardless of gender, cultural or social background.
- Build with us. Students, staff, the government and the corporate world all get the chance to contribute to the contents and form of our high quality education. Ghent University is known for its particularly active students in student participation, of which we are very proud.
- Push boundaries. We want to prepare our students internationally and interculturally. We give them the opportunity to gain experience across borders. We also open our doors for students from all over the world and welcome teachers and academic staff from abroad.
- Choose quality. Constant quality assurance and improvement is an integral part of our culture and we communicate about it openly. We are proud of the level of our university.
Ghent University sees the quality of education as an internal self-evaluation process, in which faculties and programmes compare the goals they have set themselves to the results and adjust the policy accordingly. The monitors constitute an important link in this process. The achieved results are based on quantitative and qualitative information from relevant stakeholders (students, teachers, professional field, international experts, alumni, etc.).The ‘peer learning visits’, the yearly quality meeting and the Education Quality Office (‘OKB’) make sure the PDCA cycle is closed at various policy levels and help to keep the improvement policy sharp. A detailed description of how Ghent University is constantly paying attention to quality assurance and quality culture can be found in the Ghent University Conduct of Educational Quality Assurance (ERGO).
Quality of this study programme
This quality assurance system provides information on the assets, the strengths and the points for improvement for every study programme. A summary for this study programme can be found below:
Outstanding aspects
- Language through culture and culture through language: The programme of Oriental Languages and Cultures rests on two equal pillars: language and culture. You opt for one cultural area, with an accompanying package of language courses: Arabic, Chinese, Indian or Japanese. You gradually acquire expertise in modern and classical language varieties, giving you access to and as such a thorough knowledge of the area's culture (society, history, religion/philosophy, literature).
- Area specialists in diversity: The programme also comprises some other courses, next to the linguistic and cultural courses of the chosen cultural area. Certain general course units provide you with the skills to proceed in a creative and problem-solving way. You also follow a number of courses in a minor or diversification module, giving you the opportunity to acquire specialised knowledge in a certain direction, to broaden it and/or to join a consecutive programme or the labour market.
- Internationalisation: A programme like Oriental Languages and Cultures clearly has an international component. Students and lecturers are encouraged to gain international experience. The Bachelor's programme gives you the opportunity to spend a semester at a university in the cultural area you study. The (largely) English two-year master comprises a second stay abroad, either in the same cultural area, or at another European university, and an obligatory internship that can also be done abroad. These experiences abroad do not only deepen your linguistic skills, they also broaden your view on the society, the culture, etc. of your cultural area.
- Talent development: The programme integrates general courses and methodology and research or practice-oriented courses from the very beginning. You learn to observe the world from a critical and scientific point of view and to think in a creative and problem-solving way. The minor programme (economics, politics, teacher's programme, multiculturalism) gives you the opportunity to develop a study programme based on your personal interests and your vision of the future.
- Broad employability: As the programme of Oriental Languages and Cultures pays special attention to methodological and practice-oriented courses, graduates not only possess an advanced knowledge of their own field, but they are also employable in other domains. Thanks to your internship, adapted to your choice of the minor or the diversification module, you can gain a first work experience.
Strengths
- Lecturers with practical experience and expertise: The classes are taught by lecturers performing high-standing scientific research on one or more aspects of the cultural domain of their expertise. They often have quite a lot of experience with their cultural domain by having resided there for longer periods. They are supported by teaching assistants, tutors, and native speakers, who will be closely supervising and monitoring you in the intensive course units, especially in language acquisition.
- Multiperspectivism and room for diversity: You study the cultural area of your choice from a broad range of perspectives (social, religious, literary, philosophical, linguistic …). The diversity of the students' interests and talents is thus reflected in the programme.
- Practical experience in the cultural area: In the third year, the programme offers you the possibility to stay for a longer period abroad at one of our partner institutions (within the cultural area or at a European university). During the two-year Master you can go abroad for a second time and you may also do the compulsory internship abroad.
- Scientific knowledge and skills: Special attention is paid to integrating scientific research in education. During the methodological courses you gradually learn to create scientific knowledge. The programme triggers critical thinking and specialisation.
- Future prospects: By implementing a compulsory internship in the master, you already have a first work experience when graduating. This is an excellent starting point to apply for national and international positions in the public and private sector. Your advanced linguistic skills, your in-depth understanding of your cultural area and your broad critical-scientific knowledge and proficiency prepare you particularly well for the labour market or advanced studies.
To work on
- Involvement of stakeholders: We aim at better involving our present students, alumni and stakeholders in the reflection on and the development of the study programme. This more specifically implies that we need to foster our contacts for these three groups. When doing this, we are looking for ways (1) to incite our students to actively take part in information sessions, (2) to stimulate close contacts with our alumni, and (3) to maintain our contacts in the professional field to guarantee a better access to the labour market.
- Dissemination of information: We need to improve the intake of new students by disseminating correct information about the programme through all possible means (SID-ins, welcome days, brochures, websites, web classes, open classes, children's university, lecture series, classes for secondary education …). During such events it is important to better highlight the social value of the programme. The visibility of the members of our programme in the broader social field should contribute to that, e.g. by participating in cultural events, activities, think tanks …
- Benchmarking: We should compare the programme and the main subjects with parallel programmes at home and abroad, and integrate good practices in the programme as much as possible.