Master of Liberal Arts

FULL TIME interdisciplinary MA programme

 

STUDY MASTER OF LIBERAL ARTS

Our interdisciplinary MA graduate programme of Master of Liberal Arts offers an opportunity to grow and interact in a challenging academic environment. The graduates will have achieved an in-depth knowledge of communication, language, culture, and society. They will have explored selected dimensions of linguistics, communication studies, arts and social sciences in the context of the history of human ideas and the functioning of contemporary societies, including their legal and economic perspectives. They will have critically considered the main challenges to global well-being, such as cultural hegemony, gender inequality and media manipulation. They will have pursued an original interdisciplinary curriculum that culminated in a Master’s thesis exploring a chosen problem from a variety of perspectives.

The main difference between the classic Anglo-Saxon MLS and our approach is that we can give you an opportunity to choose a major that will be best suited for you:

MEDIA AND VISUAL CULTURE  – The main objective of this major is detailing student’s knowledge of the theoretical frameworks, methodological preferences and analytic preoccupations of Visual Art, Media and Film Studies. The role of human perception, communication and cultural frames of interpretation is discussed. Specific concepts and categories to study the visual along other semiotic codes are introduced. The major is intended as an elaboration and diversification of students’ analytic skills and specific competencies related to processing visuals. It develops individual interests and independent studies of selected areas of visual culture. The central aim of the MA project is to provide students with a framework for intellectual engagements with the art-related action or research they select to research, as well as the artistic or applied projects they will engage in when working professionally.

PUBLIC COMMUNICATION – In this major students explore selected areas of mediated communication (political propagandas, promotional discourses, news genres, organizational or institutional materials) in order to identify their strategies and linguistic characteristics. Students become familiar with the organization of public spheres and culture industries, the main research orientations in discourse studies and methods of text analysis. They discuss exemplary case studies in the field of public communication. As their MA, students pursue individual research that draws on their knowledge of theories and practices of public communication. They choose a specific topic related to mediated communication and analyze a sample of freely available texts/visuals trying to answer a research question related to the properties of those materials. They evaluate the effectiveness of communication in the context of a given theory of communication/culture. The conclusions from their projects may include practical implications.

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION – In this graduate seminar students explore the main research orientations within the subject of Intercultural Communication and they get the main guidelines for framing diploma research projects. They are introduced to theoretical models and research paradigms. They discuss applicable linguistic methodologies, research procedures and possibilities in order to choose their own research topics, plan and draft their projects. Students are encouraged to read selected relevant monographs, readers, journal articles, online materials within the scope of their chosen subjects. Furthermore, students are exposed to specialized and extended materials on the selected subjects and they are expected to acquire specialist knowledge connected with intercultural communication and their particular topics, share and discuss their individual research interests. Suggested topics for research: different aspects of intercultural communication, humorous subjects in different cultures – comparison, language and gender relations, Western vs Eastern cultural values. Suggested methodology of research: comparative studies, discourse analysis, General Theory of Verbal Humor.

PHILOSOPHY, CULTURE, POLITICS – The aim of PCP major is to provide the students with the knowledge about the main research orientations and with research methods and skills that are needed to identify and articulate ideas at the intersection of philosophy, culture and politics. In their MA, students are expected to conduct an academic project within the area of their interest that can be connected, for example, to the relations between religion and politics, the social and political implications of multiculturalism, the consequences of cultural relativism, or the role of culture criticism. The basic approaches to apply in the projects can be drawn from socio-political philosophy, political theory, feminist criticism and pragmatism.

MULTILINGUALISM AND MULTICULTURALISM – In this major students explore the notions of linguistic and cultural diversity and variability, the multilayered relationships between language and culture and critical issues related to linguistic/cultural power and empowerment. Basing on the notion of superdiversity in a globalizing world, it is worth mapping how multilingualism can be treated  as a resource of cultural capital and how multiculturalism can be understood as a frame for social integration and communication.  As their MA projects, students pursue individual research that draws on their knowledge of practical studies of interfaces between (multiple) languages and cultures. They can focus on language rights, including minorities; language policies in countries, corporations and institutions; world Englishes, language hybridity and translanguaging in migrant settings; social psychology of bilingualism; language status and the notion of official language; critical language awareness; language/culture sensitivity and political correctness; (minority) language and cultural heritage; language standardization and engineering; artificial languages; linguistic landscapes; language/culture teaching policies; language extinction. MA projects may be integrated into the outputs of the international alliance FORTHEM lab “Multilingualism in School and Higher Education”.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONS – The main aim of the track “Entrepreneurship & Organizations” is to study in an intradisciplinary way the role of the organizations and entrepreneurship in contemporary economy, politics, culture and society. The main objective is to develop student’s capacity to use the basic paradigms, theories and concepts of organizations and entrepreneurship in economy, sociology, management studies. The specialization will provide also an overview of social and cultural processes shaping and managing different types of organizations. Key questions will focus on critical thinking about organizations and understanding specific structures. The different approaches will be illustrated with empirical examples and case studies. Students should also know relationship between theoretical framework and research. Students will focus on own research projects regarding challenges and opportunities of contemporary organizations and entrepreneurship.

The classes on full time studies are held from Monday through Friday. All lecturers are available to students during their office hours to discuss academic issues relating to their courses.

MA studies finish with an MA defense and an MA degree. Graduate studies also prepare candidates for doctoral studies in a similar field.

 

WHAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE AT OPOLE UNIVERSITY?

  • International student teams facilitate intercultural communication, comparative perspectives and dynamic co-operation;
  • General courses on philosophical, legal, historical, political and economic processes of contemporary public spheres foster reflectivity and critical stance;
  • Tailored courses in public communication, sociolinguistics, media and visual arts, entrepreneurship and organizations offer elements of practice;
  • Access to cultural, literary and artistic projects enhances aesthetic competences;
  • Elective courses and tutorials enable self-exploration, academic independence, and pursuit of advanced content;
  • Master’s research projects can be oriented towards assessing the properties and effectiveness of various forms of socially situated communication practices or addressing social problems through interventions;

 

STUDENT MOBILITY PERSPECTIVES

Our students can enroll in a student exchange programme Erasmus+ offered by Opole University, which allows for studying abroad for a semester or two, developing foreign language communication skills, learning about culture of a foreign country and gaining professional knowledge via a foreign language. Our partners are, among others, in Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Cyprus. (more information available at http://hello.uni.opole.pl/erasmusplus/).

 

FUTURE CAREER PROSPECTS

MLA offers students a transdisciplinary programme with knowledge, practical language skills and communicative, intercultural and social competences to make them well prepared to face challenges of a highly competitive job market in an increasingly global society. The graduates are expected to have useful skills and attitudes to help them to accommodate flexibly to the changing requirements of the professional world. Depending on their major, they will be prepared for a career in:

  • Public communication, public relations and advertising
  • Creative writing and journalism
  • Visual and media optimization
  • Culture-related industries and institutions
  • Human resources and anti-discrimination
  • Corporate and organizational communication
  • Project management and entrepreneurial sphere
  • Community building projects and interventions
  • International co-operation requiring specific legal, communicative or management skills