Master's Programme in Global Studies
No fees are charged for EU and EEA citizens, Swedish residence permit holders and exchange students.
No fees are charged for EU and EEA citizens, Swedish residence permit holders and exchange students.
In this education, we address issues related to sustainability. The content of the course or program fits into at least one of our 10 sustainability criteria. For you as a student, the sustainability label means guidance, quality assurance, and a guarantee that courses or programs contain a pronounced sustainability perspective.
Summary
The Master Programme in Global Studies provides the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of how global challenges shape lives, environments, and possibilities for action and imagination. You will explore global issues and gain a critical understanding of the main challenges facing societies across the globe today and contribute to finding ways forward. With a focus on current research and the development of transferable skills, you will graduate with the ability to work for a more equal, sustainable, and inclusive world.
About
Climate change and environmental degradation, the realization of post-carbon futures, the persistence of both large-scale war and mundane forms of violence are all challenges that have effects on social environments across the planet. As states, international organizations, transboundary economic and social actors compete and collaborate to tackle the issues at hand, the Master Programme in Global Studies at the University of Gothenburg helps you understand how structures and actors’ specific interests and capabilities interact and contribute to the dynamics of change.
The programme provides you with both the analytical skills to understand the complexity of global challenges as well as the capacity to identify political alternatives to address them. The programme is situated within the vibrant field of Global Studies. As a genuinely interdisciplinary and multi-perspective field, Global Studies is perfectly suited to help you examine and comprehend the transnational features (i.e. cutting across categories such as local, state, regional, international, private, public) of the social, economic and environmental dynamics that create today’s planetary challenges. Our students learn how to translate such understanding into imagining ways to develop society towards fair and equitable solutions. Graduates of Global Studies, thus, can be leading the change towards a world in which the policies of today do not become tomorrow‘s problems.
Using perspectives from Environmental Social Sciences, International Relations as well as Social Anthropology as vantage points to understand change and help shape it, you will work with topics such as populism, sustainability, consumption, resource extraction, economic transition, migration, war and violence, gender inequalities, indigenous knowledges as well as questions of international order and governance to get a deeper sense of how the above issues resonate in people’s everyday lives.
Programme structure and content
Throughout the programme you will participate in group and individual assignments, presentations, and seminars. The rigorous and comprehensive coursework creates a dynamic learning environment that challenges you and gives you the opportunity to gain a strong academic skill set.
The introductory core courses provide you with different theories and perspectives on globalization and develop deeper into current issues. Our elective courses during the second semester give you the opportunity to profile your studies – we offer courses on global issues such as sustainable development, migration, the changing political economy, and conflict resolution. The third semester starts with the methods course and the writing of your research proposal. In the following internship course, you will be able to put theory into practice by doing an internship in Sweden or internationally. You finish your studies at the programme by writing your master thesis guided by your supervisor.
Who should apply?
Do you want to understand how global questions like equality, the environment, peace, democracy, and international relations affect people’s lives? Are you interested in activism or changing policy and find yourself taking a critical approach to what’s happening in the world?
Apply for the Master’s Programme in Global Studies if you seek a deeper understanding of the world and want to contribute to change through research, or see yourself working in an international organization, NGO, or local initiative for a more inclusive society.
Prerequisites and selection
Requirements
Bachelor's degree with a minimum of 30 credits within the field of Global Studies. Applicants must prove their knowledge of English: English 6/English B from Swedish Upper Secondary School or the equivalent level of an internationally recognized test, for example TOEFL, IELTS.
Special instructions for application
First application round for non-Swedish applicants
Mid-October – mid-January
Non-Swedish applicants are:
- EEA students (EU Member States and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein)
- non-EEA students who require a visa to Sweden
EEA students or non-EEA students apply at www.universityadmissions.se. Do not forget to pay the application fee. Application fee does not apply for EU/EEA citizens or exchange students.
Non EU citizens need to apply for a visa to Sweden.
Second application round for Swedish and EEA applicants
Mid-March – mid-April
This application period is open for:
- Swedish students
- EEA students (EU Member States and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein)
Swedish students or EEA students apply at www.antagning.se (in Swedish) or www.universityadmissions.se (in English). Application fee does not apply for EU/EEA citizens or exchange students.
Selection
Selection is based upon the number of credits from previous university studies, maximum 165 credits.
After graduation
Building on a solid conceptual approach to the study of global challenges, the programme advances towards practical application in research and project work. Both post-graduate research and policy-directed career paths can be pursued with a Global Studies degree. Based on the development of skills to design and manage solution-oriented policies, our graduates will be equipped to work in fields including international cooperation, development practice, national and global institutions, in peace missions, economic cooperation or international education.
By integrating faculty’s ongoing research into the curriculum, you are able to choose focal areas for your research, including the Master thesis. Disciplinary diversity, cultural awareness and sensitivity towards emerging opportunities allow students to combine seamlessly their individual motivation and talent with solid and systematic tools to pursue their intellectual and professional journeys.
Facilities
Lectures and seminars at the School of Global Studies are held at Annedalsseminariet in central Gothenburg. Our facilities are technically well-equipped and we offer teaching in gallery seated lecture halls and in smaller rooms for seminars or group sessions. In our facilities, you also find group rooms and study places that you may use both on weekdays and weekends. Annedalsseminariet is accessible with an elevator, orientation signs in Braille, a ramp at the entrance door, accessible WC, and automatic door openers. Tram and bus stops are in close proximity. The Social Sciences Library, where you find your course literature, is found within a 10-minute walk, and in the surrounding areas, Linnéstaden and Haga, there are plenty of cafés and vibrant student life.
Internship
The programme offers an internship period during the third semester. An internship makes you prepared and attractive to a global labor market and lets you try out the theoretical knowledge that you have gained throughout the programme. The internship gives you new perspectives and an in-depth understanding of the concepts that have been discussed during your studies.
