Contextual Studies offer the possibility of attending courses from eight different areas of concentration.
The areas of concentration bundle together course offerings from the Humanities and Social Sciences with a clear reference to themes from the core subjects, connecting elements of theory and practice. The following areas of concentration are offered: History, Society, Creativity, Cultures, Media, Law, Technologies, Responsibility – and a so-called Open Area.
You have three possible ways of completing Contextual Studies in the areas of concentration:
- You have the possibility of obtaining a degree with a Workshop, which will be shown as a specialisation in your certificate. For this purpose, you'll have completed at least one course in an area of concentration. In the following Workshop you independently develop an innovative research question which connects the Contextual Studies courses with a course from the core subjects that you also choose yourself; and you then write a thesis, for which you get credited with 6 ECTS in Contextual Studies. This innovative work of synthesis will be intensively supervised by the respective coordinators of the areas of concentration, in the framework of a Workshop seminar.
- The second possibility consists of taking all courses in a single area of concentration. Since the name of the area of concentration always stands before the course title, a thematic specialisation will also be recognisable in your diploma supplement in this case (for example, “Media/Medien: Participatory Media”).
- As a third possible variant, you can just continue freely to choose the courses that you would like to attend from among those offered, until you have acquired the necessary amount of credits in Contextual Studies.
Passing the Contextual Studies
In order to successfully complete the Contextual Studies in your Bachelor's studies (major), you have to obtain a minimum of at least 12 ECTS in the areas of concentration; but you can also acquire up to a maximum of 24 ECTS – thus completing the entire Contextual Studies – in the areas of concentration.
In order to successfully complete the Contextual Studies on the Master's level, you have to obtain a minimum of at least 12 ECTS in the areas of concentration; but you can also acquire up to a maximum of 18 ECTS – thus completing the entire Contextual Studies – in the areas of concentration.
