Universität Kassel, Germany

I. Description of instructional schedule
Two teaching units are offered, a compact stage and the summer semester. Lectures are given by representatives of media institutions with job experience having the status of lecturers and honorary professors. In the summer semester, scholars of the University of Kassel offer classes weekly. Students have to study five modules, which are arranged according to the Consortium's 4 areas of study and to practical relevance to the media.

Information on the courses offered in Kassel (Student- and Course Handbook):
- http://www.medienpaed-kassel.de/Studienverlaufsplan.pdf

II. Assessment rules
From the total of 30 ECTS credits, students receive 6 ECTS credits for passing an oral exam of 30 minutes and another 6 ECTS credits for passing a written exam. For the remaining three modules, research papers or equivalents (such as films, websites etc. accompanied by a written scientific reflection) are required. The results of the assessments are ranked by grades, which are summarized to one final grade. In addition, students have to hand in a workload report, which is organized by the student to provide individual control, that documents the performance and reflection of their study process. An Examination Board (“Prüfungsausschuss”) monitors the assessment.

III. Teaching and administrative staff
Teaching Staff
The core courses are delivered by 4 professors with special reference to media education, computer linguistics, German literature and media aesthetics, media and text theory; 3 honorary professors for applied media studies (media law, media aesthetics, media research); 4 representatives of the media industry as visiting teachers (media marketing, applied research). Head of the coordinating board is Prof. Dr. Ben Bachmair (click here for CV).
Half of an academic post is dedicated to organise the communication of the students with the members of the teaching staff, especially with the honorary professors and the visiting teachers. Besides the weekly lectures the 4 university professors offer consultation-hours for the students on a weekly basis. The head of the coordinating board for the European Master meets once a week with the students for an open discussion. One of the professors, honorary professors and visiting scholars is chosen by the student to supervise his or her master thesis. An educational internet platform on the website of the University of Kassel provides the possibility for exchange of didactic material and students’ communication with regards to each of the classes.

Administrative Staff
For student and staff mobility Kassel has half of an academic post and gets contributions by the staff of the International office. Support for the administrative work towards the International Consortium and the chairing institution is provided by half of a secretary and half of an academic post.

IV. Term dates
Mid February - Mid April: Medienwissenschaftliche Kompaktphase (compact stage with intensive courses)
Mid April - Mid July: Summer semester

V. Examination period
Mid July.

VI. Requirements and procedure for application
Prerequisites for admission include a first degree (B.A. or equivalent) equalling 210 ECTS, excellent study results of the 1. degree (at least German grade 2,0 or better), theoretical and practical experience in at least one of the four areas of study, language profi ciency, motivation and a professional orientation. A competent working knowledge - sufficient for academic study and writing - of the respective national languages of the selected places of study is a prerequisite (TOEFL or IELTS for English and Danish universities, TestDaF-Niveaustufe 4 or DSH 2 for the University of Kassel ).
The application letter has to be submitted in the languages of the countries selected. Applicants will also need to refer to the ECTS forms. Both letters, ECTS-forms and a copy of the university diploma should be sent to the address mentioned above. Students may also include recommendations and/or previous experiences.

VII. Application Deadline
See www.medienpaed-kassel.de.

VIII. Support for international and / or first-year students
The student service (a department of the International Office) and the “Studentenwerk” support the visiting students.

IX. Institutional frame
--- at the moment no information available

X. Research activities
Students are offered the participation in two main projects of Prof. Bachmair within the area of media reception and development of media literacy. Firstly, within the research project “Annual programme analysis on children’s TV”, the German television programme is analyzed qualitatively, focussing on it’s influence on children's interpretation of themselves and their environment. Secondly, children’s media literacy in everyday life and its relevance for school and teaching is the object of a research project with the aim to combine everyday media literacy with the didactic use of supervised internet sites. Thirdly the focus is on mobile learning (m-learning) and implications for the socialisation of young people as well as implications for learning and teaching.
Students in the Masters Programme will be offered full integration in a research project “Aesthetic of Exposition and Exhibition“ (Prof. Seibert) and the graduate research groups operating in Prof. Wallmannsberger's "Computational Linguistics Laboratory," which provides support for a wide spectrum of projects in areas such as automatic textual processing of digital media streams, data base technologies in media studies or electronically augmented universes of discourse. The Lab has recently attracted a number of externally funded projects, such as the "Notebook University Consortium" or the "Digital Semiotics Textworld", which may provide limited financial support for suitably qualified graduate students in the Masters Programme.

XI. Quality assurance and evaluation
The Master Programme is accredited by the “Zentrale Evaluations- und Akkreditierungsagentur Hannover” (ZEvA). This agency has been installed to guarantee Quality Assurance in teaching and education and reviews individual subjects, evaluating not only on the quality of teaching, content and standards of the degree programme, but also the learning resources and personal guidance available to students. The ZEvA is a member of the ENQA (European Net-work for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) and takes part in the “Joint Quality Initiative (JQI), which develops criteria for Bachelor and Master Programmes (BaMa-descriptors) on a European dimension.

Source: unis/kassel.html
printed: 04.20.2018, 01:08:31