Aarhus, Denmark
DEGREE TYPE
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
15 Oct 2025*
EARLIEST START DATE
Feb 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 8,000 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* winter intake | application deadline (Non-EU): 15 september 2025
** for non-EU/EEA students only | EU/EEA students study for free
Key Summary
Introduction
Interculturality in a Transnational World
We encounter cultural differences every day both in our private and professional lives. Such differences are related to a society or a language area, but also to professions, ethnicities, religions, social groups, generations, and/or organizations. As a student of Intercultural Studies, you will acquire insights into different theoretical approaches to interculturality in the transnational world and work with the interrelationships of local, national, regional, and transnational identities. Throughout the program, the focus is on comprehending how cultural expressions and interactions are anchored in historical, social, and language contexts while also evolving in relation to the surrounding world.
The program develops your abilities to analyze, critically reflect upon, and facilitate interculturality. This includes the capacity to draw on cultural differences as resources. These abilities enable you to navigate and act within intercultural, internationalized landscapes whether it is in the private or public sector, in international organizations, or in NGOs. This can enhance your ability to communicate with the international partners of your organization, identify opportunities for development and challenges, and initiate projects while opening new paths.
An Interdisciplinary Program
The program in Intercultural Studies draws on concepts and methods from various disciplines within the humanities (i.e. history, literature, media, language) and the social sciences (i.e. intercultural approaches to organizational studies, to innovation) as a way to provide you with the competences needed to analyze various intercultural settings in their historical and social contexts. The intercultural nature of the program also improves your language skills. International English is the shared language of the degree program and is employed in the teaching of the common courses that all students in Intercultural Studies follow. The language-specific tracks are conducted in their respective language, either English, French, German, or Spanish. In this way, you train your skills to communicate in the respective language and to use it as a working language. The courses comprise short lectures, interactive seminars, group work as well as instructor and peer feedback. You will also work in a problem and practice-oriented way based on empirical cases and in collaboration with external partners. Hence, the size of classes as well as the working methods vary a great deal.
*If you wish to pursue a career in teaching, for example in upper-secondary school in Denmark, you should choose line B in one of the other Master’s degree programs in languages which include a Master’s supplementary subject.
Admissions
Curriculum
The four different language tracks follow the same basic structure. In the common courses, you will work with students from all four tracks. The focal point is on analyzing interculturality in organizations and exploring new ways to enhance and enrich processes of intercultural interactions. You will work with empirical cases and in collaboration with practitioners. In the four language tracks, you will examine the construction, mediation, and translation of cultural products and representations in English, French, German, and Spanish language contexts respectively. This provides you with in-depth insights into the historical and social framework of the language contexts and their interrelatedness with the surrounding world. You also work with the role of language in intercultural interactions. In the French, German, and Spanish tracks, you train your ability to communicate clearly and easily in German/French/Spanish both orally and in writing via various media.
1st Semester
In the first semester, you follow the common course, “Interculturality in Organisational Contexts 1”, which introduces theories and concepts relevant to comprehending challenges and opportunities related to interculturality in organizational and professional settings. You also follow two courses within your language track. In all four language tracks, you follow the course “History, Society and Change in English/French/German/Spanish Language Contexts”. In the English track, you follow “Local Representations” which engages with local instances of cultural representations and their interpretations. In the other tracks, you follow the course” Tendencies in Contemporary French/German/Spanish Literature and Culture”.
2nd Semester
In the second semester, the common course "Interculturality in Organisational Contexts 2" further strengthens your comprehension of interculturality in organizational and professional settings and it also introduces theories, models, and techniques on innovation that you will apply to empirical cases of intercultural challenges within organizations and in collaboration with an external partner. In all four language tracks, the course “Interculturality and Communication” explores the linguistic and cultural background for the realization of successful intercultural communication and allows you to translate your acquired understanding of interculturality into adequate language practice in various communicative contexts. In addition, in the French, German, and Spanish tracks, the course “Media, Identity and Oral Communication” examines the correlation between media production, culture, and identity constructions in respectively French, German, and Spanish language contexts. In the English track, the course “Engaging Conflict and Culture” presents historical and contemporary theories and practices related to cultural interactions, including conflicts and their resolution.
3rd Semester
In the third semester, you have three options:
- To do an internship in an organization (private, public, NGO, or international) that allows you to acquire practical insights and understandings of interculturality and to account for these in an internship report drawing on relevant theories and concepts. You can do the internship in Denmark or abroad.
- To study abroad at a university that offers relevant courses to your Master's program.
- To pursue the third semester at Aarhus University. In this case, you will follow the course “Intercultural Projects in a Transnational World” which, among other things, will provide you with an introduction to writing your Master's Thesis, as well as two profile courses that address the questions of Digitalization and Sustainability.
The degree program concludes with a Master’s thesis on an intercultural issue in relation to either English, French, German, or Spanish language contexts (depending on your track). You can write alone or in a group. You can also write a product thesis where you will have the opportunity to develop innovative solutions and practices based on a theoretical and empirical analysis. If you are doing the German, French, or Spanish track, you can choose to write your thesis either in English or in the language of the track. If you are doing the English track, you write your thesis in English.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
The program aims to qualify graduates for employment in the international job market in general, meaning private and public organizations that have international relations, departments, or activities in which good intercultural understanding, a sense of how to manage processes and projects, and strong language skills are needed.