Central European University (CEU)
Master of Arts in Critical Gender Studies
Vienna, Austria
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
EUR 12,000 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* application deadline for applicants for master’s programs who wish to be considered for CEU financial aid (where available).
** payable in one or two installments, non-refundable initial tuition fee installment (€500 EUR) is paid to confirm your acceptance of our offer of admission and is credited towards the 1st tuition fee installment in year 1
Key Summary
The MA degree in Critical Gender Studies is designed to educate and train future generations of gender specialists in a variety of fields and professions that address the many gendered political, cultural and social challenges of contemporary society. These fields include education, academic research, social services, non-governmental organizations, policy, social change advocacy, government advising and applied research, journalism, as well as jobs that entail various kinds of artistic production. Gender studies in the two-year program is defined as “critical” Gender Studies, signalling how students are trained to critically analyze established ideas, systems, and inequalities that decrease the possibilities for women and men to fully reach their human potential. The program offers rigorous training in critical gender analysis, writing, research skills, oral presentations, and internship experience.
Graduates will have expertise in concrete issues that are in demand, combined with practical skills in writing, analysis, English fluency, research skills, oral presentation skills, time management skills, and the ability to work in groups and in a multicultural environment.
Program Accreditation/Registration
- The program was approved and registered by the New York State Education Department.
- Program accredited by the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ-Austria)
To master’s candidates, we award financial aid based on academic merit. You can apply for financial support for master’s studies in the Funding section of the Online Application Form.
The program also allows students to develop additional skills and knowledge in one of the two special tracks: The specialization in research prepares students to enter a Ph.D. program or any number of relevant professions. Students in the Research Track do substantial research on theses in a wide range of disciplinary approaches to gender studies. The specialization in applied gender studies involves similar coursework in theory and method but requires focused training in critical policy studies from a gender perspective and a thesis that is based on a guided internship in a field and institution within the student’s area of interest. Graduates of the Applied Track are prepared to enter careers as gender professionals in a variety of governmental and non-governmental institutions where policy is made, analyzed, and/or challenged.
This program does not entail a mobility scheme. Thus, students spend their two years at CEU, except when necessary to be away from Vienna to conduct thesis research and/or do an internship. In both tracks, students take three semesters of coursework; Research Track students take an additional methodology course in the spring of the 1st year while Applied Track students conduct internships. All two-year students spend the winter and spring terms of the second year writing and defending the thesis.
First Year
Fall
- Orientation (Mandatory attendance)
- Zero Week Lectures and Workshops (Mandatory attendance)
- MA 2-year Program Info Session (Mandatory attendance)
- Course Presentations (Mandatory attendance)
- Foundations in Gender Studies (Credits 1)
- Academic Writing (Credits 1)
- Public Lecture Series (Credits 1)
- Interdisciplinarity and Intersectionality (M)
- Mandatory Elective: 2 credits in Methods "Qualitative Research Methods: Ethnographic Approaches" (M) or Approved
- Methods (M) Alternative
Elective course(s) (Credits 4)
Total: 14
Winter
- Foundations in Gender Studies (Credits 2)
- Academic Writing: Thesis Development (Credits 1)
- Public lecture series (Credits 1)
- Elective courses (Credits 10)
Total: 14
Spring
- Research Preparation Seminar (M) (Credits 2)
Total First-year Credits 30
Second Year
Fall
- Electives courses
Total: 16
Winter
- Thesis Writing Workshop
Total: 4
Spring
- Thesis and Defense
Total: 10
Total Second-year Credits 30
Graduates of the Two-Year MA in Critical Gender Studies at CEU will have mastered the following
skills and fields of knowledge and demonstrated the ability to:
- knowledgeably discuss the major fields and themes of contemporary interdisciplinary gender studies, their historical and geographic origins, and their main points of founding and ongoing debate;
- Grasp and apply the methodological, theoretical, analytical, and written and oral presentation techniques necessary for contemporary academic research, while also being able to communicate their arguments and conclusions to audiences not specialized in gender studies;
- Engage in critical analysis of the significance of gender to social and cultural theories, cultural phenomena, and concrete social and political practices, focusing in particular on the local,
regional, global, and hybrid connections between material and symbolic gender relations
and structures of power and inequality; - Grasp and be able to present the main threads of past and present scholarly debate on how gender categories and inequalities intersect with other social categories such as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, (dis)ability, etc.
- Translate interest in a particular social or cultural phenomenon into a manageable research project, develop pertinent research questions, and identify and use appropriate research mmethods to answer these questions;
- Reflect critically on and denaturalize their own social, cultural, and political belonging, and be aware of the situated nature and limitations of their own knowledge.