University of Southern Denmark
MA in English Studies
Odense, Denmark
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
01 Mar 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
01 Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 10,800 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for EU/EEA and Swiss citizens and applicants holding a Danish residence permit I for non-EU/EEA citizens without a current residence permit deadline is 01.02.2026
** free for full degree students from the Nordic countries or from the EU/EEA countries and Switzerland
Key Summary
About: The MA in English Studies at the University of Southern Denmark asks whether English is one language, a set of dialects, or a lingua franca called Global English. It studies literatures in English, anglophone cultural history, and methods for analysis and communication. The two-year full-time MA programme develops theoretical knowledge, research methods, critical reading, and public dissemination skills. Keywords: English studies, linguistics, literature, Global English, dialects, cultural studies.
Career Outcomes: Graduates can enter teaching, publishing, communications, research, cultural management, translation, or policy roles or continue to doctoral study. They gain analysis, writing, presentation, project management, and public engagement skills.
What is English? Is it one specific language, spoken by a substantial part of the people inhabiting the globe in a variety of national, regional and local dialects, or is it, as has been suggested recently by the invention of the term Global English, a lingua franca, more like several different languages with a number of common denominators?
Similar questions could be asked with respect to literature(s) written in English and to the historical and cultural development of English-language nations and cultures. English Studies is a two-year full-time MA program that aims to train students to investigate and answer such questions by broadening their knowledge of the English-speaking world and its cultures as well as by developing their theoretical and methodological skills and communicative competences so as to be able to disseminate their knowledge to non-experts.
Course structure
English can be read as the main subject or as an option.
If you have a BA in English, you can choose to continue to an MA degree in English or you can choose a particular master’s degree.
You will have between 8 and 12 hours of teaching per week, in the form of lectures, class teaching, and discussions. There will also be presentations from you and other students, as well as occasional group work.
During the first term, you will be introduced to core concepts and research practices in the humanities, focusing on and aiming to integrate, the three ‘pillars’ on which the academic study of English has traditionally been thought to rest: language, literature, history/culture.
Also during the first and second terms, you will be able to choose from a variety of elective courses on a range of topics reflecting the faculty's research interests. Your classes will focus on aspects of English, including theoretical and methodological aspects of the study of (English) language, literature, history, and culture. During the third term, you will have the option of studying abroad at a European or an American university. The fourth term is reserved for the Master’s Thesis.