American Studies, full-time, second cycle

Academic areas: humanities and social science

Academic fields: literature, history, political science, sociology, cultural studies

The leading field: cultural studies

The Program

The American Studies Center is an interdisciplinary research and higher-education institution of the University of Warsaw. Its faculty members specialize in various fields of knowledge about the US and Latin America—culture, literature, arts, film, media, history, economy, politics, history of ideas, society, and law.

The ASC has a full-time liberal arts master program. It lasts two years or four semesters. Instruction is in English by permanent and adjunct faculty. Additionally, students are offered classes in Spanish. Among our permanent faculty are four US-born professors and one professor of political science from Mexico.

The MA Program in American Studies, with the Western Hemispheric studies component, is unique in the Polish higher education system. The program is meant to help develop research skills (especially through the system of research proseminars) and offers courses on the United States of America, Latin American, and the whole region of the Western Hemisphere.

In addition, students have opportunities to develop skills other than those needed for conducting research; they become proficient in the so-called “soft skills” which they need both in academia and outside (e.g., self-presentation, teamwork, intercultural communication, work organization, and effective time management).

The Graduates

Our graduates are awarded MA degrees in American studies. They are familiar with facts and understand processes and cultural phenomena in both Americas. They are acquainted with theories explaining the complexity of relationships between the phenomena. They know how to identify, understand, describe, interpret, and explain the causes and the dynamics of cultural and social processes in both Americas. They know how to use various resources for this purpose and how to employ several research methods developed in humanities and social sciences. Their English is at least at B2+ level and – provided they take the Spanish language course - Spanish is at least at A2 level.

Thanks to our program, our graduates have skills and competences to collect, evaluate, and classify cultural facts and to draw conclusions. They know how to work in a team, how to develop a project, how to present its results. In short, they know how to carry out work done daily by researchers, entrepreneurs, journalists, teachers of humanities and social sciences, social activists, and specialists working at various public institutions.

Our graduates have skills and competences to continue their studies in a doctoral or PhD programs in humanities or social science with specialization in American, Latin American or Western Hemisphere studies.

ASC graduates find employment in business, trade, journalism, media, cultural institutions, higher education, public administration, diplomacy, international organizations, and tourism.

The UW „Ksawerów” Building at 22 Aleja Niepodległości, Mokotów

We provide a comfortable environment for our students. The ASC has 14 classrooms and lecture halls on the two floors of the UW “Ksawerow” building at Aleja Niepodleglosci 22. We hold classes Monday through Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

As for disabled access to our facilities, the “Ksawerow” building is fitted with an elevator and a wheelchair ramp. The bathrooms are accessible for wheelchair users and fully adapted for disabled use.

Thirteen of our classrooms are fitted with computer equipment, have Internet access as well as all the hardware and software necessary to play popular video formats, DVDs, and video CDs. At the “Ksawerow” facility the wireless network EDUROAM is available.

The ASC Library collection is highly valued by students, researchers, and journalists in American studies. The library holdings include materials on both the United States and Latin America, in both humanities and social sciences.

MA Program Curriculum

Admission rules

Students of American Studies or other humanities or social science departments are welcome to transfer to the American Studies Center program if their average grade of all classes completed is 4.0 or higher.

Transfer students are qualified through an interview in English.

Criteria for qualification are the following: English vocabulary and grammar skills at a level necessary to be enrolled in the English language program (credit/no credit), and general knowledge about the United States (0 to 5 points). Students who got a credit for the English language skills and a score of at least 2 for the general knowledge about the US are qualified on the basis of the ranking list.

Deadlines

Date of the exam: 17th of September, 2019, 12.30 p.m.-1.30 p.m.

Announcement of results: 20th of September, 2019

Reception of documents: 

• I round: 23rd-24th of September, 2019, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
  
• II round (in case of not fulfilling the limit during I round): 25th-26th of September, 2019, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
  

Payments

Student's ID payment (ELS)

Required documents

List of required documents submitted by candidates qualified for studies

Additional information

Find us on the map: American Studies Center