Applications for M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Germanic Studies at the University of British Columbia are now open! The deadline is December 31, 2021, for both Canadian and international applicants. Apply today!
Interdisciplinary Program Strengths
The Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies (CENES) at UBC offers pathways of study to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Our flexible graduate programs allow students to study a wide range of subjects within the field of Germanic Studies. The M.A. can be a standalone credential or preparation for doctoral study in various fields. The Ph.D. focuses on the development of expertise rooted in interdisciplinary research and teaching within Germanic Studies. Our course offerings include approaches from historical, cultural, media, performance, and queer/gender/sexuality studies and move beyond a traditional epoch-based mode of disciplinary engagement.
The department’s faculty members represent a broad range of perspectives on and approaches to our interdisciplinary field. Highly active in their research and engaged with international scholarly discussions, our professors are eager to provide supervision and mentorship to interested graduate students in areas ranging from literary and cultural studies, to cinema and media studies, queer studies, second language acquisition, and the digital humanities and many more. Pursuing graduate work in Germanic Studies at UBC means being in close vicinity to other exciting departments and programs to which our faculty and students have ties. These other units include the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice, the Centre for European Studies, Media Studies, Language Sciences, Science and Technology Studies, the Migration Cluster, Medieval Studies, the Department of History, the School of Information, and Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC Library.
Mentorship, Guidance, and Professional Development
Our graduate students receive support to conduct research and present their work through grants and awards for travel to archives and conferences. For example, graduate students in Germanic Studies regularly present at the annual conferences of German Studies Canada (formerly the CAUTG) and the German Studies Association (GSA).
Professional development and mentorship are cornerstones of our graduate program. Graduate students are encouraged to think holistically about their professional trajectory, and they receive extensive support from our faculty and other resources at UBC. Within the program this includes thinking broadly about the applicability of skills gained during the M.A. and Ph.D. degree pathways.
We are offering our PhD students the opportunity to participate in the Germanic Studies PhD Co-op Program, enriched educational experiences consisting of work terms, during which students gain meaningful paid work experience. We work with a diverse range of community partners and sectors to provide transformative workplace learning for co-op students.
This Co-op Program allows PhD students to explore different career options, while gaining paid, professional work experience and a network of contacts. Some students are able to secure work terms that are relevant to their dissertation research, while others choose to pursue work experience that diversify their expertise and give them range. Students complete three work terms of 4 months each over the two to three years after achieving candidacy.
Funding and Financial Aid
Our department is committed to providing sustainable funding to graduate students to support them in their studies. These are guaranteed for two years for M.A. students and four years for Ph.D. students. It is common in our department to also provide funding for fifth-year Ph.D. students. Although UBC’s minimum funding for doctoral students is $22,200 per year, our Ph.D. funding packages are usually at least $30,000 per year (about $27,000 at the M.A. level). These packages are made up of stipends, teaching and research assistantships, scholarships, and international tuition awards.
UBC and Vancouver
The University of British Columbia is a world-class research university in a beautiful and vibrant city. Located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people, UBC is one of the world’s great public universities, encouraging bold thinking, curiosity and initiative, so our students can realize their greatest potential. We hold a reputation for excellence in advanced research and learning, supported by world-class faculty, students and research facilities across all major academic disciplines. The Faculty of Arts educates more than 13,000 students in programs across departments, institutes, and many interdisciplinary programs. The Faculty includes the Museum of Anthropology (MOA), the Belkin Art Gallery, and the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities across the Faculty in order to realize the greatest potential of their graduate studies.
Admissions and More information
Students can find more information about our programs and the admissions process here: https://cenes.ubc.ca/graduate. Also check out “Why Grad School at UBC?”.
