Master of Arts Degree

European Culture and Civilization

The 'European Culture and Civilization' M.A. Programme at the Faculty of Letters was set up in 2003, out of the necessity for an intercultural and interdisciplinary programme that should cater for - apart from - graduates of the Faculty of Letters, also for graduates of other specialization degrees by offering a wide range of expertise.

What distinguishes this particular programme, as opposed to other programmes that reflect solely isolated instances of various European cultures, is that the former covers an interdisciplinary thematic range, it provides a comparative approach to the cultural phenomena under scrutiny and focuses on cutting-edge developments in national and European cultural themes: the acknowledgement and understanding of otherness, of other European cultural models.

This study programme is meant for those B.A. graduates who wish to expand their humanistic culture, through gaining competencies that are complementary to their B.A. expertise and through the development of individual research skills.

The endeavour that this programme undertakes is that of discerning the intricacies of contemporary Europe, of its roots and present times, as well as its multiculturalism, whilst at the same time providing a nuanced, stereotype-free and cliche-free critical analysis of what the 'European idea' means.

Transgressing cultural boundaries has always been laden with risk, whilst constituting a challenge to those who wish to further their analytical skills. The fact that our graduates get to have a broader knowledge of European phenomena enables them to get better jobs, not only in this country, but in the European Union as well.

Romanian Literature - The European Dimensions

The four-semester 'Romanian Literature - The European Dimensions' M.A. Programme has been on offer since the 2008 - 2009 academic year. Its aim is to further the expertise of B.A. graduates, having majored in Romanian Language and Literature and having had a Foreign Language as a minor specialization, therefore the organizing Department is the Department of Romanian Studies.

The courses on offer within this M.A. Programme aim at:

• furthering the students' expertise gained within their B.A. Programmes; (the contents of M.A. and B.A. Programmes do not overlap)
• covering the difference in terms of level of expertise as regards secondary school teachers versus high-school teachers;
• ensuring the necessary level of expertise required for a possible PhD Degree.

Therefore this M.A. Programme fulfils the academic requirements of those willing to further their expertise and to engage in research.

Types of Modernity in the Anglophone and Francophone Spaces

The 'Types of Modernity in the Anglophone and Francophone Spaces' M.A. Programme has been on offer since the 2008 - 2009 academic year; it provides courses in English Language and Literature Studies and French Language and Literature Studies.

This M.A. Programme has in view the instantiation of the following competencies with students:

• didactic competence: the systematic gain of specific cutting-edge knowledge as regards the dynamics of modern British and French literature; adapting the critical tools and hermeneutical analysis to the study of contemporary literature as well as applying all this to close text analysis;
• research competence: processing the thus gained information with a view to identifying elements of continuity, specificity and modernity in British and French culture and literature within each decade as well as identifying elements of marginality and plurality typical of some cultures; investigating elements representative of the paradigm of American identity; innovating the terminology and methodology for critical text analysis within the paradigms of post-industrialism, post-colonialism, post-feminism in contemporary British and French Literature and Culture; transferring knowledge of literature to the domain of cinema studies and to cinema products that are derived from British and French literary works;
• attitudinal competence: evaluating aspects of modernism in the arts starting from well-established concepts such as art nouveau; developing a positive attitude towards accepting and understanding British and French literature worldwide.

After graduation, a range of work opportunities are available: post-graduates can obtain jobs as high-school teachers teaching British and French Literature and Language (those post-graduates who are also B.A.'s in Philology); or jobs as journalists, editors, reporters, proof-readers, librarians, civil officers with European institutions.