Master in North-American Culture Studies

The program combines literary and linguistic instruction and provides a broader cultural overview of the countries in North America, combining both Anglophone and Francophone and Spanish-speaking regions, from Canada to the United States through Mexico and the Caribbean.

The program is designed so that the students gain an overview of each of the two cultural areas at the same time and are instructed on their mutual linguistic, literary, and cultural influences. For this reason, the program is structured in a modular manner. The mandatory part of the curriculum consists of core courses that have a methodological section in which students learn the basic theoretical approaches toward the concept of identity of oneself, of the other, and of various social groups, and focus on the concept and its various manifestations in literature, linguistics, and culture. The core section is followed by a variety of in-depth courses in which students gain orientation in the specific cultural phenomena in the Anglophone, Francophone, and Hispanophone worlds. The two compulsory modules combine either the Anglophone-Francophone area or the Anglophone-Spanish-speaking area, allowing for an informed comparison.

The advantage of the North American study program lies in the fact that it offers excellent material for the study of some highly topical issues of today’s world: otherness, migration, immigration, and cultural and linguistic phenomena associated with integration in areas where different ethnic groups, languages, and cultures interact. In this respect, North America represents a model laboratory allowing us to study the processes that increasingly confront European and Czech society.

Specializations

Anglophone Area Studies
Francophone Area Studies

Work experience

One semester of at least 15 hours per week of practice in a public institution or a private company dealing with some aspect of North American space is required. The list of collaborating organizations is available on the website of the Centre for North American Studies. These organizations include the American Corner at the Moravian Library, Brno Expat Centre, and the Central European Association of Canadian Studies, based at the Faculty Arts.

Graduate destination

Graduates can work wherever good bilingual skills and critical thinking are needed and where attention is paid to issues of cultural relations, such as the issues of otherness, social and cultural exclusion, migration, and immigration.

Study options

Single-subject studies with a specialization
Recommended study plans

Anglophone and Francophone Area Studies

Anglophone and Hispanophone Area Studies

Further studies

After completing the Master’s degree study program, it is possible to continue further studies in a doctoral degree study program in English Language, Literature in English, Romance Literatures, or Comparative Literature.

Admission requirements

Eligibility Criteria

This fee-paying degree program is open to:

1. Those holding a Bachelor's degree in a field related to programs taught at faculties of arts, faculties of social studies, faculties of education and faculties of economics, and those with knowledge of English and French/Spanish. Knowledge of English must be at the C1 level.
2. Those holding Bachelor's degrees in other disciplines within the humanities, liberal arts or social sciences from colleges or universities located in English-speaking countries (e.g. the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean, Africa and Asia) may also be considered for admission on an individual basis. Those in this category should contact the Department of English and American Studies prior to applying: [email protected].

You do not have to come to Brno personally to take the entrance exam. The result of the admission process depends on the quality of the documents that you provide. Those will be assessed by the admission committee and you will be notified about the results via e-mail.

Terms of Admission

1. Submission of an electronic application in the Masaryk University Information System.
2. Submission of two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from a teacher.
3. Submission of a Statement of Purpose (750 words maximum) in English, explaining why the applicant wishes to study in this degree program accredited in English and why the applicant wishes to study in this Department.
4. Submission of a copy of the applicant's Bachelor's thesis or its equivalent (Honour's Thesis, Senior Thesis, etc.)or 15 pages of applicant´s original academic paper.
5. Submission of a transcript of university/college studies, which must include: dates you attended the institution, titles of courses and examinations you completed and the marks received.
6. Demonstrate English-language skills at the C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Language by submitting one of the following certificates (not more than one year old at the time of the submission of the application). Accepted certificates:
   • IELTS Academic (minimum acceptable score: 7.0),
   • Certificate of Cambridge Proficiency in English with a mark of A or B,
   • TOEFL iBT score of 95 or higher,
   • Graduates of colleges or universities located in English-speaking countries (e.g. the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia) need not submit test scores.
7. Demonstrate French-language/Spanish-language skills at the B1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Language by submitting one of the following certificates (not more than one-year-old at the time of the submission of the application):
   • French: DALF at the B1 level
   • Spanish: DELE at the B1 level

Admission to study program will be offered to those applicants selected by the Department's Entrance Exam Committee, based on a complex evaluation of the applicant's language skills, academic record, recommendations, and motivation.

Entrance exam

The evaluation of the applications will be done in two steps:

1. Evaluation of the submitted documents.
2. An oral interview (via Skype on request if step 1 is passed).

In addition, all students with foreign degrees (except as set out below) must submit their Bachelor's degree for official recognition by the Czech Republic's Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. As this process ("nostrification") can take several months, it is recommended that applicants submit this paperwork concurrently with their application. Applicants without this official recognition are not permitted to enroll at the University. Detailed instructions can be found here.

• Holders of degrees from universities located in countries with which the Czech Republic has a treaty on the bilateral recognition of academic degrees and titles (at the present time: Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia), please click here.
• Holders of degrees from universities located in Slovakia should follow the instructions set out here.

Students enrolled in the degree program accredited in English wishing to transfer to the degree program accredited in Czech (i.e. from the fee-paying to the no-fee program) must successfully pass the entrance exam process set out for that degree program. These students must also demonstrate a knowledge of Czech at the C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Application

Create your application here.

Application Deadlines

1 January - 30 April for the enrollment in the Fall semester.
1 July - 31 October for the enrollment in the Spring semester.

Documents set out above in the Terms of Admission are required to be provided in digital form and attached to the online application by April 30th or October 31st.