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Humanities Faculty

Islamic Studies

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  3. Humanities
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  5. Oriental Studies
  6. Islamic Studies
  7. Islamic Studies Program in Bamberg

Islamic Studies programmes at the University of Bamberg

Islamic prayer book from medieval Spain in the Horniman Museum, London

The MA study program in Islamic Studies

The MA study program in Islamic Studies (Islamwissenschaft) is aimed at students who hold a BA degree in Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic Studies or an adjoining study field. It imparts profound knowledge of the historical development and the contemporary manifestations of Islam as well as the ability to read and understand textual sources written in Middle Eastern languages and also to analyse them by approved methods of textual philology and the cultural sciences.

The programme takes usually four half-year terms (semesters). Islamic Studies students must complete 120 credit points. Out of them, 60 are assigned to the core area (Kernbereich), 30 to  the extension area (Erweiterungsbereich), and an additional 30 to the MA thesis.

In the core area, students are required to complete six modules of 10 credit points. Five of them have to be related to Islamic Studies, one of them has to be formed by courses in Middle Eastern Studies offered by the other departments of the institute. The modules in Islamic Studies usually consist of a seminar course and a related Arabic reading course.

In the extension area, the students may complete modules offered either by other departments of our institute or departments of other institutes of our university or they may also complete additional modules in Islamic studies.

Admission to the Master's program in Islamic Studies requires a university degree or an equivalent domestic or foreign degree in the humanities, cultural sciences or social sciences, in which modules totaling at least 40 ECTS points in the area of ??Arabic and additional modules totaling at least 10 ECTS points with Islam-related content are proven. Please note, that applicants have to prove German language proficiency of B 2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages – CEFR. The courses are predominantely held in German.

PhD program

A PhD program in Islamic studies can be conducted with the approval of the chair, on the condition that the applicant has an approriate degree.  For details please refer to our Promotionsseite. PhD students are generally expected to join our Graduate School of Middle Eastern Studies (BaGOS). For direct contact please send an email to our chair.