Admissions

General information on admission requirements and procedures
Application requirements
Application materials and deadline
Essay task 2025
Language skills
Further qualifications
What's in the M.A. National and Transnational Studies? - Differences between MA NTS and BAPS
Studying a dual degree with Master of Education

General information on admission requirements and procedures 

Admission to the Master of Arts programme National and Transnational Studies: Literature, Culture, Language is offered for each fall semester.

This is a very selective programme which admits only those applicants who can prove that their interests and previous qualifications make them especially suitable for this degree course. Applicants are selected by a departmental admissions committee.

Detailed information on the application requirements and the selection of applicants can be found in the latest amendment (Änderungsordnung) to the general programme regulations for this M.A. course (Prüfungsordnung):

PDF: Amendment of regulations (Änderungsordnung) [de], version from 12 June 2020 (German)

An English version is currently being prepared and will be published as soon as possible. In the meantime, the most important aspects of the application requirements can also be accessed below on this website.

Application requirements:

Prospective students must have completed a first academic degree (Bachelor or equivalent) with a standard period of study of at least 6 semesters.
This first degree must be in a field which is thematically relevant to this M.A. programme. These fields are:

  • Literature
  • Linguistics
  • Cultural Studies
  • Book Studies
  • Media Studies
  • Communication Studies
  • History
  • Political science
  • Sociology
  • Social Anthropology
  • Ethnology
  • Philosophy
  • Theology
  • Education
  • Art History
  • Psychology

Applicants must prove a special qualification and suitability for this programme, which is assessed through the grades attained in MA-relevant focal subjects during their BA studies (or equivalent) as certified by their BA diploma (or equivalent) and transcript of student records, through the application essay, the CV and (where applicable) evidence of previous international and professional experience (see below).

All prospective students should have a strong interest in literary and cultural studies, linguistics and/or book studies, as well as in the study of national and transnational identities.
Applicants who have already dealt with national and transnational identities in their undergraduate studies are especially welcome.
Students previously unfamiliar with the methodologies of literary and cultural studies, linguistics and/or book studies should be prepared to familiarise themselves with these fields during their first semester on the M.A. programme.

Application materials and deadline

All applicants must complete the online application form on the university's application platform (Bewerberportal) and then upload all their other application documents (see the list below) as pdf files.

Documents in any language other than English or German have to be translated into one of these two languages by an officially certified translator. The translation must also be accompanied by a (likewise certified) copy of the document in its original language. International applicants should also consult the admissions website of the university's International Office.

Application documents must include:

• proof of qualification for admission to higher education, e.g. a school leaving certificate like Abitur, A-levels or international equivalent
• undergraduate diploma(s)
• transcript(s) of records: enlists titles of and performance in courses taken in previous degree programme(s) 
• proof of language skills (for non-native speakers only)
• short essay (c. 2,000 words / 5 pages, in English)
• curriculum vitae (in tabular form)
• proof of stay abroad (where applicable)
• proof of internships (where applicable)

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS FROM INDIA, CHINA AND VIETNAM: The APS certificate is now a required document for the application as well. If you require further information, clarification, or have any questions about it, please contact us via e-mail.

The application period for the upcoming academic year (2025/2026) will begin on the first week of May.

Relocating and planning your studies may take quite a while. To maximise the time successful applicants have to prepare, we offer two application phases. In this way, successful candidates have a maximum of time to apply for visas (which can be time-consuming) and to arrange funding, travel, and accommodation before the start of the MA NTS orientation week, likely in October 2025. Particularly applicants from outside the EU are strongly advised to apply as early as possible. The earlier you apply, the earlier you will be notified:

Application phase Application dates Notification
1 02 May 2025 – 11 May 2025 By late May 2025
2 11 May 2025 – 15 July 2025 By end of July 2025

For more information, contact:

University Registry, Student Services Office [de] (Studierendensekretariat) (e.g. for inquiries concerning formal aspects of the admissions procedure)

the University's International Office

the University's central Student Advisory and Counselling Centre (ZSB) [de]

the English Department's Student Advisory Service for inquiries about the contents of the degree programme

Essay task 2025

Transnational Polycrises

Recently, the term “polycrisis” has become a buzzword, referring to simultaneous and interconnected challenges including the global climate catastrophe, existential threat to biodiversity, fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, fundamental upheavals in international relations, a possible resurgence of neo-imperialist politics around the globe, and a rise in right-wing regimes. The polycrisis is a transnational development in which “the crisis of the anthroposphere and that of the biosphere are mutually implicative, as are the crises of the past, present, and future” (Morin and Kern 1999, 73). However, the experience of multiple existential crises is not a new phenomenon. “Polycrisis” might well apply to some ongoing global Northern experiences, to the loss of sureties such as democratic process in the USA or peace in Europe, yet it is not universal. The Global North has continuously waged wars and staged coups across the globe, it has exposed billions of people to the violent effects of ongoing coloniality, and, in fact, has often been the harbinger of polycrises in regions, which its Eurocentric framework deemed “elsewhere.” Furthermore, the effects of such transnational crises are marked by an uneven distribution of vulnerabilities. For instance, those who have historically been causing the climate catastrophe are, on the whole, less affected by it. The largest arms producers are not affected by war and ethnic cleansing. The idea of the polycrisis is, therefore, complex and merits further interrogation beyond what we find in the recent headlines.

Literature and the arts have always allowed for the negotiation of the conditions and possibilities of human (and more-than-human) experiences. For this essay we ask you to draw upon a text*, a piece of artistic expression, or use an example from linguistics to analyse and explain how it engages with the notion of “polycrisis.” To give you an idea of what kinds of questions you might engage with: How does a particular work of art represent multiple and intersecting crises? How can literature, media, language, and the arts facilitate and/or subvert conceptions of “crisis,” and to whom they apply? How can narrative structures obscure or highlight the epistemic power and colonial legacies in our understanding of crises? Please bear in mind that your analysis needs to be rooted in the field of literary and cultural studies, linguistics, or book studies.

Your essay has to meet accepted standards of academic writing (with regard to both form and referencing) and the word-count should be approximately 2,000 words. Essays containing plagiarism will be disqualified.

 

*As an English Department, we use ‘text’ in a wide sense here, encompassing but not limited to novels, drama, poetry, books as artefacts (book studies), museum exhibits, films, (new) media, video games, architecture, activist practices, music and music videos, etc. We encourage you to choose a text that allows you to draw on your own disciplinary knowledge acquired during your BA studies and connect it to transnational perspectives.

Reference

Morin, Edgar and Anne Brigitte Kern. 1999 (1993). Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for the New Millennium. Trans. Sean M. Kelly and Roger LaPointe. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Language skills

As English is the official medium of instruction on this M.A. programme, excellent English language skills are a precondition for enrolment. Students' English language skills must correspond to the "C2" level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Applicants who are not native speakers of English must demonstrate their language skills through the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE, grade A, B or C) or another equivalent language certificate (e.g. CAE grade A or B; TOEFL iBT 109+; PTE (Pearson Academic English Test) 76+; or IELTS Academic or General 7.5+). Please note that we consider you a native speaker if English is an official language in your country.
English as a medium of instruction in previous studies is not accepted as proof of language proficiency.

German language skills are desirable (e.g. to facilitate everyday life), but not mandatory. Hence, it is not necessary to submit a German language certificate like DaF or DSH. However, those students who wish to learn German while they are here can attend German language courses at the University's Language Centre at different levels.

Further qualifications

We welcome prospective students to include proof/reference of potential stays abroad, internships, or extracurricular activities and other qualifications you think are relevant for your application (e.g. campus groups, reading groups, activism). These qualifications are desirable and not obligatory, and we also take into account that not everyone has the possibility to stay abroad for long amounts of time, or to take up (often unpaid) internships. In addition, we take into account whether applicants speak different languages, so if you do, for instance, because you come from a multilingual country or have studied languages during your BA, do include information on your language proficiencies in your CV.

What's in the M.A. National and Transnational Studies? – Differences between MA NTS and BAPS

The English Department offers two research-oriented MA programmes and some students apply to both of them at the same time which is fine. So what’s the difference between these two programmes, what do they share? And, what is specific to the M.A. NTS?

Both programmes are international in their outlook and student intake, and both MAs are well-established and successful. Thematically, the programmes overlap considerably and many of the classes offered in one programme will also be options in the sister programme. Both focus on book studies, on English linguistics, and on anglophone literatures and cultures from any of the over fifty nation states in which these are produced. In addition, the MA NTS focuses on questions of transnationalism and nationalism, and on globalisation and diaspora. These focal themes are also studied in inter- and transdisciplinary terms: the MA NTS accepts students with a wider range of undergraduate degrees than the MA BAPS does, and NTS students sometimes have the option to go beyond literary studies or linguistics, for example when it comes to their MA thesis.

You can find more detailed information on the MA NTS curriculum here.

Studying a dual degree with Master of Education

Simultaneous enrolment, in both MA NTS and the Master of Education programme in the English Department is possible and encouraged. Pursuing a dual degree can have several advantages, such as the possibility to have M.Ed. courses count for the External Module, writing one Master's thesis to graduate from both programmes (certain requirements need to be fulfilled), and using the required Praxissemester in the M.Ed. as proof of work experience for the MA NTS Work Experience module, among others. Some of our students also like to combine the research orientation and choice of one’s area of specialisation in the MA NTS programme with the professional qualification of the M.Ed. that provides the foundations for becoming an English teacher in the German school system. 

Please note that these programmes come with different sets of admission requirements and that you will have to apply for both programmes separately.

Information on how to apply for the M.Ed. programme are available on the websites of the Students Admissions Office (https://www.uni-muenster.de/studieninteressierte/en/bewerbung/masterofeducation.html) and on the website of the Student Advice and Counselling Centre (https://www.uni-muenster.de/ZSB/studienfuehrer/, check for “Zugangs- und Zulassungsordnung”).

Please be aware that students interested in enrolling in an M.Ed. programme need to have completed one of the German BA programmes for future teachers.