Student Profiles Requirements for Application

The Bachelor's degree programme in South Asian Studies is initially aimed at anyone who would like to focus on the region of South Asia in their studies. The prerequisite for the degree programme is a general higher education entrance qualification, but you do not need any in-depth prior knowledge of South Asia or political science to take a Bachelor's degree in South Asian Studies with a focus on South Asian politics. Nevertheless, we would like to briefly list the skills and interests you should bring with you if you would like to study with us:

Interests:

• Interest in a new cultural area and non-Eurocentric perspectives
• Interest in political contexts and explanations for conspicuous circumstances
• Interest in material and non-material factors influencing politics
• Interest in international relations and/or comparative politics
• Interest in South Asia

Skills:

• Excellent written and spoken German (C1 or better)
• Very good command of written and spoken English (B2 or better)
• The ability to understand demanding texts independently
• The ability to analyse facts and recognise connections
• Good written expression
• Ambition in dealing with study content and the ability to be self-motivated
• Ability to work in a team and enjoy interacting with fellow students
• Ability to process large amounts of content and apply it to new issues

The Master's degree programme in South Asian Studies with a focus on Political Science requires that you have already been trained in academic work in your Bachelor's degree and are confident in dealing with social science issues. In the following, we outline what we expect from our applicants:

Interests:

• Strong interest in South Asia as a specialisation area
• Openness to non-Eurocentric and indigenous South Asian approaches to political science
• Interest in ideational and institutional influences on political contexts
• Interest in international relations and/or comparative politics
• Interest in material factors influencing political contexts
• Interest in democratic and authoritarian developments in South Asia

Skills:

• Very good written and spoken English (at least C1 or better)
• Excellent analytical skills
• Confident handling of qualitative methods of social science(s), especially political science
• Strong interpersonal skills (especially for group work)
• Ability to express yourself academically
• Ability to recognise connections and point out anomalies
• High degree of independence in academic work

You can pursue a Ph.D. at the Department of Political Science of the South Asia Institute if you are interested in working in one of the following fields:

1. Democracy and democratic backsliding in South Asia
2. Politics of Covid 19 in South Asia
3. International Relations and Strategic Culture in South Asia
4. Politics of Climate Change and the Welfare State in South Asia
5. Political Economy of Globalisation and Reform in South Asia

To successfully write a dissertation at our department, we require the following skills:

Skills:

• Very good command of English (C1 or better)
• Excellent academic expression skills
• Strong analytical skills and an independent way of working
• Independent and confident handling of qualitative methods in political science
• Strong knowledge of the political science literature on South Asia and in particular of the subject area and region you wish to focus on