Please note:
Courses for exchange students are primarily offered at the graduate level. Moreover, a few courses are offered at high BA level. Exchange students must have passed exams equivalating the Danish 3 years' bachelor degree.

Description of the Political Science Study

The Department of Political Science at the University of Aarhus was established in 1959, when the Ministry of Education issued the first rules about the composition of the studies, and since then several executive orders and curricula have been issued. The latest rules about the composition of the education in political science and social studies are found in the Ministry of Education executive order no. 681 of August 23, 1999 on the education in political science and social studies, and in the curriculum made by the Study Committee of Political Science and Social Studies at the University of Aarhus in force as of September 1, 2002. Other rules issued by the Ministry of Education on, for example, examination regulation and grading systems apply to all institutions of higher education.

The official duration of study is three years for the bachelor degree in political science, half a year to major in social studies, and two years for the master’s degree in political science, i.e. an official duration of study for a master of arts degree in political science of five years.

During the third year of the BA studies and during the MA studies, the students may choose subjects according to interest within the courses offered in each particular semester.

The BA and MA Degrees

The study for the master’s degree in political science is divided into two parts. After the first three years of study, the student can obtain the bachelor degree in political science. In order to enroll for the two year master’s degree, the student must have passed the bachelor degree. To further their job opportunities, the majority of those who pass the bachelor degree choose to finish a master’s degree in either political science or social studies.

The bachelor degree contains both obligatory and optional subjects. The bachelor study aims to give the students a broad fundamental knowledge of the different subjects, theories and methods that make up the study of political science. The education contains a course in public law, which the students must pass during their MA studies if they have not done so during their BA studies.

The master’s degree in political science normally consists of nine optional courses (seminars with two weekly lessons). It is also possible for the students to attend double courses (seminars with 4 weekly lessons equivalating 2 of the above 9 courses). The students can choose seminars within the following main areas: comparative politics, sociology, international relations, public administration, and public policy. Normally, the obligatory thesis is written during the last semester. At the suggestion of the student, the subject of this thesis is agreed upon with one of the department’s tenured members of staff.

The examinations at the department are either oral, written or term papers. BA and MA students who participate in optional seminars can often choose between several forms of examination. The examinations are graded according to the Danish grading scale apart from the course Introduction to Political Science, which is graded pass/fail. When a grade is given, a censor appointed by the Ministry of Education takes part. The Ministry has appointed a common corps of censors for the Departments of Political Science in Copenhagen, Odense, and Aarhus consisting of 182 persons. The members of this censor corps have been recruited from other institutions of higher education, the central administration, municipalities, and private business.

The structure of the entire study for the MA degree in political science is seen in the table above which also includes the BA degree. In this leaflet, the major subject in social studies which should be combined with a second subject at another faculty is left out as well as the second subject in social studies which should be combined with a major subject from, for example, the Faculty of Arts.