Academic information: CEU's bachelor's degree in Culture, Politics and Society
A bachelor’s degree in Culture, Politics and Society at CEU is an academic journey that will give you a multifaceted perspective on the world’s most pressing issues, plus the skills to help solve them. Are you an independent thinker who wants to better navigate the flood of information and disinformation? Do you like to examine all kinds of angles to an issue before you form your opinion? Do you want to develop your own ideas and solutions and present them? Then this liberal arts degree program is for you! Why? Because that’s what a liberal arts education is: exploring issues and ideas across the humanities, social sciences, arts, and beyond, learning to read critically, analyze rigorously, write well, think broadly, and express yourself effectively. These are the tools you’ll need in order to navigate the challenges the world faces today – the tools you’ll need to become a leader, a changemaker. How does that all happen? Here you can review all the academic information for the Culture, Politics and Society degree program at CEU.
What can you do with a liberal arts degree?
With an American and Austrian bachelor’s degree in Culture, Politics and Society, you will acquire vital skills to approach an issue you’re passionate about. You’ll know how to collect valuable information, analyze and synthesize it all, produce your own theory, generate your own solution, and communicate it in multimedia form to any audience.
TRANSFERRABLE SKILLS
- Quantitative and qualitative theory and methods
- An interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving
- Critical thinking and reasoning
- Grasping and producing complex information
- Research and analysis
- Analytical skills
- Research skills
- Traditional communication skills (writing, presentation, public speaking)
These skills open many doors, from graduate study at CEU or another university to career options in the private, public and non-profit sectors. CEU’s Career Services Office team members will guide you in finding the right door for you to open.
Need more academic information? Here's how the Culture, Politics and Society bachelor's program works
The bachelor’s degree in Culture, Politics and Society program integrates into the Europe-wide Bologna system and offers the best of the American undergraduate education system. That means that in four years, you will earn an Austrian and an American bachelor’s degree. You’ll be getting the best of both worlds! In the first year, you’ll take a broad array of courses with your classmates as you get to know them and become part of a close-knit community. You’ll also get to know students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students across CEU, people from over 100 countries. In the subsequent years, you’ll start to specialize, choosing classes and orienting your studies to the topics and skills you’d like to pursue more deeply. By the end of the third year, you’ll have earned an Austrian bachelor’s degree, and can go on to complete the fourth year for the dual degree. The four-year dual degree can pave the way to pursuing a one-year master’s degree if you so choose. Some key facts about the academics of the Culture, Politics, and Society program:
- small class size, with a student to faculty ratio of just 7:1
- a combination of seminars and lectures
- discussion-based classes that require your active participation
- individual attention from leading scholars and academics
- international faculty and student body
- experiential learning outside the classroom
- individual faculty supervision for thesis/capstone project
The CPS program offers four multidisciplinary majors which incorporate courses, questions, and themes from a variety of fields:
Cultural and Historical Studies (History, Medieval Studies, Nationalism, Cultural Heritage, Philosophy)
Political, Legal and Governmental Studies (International Relations, Political Science, Legal Studies, Human Rights, Public Policy, Political Philosophy)
Social and Environmental Studies (Environmental Studies and Policy, Gender Studies, Sociology, Social Anthropology, Social Philosophy)
Visual Theory and Practice (Visual Arts, Media Studies, Film, Photography, Performance)
Note: Visual Theory and Practice is only available as a double major in combination with one of the other majors.
Who are the professors?
Professors teaching in Culture, Politics and Society are drawn from over ten departments at CEU, ranging from CEU’s top-ranking programs in History, Sociology, International Relations, and Legal Studies, to multidisciplinary programs such as Gender Studies, Visual Studies, and Environmental Studies. Culture, Politics and Society program professors are innovative thinkers with wide-ranging interests. We take pride in accentuating the porous boundaries between types of knowledge and real-life experience. Your teachers will be exceptional scholars like anthropologist Claudio Sopranzetti, who has published an award-winning academic book on his research on Thai politics, along with an experimental anthropological graphic novel drawing from the same research; Professor Michael Ignatieff who brings into the classroom his experience as the leader of the opposition in Canada and his fight for academic freedom as rector of CEU; International Relations Professor Xymena Kurowska who weaves the study of myth and fable into her analysis of international power; and award-winning documentary filmmaker Jeremy Braverman whose extensive experience in film production informs his pedagogical practice.
What kind of classes can you take in the Culture, Politics and Society bachelor’s degree program?
In the first year, you’ll take specially designed courses that introduce you to the themes of culture, politics, and society, for a strong and wide-ranging foundation. The spring terms of the first two years are dedicated to experiential learning opportunities. That means exploring the world outside the classroom. From the second year onwards, you’ll have increasing freedom to choose your courses. In the third year, you’ll specialize more, and perhaps take the opportunity to study abroad. In the fourth year, you’ll pursue your disciplinary major, and research and produce a capstone project. Here’s how it works:
- duration of the program: 4 years (US + Austrian degree) or 3 years (Austrian degree)
- structure of the academic year: 3 terms - fall, winter, and spring
- duration of the fall term: 12 weeks
- duration of the winter term: 12 weeks
- duration of the spring term: 11 weeks (teaching period is 6 weeks)
- amount of credits required per academic year: 30 U.S. credits / 60 ECTS
- the overall amount of required credits: 120 U.S. credits / 240 ECTS (4-year degree) or 90 credits / 180 ECTS (3-year degree)