Universität Fribourg Course offerings

Profile of the study programme

The modern German literature study programme, more precisely called German Literary Studies, is ideal for students who enjoy reading and writing, and dealing analytically with language, text and other media; they should also be interested in the historical and cultural interconnections of language. The German Literary Studies course covers modern German literature from the 16^th century to the present day. In this bachelor programme, students acquire the skills needed to stylistically analyse texts of various genres and media and to place them in their historical context. They also learn how to argue scientifically and develop research questions of their own.
Special features of literary studies at Fribourg are the opportunities available for comparative literature study engendered by our proximity to the language boundary, and the special focus on the representation of literature in various media, and the research in poetics and in literary theory. The programme therefore addresses literary texts and communication processes, both in general (for example, it looks at the functions of literary genres, the rhetorical structure of texts, etc.) and with regard to historical characteristics (it deals with individual literary works and work groups, their authors and readers, relationships with other literature and arts, etc.). A key target is to develop graduates own power of judgement in relation to earlier, current and future developments in literature and in scientific literary research.
Studies take place in an agreeable environment in a pleasant city in a medium-sized bilingual university (around 10,000 students, of which 250 are studying German); French is mainly spoken in the region, however the study programme is in German. Around 15% of our students do not speak German as their mother tongue. In Fribourg, students can study French and German at the same level and use both languages daily.

Learning outcomes
The German Literary Studies programme provides direct, or facilitated, access to many master programmes in the fields of languages, communication and literature, in particular comparative literature. However, access to the teaching profession requires enrolling in an adjustment programme in the basics of German linguistics and medieval studies.