English Language and Literature

Abstract

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  Profile of the study programme

  What are we like?
  English is the largest language and literature Department at the University of Fribourg, but it is nonetheless small enough that our professors and students can get to know one another, particularly in smaller seminars. Professors are supported in their teaching by doctoral and post-doctoral assistants and lecturers who also pursue their own research. The staff of the English Department have international careers that foster richly diverse approaches to research and teaching.

  What do we do?
  We offer a comprehensive curriculum ranging across the major fields of Anglophone literature, English linguistics, and the history of English language and literature. We also, of course, run funded research projects, and publish our research. In research as well as teaching, we collaborate in many enlivening ways with colleagues from other Departments, often through Fribourg's Institutes of Comparative Literature, Medieval Studies, and Renaissance Studies.

  What can you do here?
  Our students come from Switzerland and abroad, and English is our exclusive language of communication in the hallways as well as in the classroom. Studying with us gives you the opportunity to learn about medieval women, act in plays, do linguistic field work in pragmatics, study English literature and its relations to other media and/or technology, discover the rich intellectual world of the English and European Renaissance, and investigate the American Western or meet contemporary American poets. You will meet scholars of international acclaim who are regularly invited to give talks at our University. We have exchange partnerships with universities in Nebraska, Mississippi, Arizona, and Southampton, in particular for first- and second-year BA students. Our students have won literary prizes and published their manuscripts. They have enjoyed intensive weeks of theatre-going in London, and performed in Renaissance plays and shot films in Oxford Colleges. Others have won travel awards to academic conferences from Albuquerque to Puerto Rico. Students in Linguistics embark on real-world empirical studies involving online questionnaires and experiments. They may also participate in the workshops organised by the nationally recognised Research Centre on Multilingualism (Centre scientifique de compétence sur le plurilinguisme/Wissenschaftliches Kompetenzzentrum für Mehrsprachigkeit). Students in Literature are invited to cross-enroll in classes offered by the Institute of Comparative Literature (Institut de littérature générale et comparée/Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft).

  How will you learn?
  Our master study programme combines a broad-based education in the subdisciplines of English with an opportunity to specialise. You will work closely with professors in master seminars of, on average, 10-15 students, and you can participate in graduate workshops and summer schools: in some cases, you may be able to join intensive weekend seminars and study trips. Over the course of four semesters, you will probably sample British Literature, American Literature, Medieval Language and Literature, and Linguistics, but you have the option too to study one field in depth, and to write an original thesis in your chosen field. This focus positions you well for the next step in your education, or for professional life beyond the University. The Department has extensive and up-to-date physical and electronic library resources to support your studies.

  Where will you go from here?
  Whether you began your studies here in Fribourg or joined us with a bachelor's degree from another university or a related field, you should use your two years at the master's level to broaden and deepen your knowledge and to satisfy your intellectual curiosity. Some of our MA students move on to doctoral study in Fribourg or elsewhere in Switzerland, or abroad—and thence to academic jobs. Our graduating MA students can also choose between French-speaking and German-speaking teacher education programmes here in Fribourg, and many secure desirable teaching jobs in Swiss schools. Other graduates work internationally in non-profit or governmental organisations, or in journalism, communication, event management, or publishing.

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Minor study programmes to be chosen