Master of Arts in Germanic Studies (MA)

Admission Information & Requirements

Research Information

Research Highlights

Diversity, Decolonalization, and the German Curriculum (DDGC), a scholarly collective co-founded by Dr. Ervin Malakaj. “The Pasts and Futures of Queer German Studies,” funded by SSHRC and the German Academic Exchange Service. Faculty: Dr. Ervin Malakaj and Dr. Kyle Frackman. “Migration as Core Narrative of Plural Societies: Towards an Aesthetics of Postmigrant Literature,” funded by SSHRC. Faculty: Dr. Markus Hallensleben. Special issue of Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies on the Media Histories of Girls in Uniform, edited by Dr. Ilinca Iurascu. “Coming Out of the Iron Closet: East Germany and Homosexuality,” funded by SSHRC. Faculty: Dr. Kyle Frackman. “Epistolary Cultures circa 1800,” funded by SSHRC. Faculty: Dr. Gaby Pailer and Dr. Florian Gassner. Book series “Recursions: Theories of Media, Materiality, and Cultural Techniques” from Amsterdam University Press, co-edited by Dr. Geoffrey Winthrop-Young.

Research Focus

The program in Germanic Studies has exceptional strengths in several subfields. These include literary studies (literatures of migration and mobility, 18th-century women writers, literary history and historiography), media studies (media theory, cultural techniques), queer studies (theories and analyses of gender and sexuality in cultural works), film studies (early cinema, East German film), and applied linguistics (pragmatics, sociolinguistics, translation studies, second language acquisition, curriculum studies).

Facilities

UBC Library’s resources are considerable, chief among them Koerner Library and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Rare Books and Special Collections has extensive collections of materials related to German Studies and book history, ranging from medieval manuscripts to 20th-century political texts. Graduate students have access to a dedicated lounge and office space in the heart of our department’s floor in Buchanan Tower.

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Fees	Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat	International
Application Fee	$116.25	$168.25
Tuition *
Installments per year	3	3
Tuition per installment	$1,875.34	$3,294.66
Tuition per year (plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%)	$5,626.02	$9,883.98
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible)		$3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Student Fees (yearly)	$1,144.10 (approx.)
Costs of living	Estimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies.

* Regular, full-time tuition. For on-leave, extension, continuing or part time (if applicable) fees see UBC Calendar.
All fees for the year are subject to adjustment and UBC reserves the right to change any fees without notice at any time, including tuition and student fees. Tuition fees are reviewed annually by the UBC Board of Governors. In recent years, tuition increases have been 2% for continuing domestic students and between 2% and 5% for continuing international students. New students may see higher increases in tuition. Admitted students who defer their admission are subject to the potentially higher tuition fees for incoming students effective at the later program start date. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.

Financial Support

Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.

Program Funding Packages

Typical support for master’s students is approximately $28,000 per year for two years, contingent upon satisfactory academic progress. Funding packages may include scholarships, grants, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships, depending on the student’s area of specialty and the department’s funding resources in a given year.

Our graduate students receive extensive support and mentorship from faculty in the required annual applications for external awards (e.g., SSHRC). Successful applications in these competitions can substantially increase students’ annual financial packages.

Graduate students are guaranteed up to $1,500 in research and professional development support from the department each year, in addition to the resources available from the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Faculty of Arts.

Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union.

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans.

All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.

Foreign government scholarships

Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.

Working while studying

The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.

International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 24 hours a week during academic sessions.

A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement.

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.

Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.

Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.

Cost Estimator

Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.

	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Applications	3	0	6	10	3
Offers	3	0	3	2	1
New Enrolment	1	0	3	1	0
Total Enrolment	3	2	2	1	1

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Applicants should browse faculty profiles and indicate in their application who they are interested in working with. However, it is not necessary for applicants to contact faculty members prior to their application.

This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.

Bowers, Katherine (Literature and literary studies, n.e.c.; Arts, Literature and Subjectivity; Arts and Cultural Traditions; Arts and Technologies; Dostoevsky; Russian literature; genre; Digital Humanities; Computational text analysis; gothic fiction; imagined geography; literary culture; narrative; Russian culture; the novel; Environmental Humanities)
Frackman, Kyle (Cinema studies; Media studies (except social media and digital media); Literature and literary studies; Cultural studies; queer studies; German studies; media studies; history of sexuality; sexuality; sexuality studies; East Germany; film; Gender Studies; history of science; literature; Media; Media Types (Radio, Television, Written Press, etc.); Scandinavia)
Frandy, Tim (traditional culture, decolonization, environments, education, and cultural revitalization)
Gramling, David (Humanities and the arts; Social sciences; Medical, health and life sciences; multilingualism / monolingualism; Literary Theory; lgbtq queer studies; labour migration; applied linguistics; health communication; translation; Turkish literature; German studies)
Hallensleben, Markus (Comparative literatures; Other Arts; German Language Cultures and Literatures; Transnational Literatures; Visual Arts and Literature; European Studies; Literature and Sciences; Literature and Migration; Narratives of Belonging; Decolonization and Indigenization)
Iurascu, Ilinca (Comparative literatures; Theories of cultural studies; Media, visual and digital culture; German literature; Comparative Literature; Cultural Studies; media theory; Media history; critical theory; film studies)
Karwowska, Bozena (Sexuality, Body and Gender in Nazi Concentration Camps)
Kemple, Thomas (Social and cultural theory, history of social sciences, literary and interpretive methods, aesthetic sociology, visual representation of concepts and arguments)
Malakaj, Ervin (Literature and literary studies; German studies; German Film Studies; German Media Studies; German Media History; Queer Theory and Queer Studies; Feminist and Queer Film Historiography; Critical Pedagogy)
Pailer, Gaby (German literature, gender and literature, drama and theatre, enlightment, classicism and romanticism )
Rieger, Caroline (Laughter in interaction, education for global citizenship, translation, language assessment, learning of a third language in a second language environment)
Winthrop-Young, Geoffrey (German theories of media and cultural techniques, Complexity, biological evolution and animal studies, Secret societies and conspiracy theories, Science Fiction (special focus on Alternate history))

Overview

What makes the program unique?

Quick Facts

Admission Information & Requirements

1) Check Eligibility

Minimum Academic Requirements

English Language Test

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language - internet-based

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

Other Test Scores

Prior degree, course and other requirements

Prior Degree Requirements

Other Requirements

2) Meet Deadlines

3) Prepare Application

Transcripts

Letters of Reference

Statement of Interest

Supervision

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Citizenship Verification

4) Apply Online

Research Information

Research Highlights

Research Focus

Facilities

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Financial Support

Program Funding Packages

Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Foreign government scholarships

Working while studying

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Cost Estimator

Career Options

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

ENROLMENT DATA

Completion Rates & Times

Disclaimer

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Sample Thesis Submissions

Related Programs

Same specialization

Further Information

Specialization

UBC Calendar

Program Website

Faculty

Academic Unit

Program Identifier

Classification

Rachel Vivian Helmer

Program Enquiries

Social Media Channels

Supervisor Search

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