Program Overview

Digital Humanities (Master's Degree Subject)

Humanities for the 21st century

Digitalization is fundamentally transforming almost every aspect of our society, including the sciences. In the humanities and social sciences, digitalization and networking open the door to novel ways of exploring culture and society. The aim of the Digital Humanities study program is to familiarize humanities and social sciences students with these new forms of research.

The Digital Humanities course teaches students how to apply and reflect upon computer-assisted and experimental processes in the humanities and social sciences, combining technological knowledge and methodological skills with problems from research in their respective subjects of study. Students can specialize in one or more subject-related applications according to their interests. The program gives students the opportunity to engage in a wide range of activities in culture and media, science, memory institutions, and business.

Focal areas of teaching and research

The humanities and social sciences interpret the testimonies of human societies, their texts and language, their institutions and buildings, their images and music, their films and games, their everyday and extraordinary objects. Digitalization changes the way in which these testimonies are generated, shared, and stored, and thereby our understanding of culture and society. This gives rise to new methods of presentation, analysis, and interpretation. Moreover, networking creates entirely new ways of combining data and expanding our understanding of culture and society. Typical fields of work in the Digital Humanities therefore include:

• data modeling of cultural and social objects and processes,
• editions of cultural and social testimonies,
• creation and structuring of databases, information systems, and infrastructure (especially for cultural heritage institutions such as archives, libraries, or museums),
• programming and retrieval in large data collections on society and culture,
• creation of corpora and collections for scholarly research,
• statistical and experimental evaluation of data on culture and society.

The Digital Humanities course at the University of Basel teaches theories, concepts, and methods of computer-based and experimental research in the humanities and social sciences. As a student, you will learn how to model questions in the humanities and social sciences (particularly in your second master's degree subject), translate them into digital and empirically verifiable processes, and implement them at the technical level.

The Digital Humanities combine the humanities and social sciences with computer science. Accordingly, Digital Humanities are studied in conjunction with another master's degree subject in humanities or social sciences, such as archaeology, history, linguistics, political science, or sociology. The subject does not require a bachelor's degree in computer science, but builds on the knowledge acquired in a bachelor's degree in humanities and social sciences.

Short profile

• Degree: MA in Digital Humanities
• Type: Degree subject
• Start date: February, September
• Credit points: 120
• Study structure: The Master's degree is the second degree after the Bachelor's degree and comprises a total of 120 credit points (CP). In addition to Digital Humanities, students choose a second, independent subject, whereby both subjects are studied for 35 CP each. The subject in which the master's thesis (30 CP) is written becomes a major, the other a minor. In addition, there are free electives (20 CP). One ECTS credit point corresponds to approximately 30 hours of work.
• Subject combination: Students are free to choose their second subject according to their specific interests. Digital Humanities can only be combined with a master's degree subject from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences or the interfaculty master's degree subject Geography. It cannot be combined with other interfaculty master's degree subjects.
• Free electives: These are freely selectable courses that can be used to deepen knowledge in the degree subjects, to gain insight into other degree subjects offered by the University of Basel, or to acquire language skills.
• Language of instruction: German, English
• Institution: Digital Humanities Lab

Master's admission requirements

Admission to master's programs is regulated by the university student regulations and the stipulations of the individual degree program descriptions. For students to be admitted with no additional requirements, they must hold a bachelor's degree worth 180 CP from a higher education institution recognized by the University of Basel.

Master's thesis

The Master's thesis is a crucial part of the program, where students apply the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies to a specific research question. The thesis is written in one of the two subjects studied, and its completion is a requirement for the Master's degree.

Master's examinations

Master's examinations are held at the end of the program, and they assess the student's knowledge and skills in the subjects studied. The examinations are usually written and/or oral, and they are graded according to the university's grading system.

Career opportunities

A Master's degree in Digital Humanities in combination with an additional subject provides access to a diverse range of career opportunities in a rapidly evolving professional environment. Virtually all professions today require advanced knowledge of computers, databases, and the Internet. Graduates of this course of study may be interested in activities that combine independent work with technological, cultural, and social knowledge.

Further studies

If you are interested in pursuing an academic career, you are invited to apply for a doctorate or doctoral position after completing your master's degree. The University of Basel offers various doctoral programs in the humanities and social sciences, which can be combined with the Digital Humanities subject.