About us
As a four-year undergraduate programme, the Department of Culture and Communication Sciences offers its graduates a basic scientific education, while at the same time providing them with the opportunity to work in Turkish-German or international companies and institutions. The Department of Culture and Communication Sciences is a young and dynamic department that started its activities in 2016 and is excited to graduate for the first time at the end of the 2020-21 academic year. Students studying in our department, which is one of the departments with the most intense global and international structure in its field, have the opportunity to acquire basic professional knowledge in the fields of both culture and communication sciences, while these two disciplines are related to each other on the axis of common subjects and semester main topics within the scope of the programme. The Department of Culture and Communication Sciences has an interdisciplinary approach that addresses Communication Sciences in a cultural context. The interdisciplinary approach determines the future of almost every subject in today's world of complex systems. For this purpose, our curriculum and academic approach are multidimensional and multifaceted. Students deepen their knowledge through projects and practical courses in line with the learning concept of the German-Turkish University and make practical use of this knowledge. One of the opportunities offered is to carry out projects in conjunction with internships. Some of the courses in the department (about one third) are taught in German. Our department, which has a curriculum and academic staff with an intercultural aspect and a strong competitive structure, also has a strong international stakeholder structure consisting of the international academic community and businesses. On the other hand, our department has a strong synthesis of Turkish and German academic traditions, which differentiates itself academically in terms of teaching, research and social activities. The natural consequence of this is a very strong employability for our students and innovation for all our stakeholder organisations. The basic scientific concept of the department is based on providing students with the basic ability to think and communicate about cultural contexts - through selected scientific problem areas and different theoretical perspectives. The focus of the programme is on the mutually influencing processes of change, transformation and interaction of cultural entities and the highly dynamic character of the contemporary media world, especially in the field of new media. In order to do scientific justice to this two-sided dynamic, a well-grounded education in cultural and media history and the long-term transmission of cultural knowledge is required. This concept is also the answer to the question of why the two areas of specialisation are offered together.
The Department of Cultural and Communication Sciences provides its graduates with the opportunity to start their own business in various communication-related professions in both Turkey and Germany. The department also serves as a basis for further education in master's degree programmes in both countries. We have a fully German-language Master's Programme in Intercultural Management, where our students can continue their postgraduate studies after graduation. In keeping with the special character of TAU as a "Turkish-German" university, students can complete part of their studies at one of the partner universities in Germany as a scholarship summer school or - if desired - in Germany as part of the Erasmus exchange programme. If possible, internships in Germany are also an option. In 2021, we are planning to launch new international graduate programmes that will provide a strong and competitive academic career for our graduates as well as for high-profile graduates from leading universities in Turkey. The aim of the department - in addition to the education to be received in master's programmes in Turkey and Germany - is to provide professional competence to take part in the management of Turkish-German and therefore international companies and in the top positions of official institutions. This includes Turkish companies in Germany or German companies in Turkey as well as ministries, associations and cultural institutes of both countries. Our students can be employed in conventional media industries such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, as well as in advertising agencies, public relations agencies or digital agencies within the scope of new media industry and marketing communication. In addition to these, museums, art galleries, production companies, theatres, performing arts businesses, tourism industry are within the scope of the employment targets of the department.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Süreyya İlkılıç, Head of the Department of Cultural and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Culture and Social Sciences, Turkey, and Prof. Dr. Alexander Werth, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, University of Passau, Germany, are responsible for running the Department of Cultural and Communication Sciences.
