Tübingen, Rome, Aix-Marseille Universities Collaborate on Joint Master’s Program in “Palaeolithic Archaeology”
With the Master’s in “Palaeolithic Archaeology”, the University of Tübingen is offering the first degree program in which a degree can be obtained at three universities at once. The two-year program takes place alternately at the University of Tübingen, the Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Aix-Marseille. Successful graduates receive a Master’s certificate from all three universities. The English-language degree program is the first in Tübingen to be designed with three partners and is therefore considered a “multiple degree” program.
The four-semester Master’s program “Palaeolithic Archaeology” was created as part of the CIVIS university alliance, in which the University of Tübingen cooperates with ten European universities in teaching and research. It is interdisciplinary and located at the interface between archaeology and paleoanthropology and deals with various topics related to human evolution in the Paleolithic period.
Students gain in-depth knowledge of, among other things, technologies, societies and the cultural development of people in the Paleolithic period. They are introduced to practical research through laboratory analyses, excursions and excavations, with researchers from the participating universities contributing their expertise. Teachers from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa are also involved, where there are important sites relating to the culture of Paleolithic people.
The first semester is taught in Tübingen, the following two semesters are taught at Sapienza and in Aix-Marseille. In the fourth semester, students write their master’s thesis at one of the three universities. Supervision is always provided by teachers from two universities. The students are financially supported for their stays abroad through the ERASMUS program and with Baden-Württemberg scholarships.
For the CIVIS university alliance, the course, which enables a triple degree through an agreement between several partners, is also a new model and pilot project for the association. The cooperation with the University of the Witwatersrand in the Master’s program “Palaeolithic Archaeology” is to be expanded in the future – also to train young people from Africa so that they can contribute to research on finds from their region. This also corresponds to CIVIS’s goal of strengthening cooperation with African countries.
“With the changing study locations and the language of instruction being English, the Master’s is an example of the possibilities of international study,” says Professor Dr. Monique Scheer, Vice-Rector for International Affairs and Diversity at the University of Tübingen. For Tübingen Rector Professor Dr. Dr. hc (Dōshisha) Karla Pollmann, it is important: “The students not only acquire specialist skills, but also experience everyday life in Germany, France and Italy and thus get to know different European cultures and language areas. At the same time, they are also sensitized to the perspectives of non-European science.”
The course is open to interested parties with a bachelor’s degree in archaeology or a comparable degree. Applications for the open admission course are possible from June 1st via the University of Tübingen’s application portal, the application deadline is July 15th (for interested parties outside the EU) or September 15th (for interested parties from the EU).