About the Department of German Studies

The Department of German Studies, founded in 1946, ranks among the oldest philological German Philology departments in the country, teaching both German Language and Literature. The graduate study programme teaches the students to think about functions and forms of the language, literature and values of art and culture in general, taking into account the distinctive features of the German and Austrian culture (and the German culture of Bohemia and Moravia), history, thought and politics.

The bachelor’s and master’s programmes in German Philology are both offered as single or double degree programmes (full-time day study, the single degree master’s programme as part-time distance study as well). Students are required to master German at B1 level to be accepted to study at the department. The graduates from bachelor’s programmes of other Czech or foreign universities are welcomed to study the single or double degree master’s programmes German Studies in Olomouc.

The single degree bachelor’s programme “German as the language of the humanities” is interdisciplinary in its nature - the basic discipline “German philology” is interconnected to six other classical disciplines of the humanities (history, philosophy, general and comparative linguistics, comparative religion and Jewish studies, art history and medieval studies), which are taught in German. German and Austrian history and methodology of the disciplines are also a part of the curriculum.

The bachelor’s programme “German for Translation and Interpreting” has been offered since 2015 in order to meet the demand for acquiring practical language skills.

When completing a pedagogical module, master’s students qualify as teachers at all types of schools and educational institutions.

The graduates from the master’s programme can continue their studies choosing the PhD study programme “German Language” or “German Literature”.

Students of all levels (undergraduates, masters and doctoral students) benefit from an elite academic environment: the large number of staff is composed of experts from all academic areas, a number of native speakers, a “family environment”, individual approach, a variety of other foreign languages which can be taken up as the other major or as optional courses, a modern system of organization with opportunities to specialize in different fields of interest, high influence of students in the academic affairs, an extensive network of international relationships with universities across Europe, and the opportunity to obtain scholarships to study abroad.

Number of staff: 14

Number of students: BA and MA ca. 130; PhD: ca. 15

Contacts

Katedra germanistiky Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci Křížkovského 10 CZ-779 00 Olomouc

Head of Department: Mag. Dr. phil. Sabine Voda Eschgfäller.; e-mail: sabine.voda@upol.cz; tel.: +420 58 563 3223

Department secretary: Mgr. Anna Mácová, e-mail: anna.macova@upol.cz, tel.: +420 58 563 3203

Exchange coordinator (Erasmus): Mag. Dr. phil. Sabine Voda; e-mail: sabine.voda@upol.cz; tel. +420 58 563 3223 Coordinator of DAAD exchange: Mgr. Jan-Peter Abraham; e-mail: janpeter@upol.cz; tel.: +420 58 563 3011

Coordinator of Aktion Österreich-Tschechien: Mag. Ulrike Strigl; e-mail: ulrike.strigl@upol.cz; tel.: +420 58 563 3579

Coordinator of the BIP project: Mgr. Kristýna Solomon, Ph.D. e-mail: kristyna.solomon@upol.cz; tel.: +420 58 563 3224

In 1997 the Department of German Studies established the Centre for Research of German-Moravian Literature (“Arbeitsstelle für deutschmährische Literatur”) engaged in the research of German culture and literature from Moravia which had so far been mostly forgotten or neglected for mainly political reasons (for more see as.germanistika.cz/de/). In 2003, the German government funded the professoriate for research in German literature in Moravia and Bohemia. In 2013 the department was awarded the label of an Austrian Research Centre.

Projects

“Concepts of Modernity in Moravian German Culture 1871-1939” GAČR P406/10/0948

Part of the research project “Moravia and the World” MŠMT ČR (2007-2013)

“The European Dimension of Moravian German Literature”

IGA FF_2011_023

“German as the Language of Humanities” Volkswagenstiftung (2009-2012)

Improvement of German philology undergraduate programme, a new study module “German as the language of the humanities”

ESF CZ.1.07/2.2.00/15.0320

- Within the scope of the Erasmus programme, the department cooperates with the following institutions:

Germany: Freie Universität Berlin, www.fu-berlin.de

Technische Universität Berlin, www.tu-berlin.de

Technische Universität Chemnitz, www.tu-chemnitz.de

Technische Universität Dresden, tu-dresden.de

Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, www.uni-greifswald.de

Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, www.uni-mainz.de

Universität des Saarlandes Saarbrücken, www.uni-saarland.de

Austria: Universität Wien, www.univie.ac.at

Estonia: Tallin University, www.tlu.ee/en

France: Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, www.-univ-montp3.fr

Italy: Universita degli studi di Palermo, www.dipli.unipa.it

Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, www.uniurb.it

Poland: Uniwersytet Wroclawski, www.uni.wroc.pl

Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie, www.uwm.edu.pl/

Portugal: Universidade do Porto, www.up.pt

Romania: Universitatea Bucuresti, www.unibuc.ro/e/

Slovenia: Univerza v Ljubljani, www.uni-lj.si

Other foreign partners and cooperations

Forschungsinstitut Brenner-Archiv, Innsbruck Internationale Charles-Sealsfield-Gesellschaft, Wien Institut für Germanistik, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz Institut für Germanistik, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

Institut für Deutsche und Niederländische Philologie, Freie Universität Berlin

Institut für Germanistik, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg Institut für Germanistik der Technischen Universität Dresden (GIP / Germanistische Institutspartnerschaft DAAD)

Mitteleuropa-Zentrum der TU Dresden Mitteleuropäischer GermanistenVerband

Adalbert-Stifter-Verein München Haus des deutschen Ostens, München

Sudetendeutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste, München

Heiligenhof – Bildungs- und Begegnungsstatt, Bad Kissingen

Deutsch-Tschechischer Zukunftsfond

Olmützer Blätter

Sudetenland. Vierteljahreszeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Wissenschaft und Volkskultur.

Brücken. Germanistisches Jahrbuch

Vladimir-Admoni-Programm: Konstanz – Prag – Olomouc – Brno – Wroclaw (2 doctoral scholarships for PU)

Medieval studies in Olomouc were connected from 2005 until 2014 to 16 different universities in and outside Europe through the Erasmus Mundus programme GLITEMA-EMMC (German Literature in the European Middle Ages; http://glitema.up.pt). Since 2014 they have been cooperating with nine other universities and three non-universitary partners in the projectTALC_me (Textual and Literary Cultures in Medieval Europe; http://talcme.uni-mainz.de)

A number of regularly visiting guest professors