Kyoto University and Heidelberg University Joint Degree Master | Online Students Orientation July 2023

Kyoto University and Heidelberg University invite interested students to online Q&As about the international Joint Degree Master of Arts Program in Transcultural Studies (JDTS). 

① July 14 (Fri) 10:00 to 11:00 (JST), registration:
https://kyoto-u-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqc-qpqj8iHtE1QRhvy9ZhTmwRT-WWtYMC
② July 14 (Fri) 17:00 to 18:00 (JST), registration:
https://kyoto-u-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEsf-qtrzMoGdPGMbIrM4X7Lo99lsDWe9uL

Students are asked to register via the respective registration links above until ten days before the orientation. The orientations have been scheduled to accommodate different time zones and will cover the same content.
About a week before the orientation, registered participants will receive an email with the Zoom meeting link and passcode. If you do not receive the Zoom meeting link automatically, please double-check your spam folder or contact us in case you did not receive any email: info@cats.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp. 

Building on the strengths of both institutions, this jointly conducted, research-oriented English-language graduate program offers students access to an interdisciplinary field in the humanities and social sciences to study and research transcultural dynamics between and within Asia and Europe in a global context. The study program is situated at two partner institutions, the Graduate School of Letters (GSL) of Kyoto University and the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS) of Heidelberg University. Students enrolled in the program begin their studies at one of these two partners, their home institution, but spend an equal amount of time at the other university. After two years of study and supervised by international faculty of both, the GSL and the HCTS, students submit a single master’s thesis to receive a Master of Arts degree jointly awarded by both universities upon completion.

The transregional outlook of the JDTS is based on the perspective that cultures are not contained within ethnically closed, linguistically homogenous, and territorially bounded spheres. Instead, they are constituted through transformations and entanglements that follow from contacts and relationships between various agents, concepts, and institutions. Transcultural Studies combine methodological and theoretical approaches from a broad spectrum of humanities and social sciences disciplines.

The study program expands the regional and disciplinary competencies students have obtained in their Bachelor’s degrees or another Master’s degree. Students of the JD Transcultural Studies acquire empirical knowledge on historical and contemporary moments of exchange as well as on theories and methodologies to frame and analyze such processes. The JDTS is primarily designed to train its students for a successful career in international academia.

· Student Quota: 
Ten students between both partners per year (five students enrolled at Heidelberg University as their home institution, five students enrolled at Kyoto University). 
· Degree Granted: Master of Arts
· Standard Duration:
Two years (one year at the home institution and one year at the partner).
· Next Date of Enrollments:
Spring 2024 (at Kyoto University)

The orientation targets primarily BA students who will graduate by March 2024 but is also open to students in the earlier stages of their undergraduate studies.

We are introducing a new online application process, about which students can already learn here:
https://www.cats.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/jdts/application/

Location: online (details upon registration)
Language: English and Japanese
For more information about the program and the orientation, please visit:
https://www.cats.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/jdts/events/2023/05/online-student-orientation-2023-07-14/