Global Visual Communication – (M.A.)

The 2-year Research Master Global Visual Communication (GVC) is based on communication studies as a social science. Thus, a sound methodological foundation in the social sciences is a key feature of the program. The MA in Global Visual Communication provides knowledge and research tools in order to understand the growing relevance of communication patterns transcending national and cultural boundaries. These communication phenomena are scrutinized from three different perspectives: comparative communication, visual communication, and transnational/global communication. Thereby, students acquire a solid understanding of ongoing media and communication trends and of the increasing importance of mediated communication in a globalized environment.

The MA in Global Visual Communication provides students with the competencies necessary to understand both the contemporary structures, functions and patterns of international, transnational and global communication and the fundamental changes that media and communication systems are subject to. Mass and network media are shaped by internationalization and globalization. At the same time media are also shaping those processes, which currently transform nations, societies and cultures. National systems have become less contained and more open for international influences. The acceleration of these exchange processes among media producing and media consuming countries has been furthered by a visualization trend that can be observed worldwide. Thus, the program places particular emphasis on the dynamics of internationalization and visualization that transform national communication systems and complement them with transnational/global elements.