While most European universities already offer English-language Masters, far less programs are available at the Bachelor-level and the current academic offer is heavily slanted towards degrees in business or economics. The presence of a large international community in the Brussels region with little access to entry-level academic programs triggered the initial design of this Bachelor-program. However, the necessity for an international program in the capital of Europe also combined with the growing need – formulated in the UNESCO’s ‘World Social Science Report’ (2010) – for a more integrated approach to teaching the concepts and methods of the social sciences.
This prompted an explicit focus on an interdisciplinary organization of the bachelor. Apart from taking core modules in sociology, political science and communication studies, students will be explicitly trained to explore the numerous points of convergence and divergence between these three disciplinary perspectives. Through seminars devoted to real-life cases (Brexit, migration crisis, etc.), they will be encouraged to analyze contemporary social problems through a multi-disciplinary lens.
Excitement for the program is proven high. The program boasts over 120 students from 31 different countries ranging from Finland, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Turkey to Mozambique, Mexico, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan. In addition, several students from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are enrolled through the ‘Welcome Refugee’-program of the VUB.
More information: http://www.vub.ac.be/en/study/social-sciences