Graduate Programs

At the Master level, students deepen their knowledge, specialize in an area of their choice, and further extend their academic qualifications. At the same time, Master students at Jacobs University are trained to investigate and analyze issues from multiple perspectives and without clear-cut disciplinary boundaries.

• With Data Science for Society & Business (MSc), Data Engineering (MSc) and Supply Chain Management (MSc) Jacobs University offers three English-language Master programs in fields with excellent global career perspectives.
• Psychologie (MSc) addresses German-speaking Psychologie Bachelor of Science graduates. It offers a broad continuative education with a specialization in either clinical psychology or business-related fields of human behavior and diversity.
• International Relations: Global Governance and Social Theory (MA) focuses on the analysis of governance beyond the nation-state. This research topic is examined from a political science perspective, and within the context of enduring processes of globalization and increasing cross-border activity. The program is offered jointly by Jacobs University Bremen and the University of Bremen.

Jacobs University has a strong focus on research. This is documented by the annual output of peer-review articles (360 publications for 2018) and the number of third party funded projects from both industry and public funding authorities such as the German Research Foundation.
Among professors and postdoctoral fellows Jacobs University’s PhD students, which constitute more the one-quarter of all students at Jacobs University, play a vital part in defining Jacobs University as a research institution.

There are two different approaches to obtain a PhD degree from Jacobs University:

• Individualized, research-oriented degrees and structured PhD programs such as the Bremen International School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) which is offered in cooperation with the University of Bremen.
• Furthermore, Jacobs University is affiliated with the Max-Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology via the graduate program in Marine Microbiology (MarMic) and the Alfred Wegener Institut (Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung – AWI).

Completion of a PhD degree at Jacobs University usually takes 3 - 4 years depending on the field of research. PhD degrees may be obtained in natural sciences, mathematics, engineering disciplines, social sciences and humanities. Admission to PhD studies is highly selective and attracts scholarship holders from many governmental agencies such as the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to DAAD-funded students from all over the world. Prerequisite for admission is a field-related Master's degree (or equivalent).

Each year approximately 80 students complete their PhD degrees.

The Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) a joint project by Jacobs University and University of Bremen, funded by the German Excellence Initiative. It integrates excellent areas of graduate education and research.

• PhD Programs at Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS):
  • Changing Lives in Changing Socio-Cultural Contexts (PhD)
  • Global Governance and Regional Integration (PhD)
  • Welfare State, Inequality and Quality of Life (PhD)

Dr. Regina Arant, former BIGSSS PhD student, now Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Psychology and Methods at Jacobs University Bremen, has been awarded the Ernst E. Boesch Young Scholar Award for Cultural Psychology, for her outstanding dissertation on the impact of a high school year abroad on German exchange students.

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