At our institute, researchers and students alike deal with a large subject area, namely the languages, societies, and cultures that have been shaped by the Arabic language and the religion of Islam. Our approach is of a historical-critical and non-denominational kind. As a cultural science, it is part of our DNA that we are continuously in close dialogue with other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. This holds true for our teaching as well as for our research. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, a reform-oriented campus university, is particularly well suited for that endeavour.

Our Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes have three main focuses:

• The "Arabic Studies" specialisation deals in particular with the history of science in the Arabic tradition. This includes philosophy and natural sciences, but also law, linguistics and literature.
• The "Islamic Studies" specialisation focuses on modern times and modernity. The focus is on history, culture and politics in the societies of West Asia and North Africa as well as Islamic intellectual history.
• The "Turkology" specialisation deals with Ottoman-Turkish and modern Turkish literature and culture, including manuscript and book cultures in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey.

What characterises the degree programme in Bochum?

We offer a sound education in Arabic and optionally in one of the two other classical cultural languages of Islam: Persian and Turkish. What’s more, our teaching is closely linked to current research projects. In cooperation with other institutions of Ruhr-Universität Bochum, we offer an education encompassing a broad spectrum of theories and methods, including theories of social sciences, linguistics and cultural studies, statistics, and methods of digital humanities. This opens up innovative academic perspectives and ensures great opportunities on the labour market. As a student at our institute in Bochum, you can also spend one or two semesters at one of our international partner universities. This is guaranteed by exchange programmes with universities in Arab countries, Israel and Turkey.

Digitisation

For more than ten years, we have been continuously working on the digitisation of our teaching. This was a tremendous benefit when we had to switch to interactive video conferences and virtual teaching materials during the corona pandemic. To only give one example, the digitisation of our teaching ensured the inclusion of students with family commitments during the pandemic. What’s more, you will find out that a class on “Arabic in Modern Mass Media” has recently been added to our portfolio. At the moment, we are evaluating the opportunities and risks of using generative artificial intelligence to support our students.