The Academic Semester

A German university is essentially a graduate school. For American undergraduates, this means that the choice of courses is limited by their own linguistic ability and their level of competence within a discipline. Nonetheless, program students attend regular courses—normally lectures and proseminars—at the University of Regensburg. The program provides tutors, usually advanced graduate students or postdoctoral fellows. They meet once a week with groups of students, guiding discussion and answering questions about course content or more generally about the fields of study.

Since German university courses are announced only a few months before the beginning of the semester, it is impossible to list courses that definitely wil be offered. The following list gives an indication of the kinds of seminars and lectures taken by students in the program over the past few years:

Geschichte

Die Westintegration der Bundesrepublik; Probleme des Bismarckreichs; Der dreißigjährige Krieg; Die deutsche Königswahl seit 1050

Geographie

Stadtgeographie

Germanistik

Schillers klassische Dramen; Lessing, Stifter, Wedekind; Die Novelle; Kurzgeschichten Thomas Manns; Kafka; Gedichte Bertolt Brechts; Medea in der Literatur: von Euripides bis Christa Wolf; Friedrich Dürrenmatt; Österreichische Literatur

Kunstgeschichte

Regensburg im Mittealter; Deutsche Malerei des 19. Jahrhunderts; Das Bauhaus; Bild und Wort: Verhältnis zwischen Kunst und Theologie

Politikwissenschaft

Der politische und wirtschaftliche Transformationsprozeß in Deutschland; Deutsche Innenpolitik für Ausländer; Integrationsmodelle in der internationalen Politik am Beispiel der Europäischen Union; Die ‘Politische Wende’ 1989–1991

Religionswissenschaft

Religiöse Randgruppen; Christen und Muslime

Volkskunde

Tod und Gesellschaft; Vom Flugblatt zum Comic Strip; Vom Acker zum Park

Wirtschaftswissenschaft

Reale Außenwirtschaftstheorie

Wissenschaftsgeschichte

Methodische Einführung in die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften; Novellen des 20 Jahrhunderts; Einführung in die Architektur des Mittelalters; Neurobiologie Vorlesung und Seminar

Current information on Regensburg courses is available at their website. Click on Fakultäten (discipline) to check course listings.

Credits

The language program carries two Wesleyan course credits (one course credit is the equivalent of 3 3/4 semester hours). Each course at the University of Regensburg carries one credit. The usual course load for the total program consists of the language instruction (two credits) and three courses during the summer session, for a total of five credits for the entire program. The grades from these courses are entered onto the student’s transcript at the end of the program. Transcripts for outside students are issued by Wesleyan University, Wheaton College, or Vanderbilt University on an alternating basis.