The need for communication skills in the diverse society

We find ourselves living in the times of unprecedented mass flow of people from virtually all cultural and national backgrounds around the world. After the great rural-urban migration and in the era of networked but individualized societies both communication and in-depth understanding of the other emerge as highly valuable skills. Whether you want to work in a multinational company, an NGO dealing with diversity and other contemporary social problems, governmental structures of any level and scope of operation, or if you want to start your career in a creative small business enterprise, analytical and critical thinking, evidence based policy and management, understanding and coping with diversity, and last, but not least – effective communication in English – will be absolutely essential for you.

Study in Poland (in English)

We have designed a special master’s programme (MA) in sociology to meet those needs:

• We teach it in English, providing you with an opportunity to improve this fundamental skill of the 21st century.
• We are located in the very middle of Europe, in a region that on the surface looks homogeneous, but in fact it is in the heart of all processes and complexities of emigration, multinational families and ethnic minorities.
• As sociologists, we are ones who merge the humanistic with the analytical. We provide you with an empathic approach to diverse phenomena and especially to the culture of the other: be it different nationalities, ethnicities, religions, classes, genders, and organizational cultures. It is combined with a systematic, analytical, quantitative or qualitative evidence based approach. We focus on the research skills, including specialist software (SPSS, Atlas.ti) as well as evaluation research, so that our students are equipped with powerful tools to use in practice the theoretical knowledge we provide.
• We have teamed up with business entities and non-governmental and governmental bodies to make your studies even more practical and to provide you with case studies for your final research projects.

The Master’s programme is so designed that our students can get into their stride in the first semester of sociological enterprise with no problems. We start with broad subjects, i.e. methodology, sociological theory and cultural practice, and social inequalities to ensure that all students, regardless of their first-cycle study programmes, will become sociologists. We also offer a basic philosophical training for analytical skills development and an academic writing course.

In the second semester we introduce our students to the research methods and communication, conflict and migrations studies.

We start the second year (the third semester) accelerating your graduate research project. In addition to your supervising professor, another experienced researcher is appointed to assist you with your research project. We run a research analysis lab so you can have access to the research software and hardware as well as get all the necessary help to plan and carry our your own project. You can work on your project at one of our partner universities as well – even abroad. There are scholarships you can use to help you do that.

Opole, located in the centre of Europe, with its complicated and mixed German, Polish, Bohemian and Silesian heritage on the one hand and you – a group of students coming from all over the world on the other – create a perfect environment for studying and developing intercultural communication. We also provide you with an opportunity to spend up to the half of the programme (a whole year) at one of our partner universities in Europe – with Erasmus+ scholarships available to the vast majority of students.

We strongly advise you to use scholarships also for your internships – we will provide you with our contacts around Europe so you could spend your summer holiday or even, thanks to rescheduling your semester, part of the academic year, getting some extra experience. The training scholarships are also available to you for up to 12 months after your graduation.

Here at the University of Opole we cherish our relationships with students. We will host no more than 15 students in a group, so you will never be anonymous to us. The city is a very friendly, lively and student oriented place, charming and quiet, with all the University buildings within walking distance. It combines characteristics of a city with an ambience of an academic town. You can meet your professors at cafés and parks as well as in libraries or just doing research in this multidimensional city at the crossroads of Europe.

We carry out research projects in Poland and Europe and other continents. Our interests range from migrations, urban sociology, economic relations, gender issues, social inequalities, and minorities to new communication technologies and digital media ecology.

For further information please contact the programme coordinator:
Michał Wanke, PhD
E-mail: michal.wanke@uni.opole.pl
Institute of Sociology
Katowicka 89
Tel: +48 77 452 74 86
E-mail: soc@uni.opole.pl
Web: http://socjologia.whp.uni.opole.pl/intercomm/

Please direct any inquiries connected with registration to the Office for International Study Programmes: hello@uni.opole.pl

FB: facebook.com/hellouniopole

University of Opole

The BA diploma (or equivalent) constitutes the basic admission criterion.

English language skills at B2 level confirmed by a certificate – oral interview (also online interview, e.g. Skype)

There is a possibility to join our intensive course in English in the summer.

English Summer School

Apartments for rent can be found in the city. At the university we can host you in one of our modern halls of residence. For further details go to: hello.uni.opole.pl/accomodation