Are you a Bachelor’s student wishing to take courses which you would like to have credited in the Key Qualifications Module? Then you’ve come to the right place! The Transdisciplinary Course Program offers the opportunity to gain transdisciplinary knowledge from various fields, as well as orientation abilities and job-oriented qualifications, in special classes and workshops. We offer regular classes in relation to digitization, communication, economics, ethics and society. You can also attend art workshops and job application coaching, amongst other things. Or you can become civically engaged through Service-Learning offers and apply your academic knowledge into practice.
You can also acquire knowledge about globalisation and transboundary processes in our program Global Awareness Education, in order to better understand global networks and connections in everyday life.
It is up to you which courses you want to attend out of the course program. Courses take place both throughout the semester or as block seminars on weekends. After completing each course,, you will receive a certificate of attendance, stating the credit points (also known as ECTS) you have earned. Course requirements are usually ungraded, so you can feel free to explore unfamiliar topics and to try out new methods wherever your curiosity drives you. Each semester we offer courses in the three focus areas “Liberal Education”, “Transferable Skills” and “Career Service”, using different teaching and learning formats:
Liberal Education courses are for those who are interested in the effects of local activities on a global level or in how political, economic, social and ecological systems influence each other. Here, you will learn to identify and analyze the global dimensions and effects of local, regional, national and international phenomena. The key concern of these modules is to strengthen your ability to take on critical perspectives and to react adequately to future social challenges through asking new questions.
In this field, students look at how global issues such as social inequality, migration or public health are dealt with from political science, sociology and ethics perspectives. Based on the theories and methods of these disciplines, students learn decision-making logic and procedures for dealing with complex, uncertain situations, as well as how they present themselves in modern, heterogeneous societies and in globalized contexts of action. Current theories and methods will also be critically examined.
Besides building a fundamental understanding of developments in the field of digitization, students also deal with these specific developments. Here they focus is on the significance and the effects of these developments on the individual, the society and the economy, by using analytical assessment and critical reflection. Alongside ethical aspects relating to digitization, questions about the critical handling of data play an important role in this context, given that data are increasingly used as a basis for decisions.
Students from all faculties are taught both theoretical and application-oriented knowledge of interculturality and transculturality, with a focus on the perception and reflection of cultural – including religion-specific – characteristics and differences as well as similarities. Students are introduced to different cultural theories giving them a sound knowledge that enables them to develop and adopt a nuanced attitude towards the common foundations and different manifestations of culture(s).
The principles of economy and efficiency are no longer only reflected in the market, but also, for example, in politics, culture and education. Within this field, students of all disciplines are enabled to critically question these principles and their effects, on the basis of alternative economic models.
In this field, students look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the prospects for future generations. Here, students are supported in analyzing and evaluating science-based developments in the areas of society, economy, politics and the environment. They are encouraged to reflect critically on their own attitude, actions and the overarching importance of these developments for both the personal and the global environment. This field also covers Studium Oecologicum courses.
Would you like to acquire knowledge, skills and abilities, which you can use in different spheres of life, in your studies or in other professional activities? You may, over the course of your working life, take on a number of different jobs and need to be able to draw on several of the skills and abilities used in one area for another. If so, the practically-oriented focus area of Transferable Skills is right for you. Here, students can find classes on the topics of communication and applied business administration as well as artistic activities and offers for student initiatives.
Here, you will find various offers a practical introduction to essential topics, techniques and skills in the field of written, oral and visual communication for your academic and professional life, including Virtual Rhetoric.
Entrepreneurial Competencies - Applied Business Administration
In this area, you can learn the basics in all professionally relevant areas of applied business administration and related disciplines. This is less about getting to know and discussing different business approaches and theories than about teaching applied basic business knowledge which is needed in almost all professional contexts.
The artistic activities include courses and activities in the fields of theater, visual arts and music. Active participation promotes the development of creative intelligence and also contributes to a comprehensive general education and personal development. This field also includes our Zeicheninstitut classes.
The University of Tübingen enables students to earn Credit Points (CP) by volunteering in student initiatives (subject to certain conditions). The section Transdisciplinary Course Program and Career Service accompanies your civic engagement within student initiatives through various seminar offers, invites you to exchange views with members of other initiatives and to reflect on voluntary work together. This targeted support of participation in student initiatives promotes and deepens the willingness and ability to assume social responsibility and motivates lifelong, socially responsible action.
The sub-section Career Service provides courses in this eponymous focus area to support you through professional orientation. Using various individual and group formats, it assists you to develop your own potential, increase your self-efficacy and create a clear professional profile. You will not receive credit points for completing the classes in this focus area.
In this area you will find classes and coaching for individual profile building, active career development, self-marketing and also for sustained success in your studies.
Under this heading, you will be offered classes and coaching on topics such as professional orientation strategies. You will get to know an introduction to specific occupational fields, possibly including looking at good day-to-day business etiquette.
This topic introduces the tools for successful applications and application dossiers for the national and international job market, answering questions such as: How do I write a CV? How should I present myself at a job interview? How can I be successful during an assessment center procedure?
