Interfaculty Master of Sciences of Religions (FTSR/SSP, 90 credits ECTS)
Introduction
The Master of Sciences of Religions benefits from the courses provided by different institutes in three faculties of the University of Lausanne (Theology and Sciences of Religions, Arts, Sciences). This platform makes UNIL one of the most important institutions in Europe in the field of Sciences of Religions. The programme combines interdisciplinary training (transversal courses) and fields of specialization, through the specific orientation chosen by the individual student:
- Religious traditions of India and comparative history of religions
- Multidisciplinary approaches to Judaism
- History and anthropology of Christianities
- Comparative history of religions: Transversal and marginalized religious traditions
- Social sciences of migrations. Diasporas and migrations: analysis of transnational and translocal spaces (practices of Islam and other religions)
- Sociology of religions: Religious plurality in modern societies
- Psychology of religions: Identity construction and self-awareness
For each of these orientations, the main module gives the foundation for specialization. The supplementary courses and options module prepare students to enter a field or to initiate a documentary research project and to choose courses that contribute to support professional goals and/or a dissertation (30 credits), whose subject lies within the scope of the specific field of orientation chosen. Students thus have the opportunity to construct an individual programme and to equip themselves with a personal profile.
Objectives
The Master of Sciences of Religions degree course is conceived as a programme in an educational specialization of a strongly interdisciplinary nature. It enables students to acquire theoretical and methodological expertise in Social Sciences of Religions and in History of Religions. Students gain the tools necessary to analyze and master the questions related to the plurality of religious fields and interculturality, and within the context of the seven possible specializations.
Expertise gained and access to professions
The curriculum of Master of Sciences of Religions leads students to acquire specific knowledge in the chosen specialization as well as expertise related to religious and cultural diversity in general. More generally, the training also provides cross-disciplinary skills: written and oral communication, critical thinking, analysis and synthesis, research procedures, processes of learning and transmission of knowledge, independence and capacity to make judgments in the treated disciplines. This range of expertise, associated with the specialized knowledge gained in the courses, prepares students for a great variety of professional functions and sectors of integration, such as:
- Public administration, national and international.
- Non-governmental organizations, in particular concerning interculturality and development.
- Teaching (secondary and tertiary or higher education).
- Associative networks, national and international.
- Surveys and market research.
- Journalism, media, public relations, communication, publicity.
- Research and teaching at university level or HES.
- Others: public and private businesses, PME, etc.
Entrance requirements
Applicants must have one of the following qualifications: Bachelor of Sciences of Religions; Bachelor of Theology; Bachelor from the SSP of UNIL with a minor in Sciences of Religions; Bachelor of Arts with “History and Sciences of Religions” as a basic discipline; Bachelor from a Swiss university with at least 60 credits in “Sciences of Religions”; or a qualification that is considered equivalent.
