German and Comparative Literature

Overview

A PhD, also known as a doctorate, is a requirement for a career as an academic or researcher. In addition, it has become a qualification valued by many employers who recognise the skills and commitment a PhD requires. Employers also recognise that a PhD indicates excellent research capabilities, discipline and communication skills.

Over the duration of the PhD, you produce an original piece of research of up to 100,000 words, in English or in German. Recent and ongoing research topics include a comparison of W.G. Sebald and Orhan Pamuk as ‘marginal’ writers, a study of post-Holocaust and post-colonial ‘trauma’ discourses, and the literary motif of wandering from Romanticism to the twentieth century.

The Department of Modern Languages and the Department of Comparative Literature offer supervision from world-class academics with expertise in a wide range of disciplines, able to support and guide you through your research. Your progress is carefully monitored to ensure that you are on track to produce a thesis valued by the academic community. Throughout your German and Comparative Literature programme from University of Kent, you are able to attend and contribute to research seminars, workshops, and research and transferable skills training courses, many of which benefit from the broader context of the Centre for Modern European Literature. You are also likely to gain experience teaching.

Careers

A postgraduate degree in German shows you have advanced knowledge of the culture of Europe’s economically most significant country. It opens employment possibilities in areas such as media, publishing and European administration. Previous graduates have gone on to work in these areas as well as using the qualification as a basis for entering higher-level positions in the public sector. A PhD is also a prerequisite for an academic career.