In general, you have a broad choice of courses and modules on the master level within our department, our university and also beyond. Please have a look in the course catalogue. Although there are some exceptions in the departments for political and social sciences and earth sciences, but in general the courses in the history and cultural department are all accessible.

For the three complementary modules, you can choose language modules from the BA or MA programs in the East Asian Studies, or modules with seminars from MA programs, or a combination.

Please note: It is important that you always complete the modules in the complementary area, as only then will you receive credit points. Typically, you will be required to complete two courses and submit one term paper for each module.

The assessment requirements of the module of the program offering the course always apply. Whether you have to write a term paper, give a presentation, write an essay, etc., it is all written in the regulations of the program of the module you have chosen. If the regulations of the offering module provide for a differentiated assessment, this also applies to students of the complementary area. If the module has an undifferentiated assessment, this applies.

The information about undifferentiated/differentiated grading can usually be found in the appendix of the examination regulations, specifically in the module descriptions. (Have a look at the MAGEA program regulations, can you find the only module with undifferentiated grading?)

Whether you are studying in the MAGEA program or in a complementary module offered by another institute, you can generally find the examination regulations in the course catalog at the top of each program's course offerings page.

However, since most of the regulations are only available in German, if you are not sure about the module regulations, please let us know if we can help you.

Our department provides a website on this topic here.

Internships can be recognized in the complementary area. The conversion rate is 30 working hours per credit point.

Process

To plan your internship, you should first contact the coordinator and/or the academic advisors and share with them the details of your internship. Once you have confirmed the institution, the location, and the duration of the internship, you can register for the internship module through the campus management during the registration period. Usually, this registration takes place in April (for the summer semester) and October (for the winter semester).

Once you have completed the internship, you must submit a confirmation from the institution where you completed the internship, including the number of hours, tasks, and duration, to the academic advisors at mailto:global-east-asia@geschkult.fu-berlin.de. Additionally, you should provide an internship report of about five pages. The academic advisors will review your report and confirm your completion of the module in the campus management.

Freie Universität's career service (LINK) supports students with questions regarding internships.

Internship Report

In the internship report of 5 pages, you should relfect on your internship experience in writing and relate it to your studies and career goals. This demonstrates that you can systematically present, analyse and evaluate the requirements of a field of activity, practical issues and your own learning processes during the internship.

The internship report is part of the module requirements. Send it by e-mail to global-east-asia@geschkult.fu-berlin.de after completion, together with an official confirmation of the internship by the internship provider. We will read it and document the completion of the module in the campus management accordinly.

The report remains with MAGEA. With your permission and the permission of the respective internship provider, we will publish reports that are particularly worth reading in our internship report database.

Formal requirements

The following requirements apply to the internship report:

• Length: 1500 words (corresponds to about 5 pages) WITHOUT cover page!
• Font size: maximum 12 pt with a line spacing of 1.5
• Continuous text
• Report language: English
• PDF format

Content and key questions

Cover sheet

• Your name and address, matriculation number, field of study, date of submission
• Name of the organisation/company, department, area of work, time and duration of the internship, supervisor if applicable, location

Introduction

• Provide information on the sector, name, headquarters, size of the company or organisation providing the internship, number of employees, size and tasks of the department/area in which you worked.
• Briefly outline the professional field in which you completed the internship and give an overview of the tasks you were given.
• Describe how you made contact and the application process. Did you have several interviews/offers? Was the application process easy or difficult?
• What expectations did you have of the internship? What goals did you pursue with the internship?

Main part

• What activities did you carry out during your internship? Did you mainly observe or did you take on qualified tasks (did you plan, research or organise, were you involved in projects)?
• What demands were placed on you and how did you cope with them? Were you able to use the specialised knowledge you acquired during your studies? If so, in what form?
• What was your day-to-day work like (working hours and pace, co-operation within the department and with other departments, activities and areas of work, etc.)?
• How would you rate the supervision situation? Were you trained, were you integrated into the team, did you have contact persons and your own workplace? Did you receive feedback on your performance?
• Did difficulties arise due to a lack of knowledge, the workload or with colleagues? How did you solve these problems?
• What knowledge and skills (professional, social and methodological competences) were you able to acquire or deepen during the internship?

Conclusion

• How does the internship experience, the tasks, the knowledge etc. relate to your studies in the MAGEA?

• How did the internship affect your ideas about the further course of your studies and your career choice?
• Did the internship open up new perspectives for you, or did the practical experience discourage you with regard to your career choice?
• How would you rate the internship overall? What did you like and what did you not like at all?
• Did the internship open up opportunities for further co-operation and contacts?
• Would you recommend other students to do an internship in this company (with reasons)?

A little tip on the side:

• If you make a few notes from time to time during the internship, the report will be all the easier to write afterwards. Don't put off writing your report for too long! If your memory is still fresh, the wording will be much easier to remember.
• Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that the information section about the employer is copied word for word from the website and included in the internship report. It goes without saying that this is not right. The academic advisors are experienced readers and here you run the risk of having to revise the report again.
• If you have completed several internships, please only write an internship report on one of the internships you have completed, or summarise all the internships in one report.