Learning outcomes

1. The Master has acquired knowledge of and insight into the main theories and research in the field of political communication, in particular media and politics, political psychology, public opinion, government communication and political marketing, new media and politics. This concerns the development of subject specific science: concepts, models, theories, approaches and problems in the subject area. The subject area is multi-disciplinary by nature. Subject-specific scientific knowledge in the domain of political communication transcends disciplines but the social-scientific perspective remains its main source.

2. The Master has acquired knowledge of and insight into the recent developments in the field of political communication, in particular the role of the media and communication in politics, political-psychological developments and the trends in public opinion. The Master has a broad knowledge of and is deeply interested in the various actual developments that are relevant to the field.

3. The Master has acquired knowledge of and insight into the ethical implications of the impact of the media, political communication, government communication and political marketing.

4. The Master has acquired knowledge of and insight into the main research methods in the field of political communication: quantitative and qualitative content analysis, discourse analysis, various methods of audience research, experiments. These subject-specific methods are mainly the methods and techniques of social-scientific research in general.

5. The Master has acquired knowledge of and insight into the main instruments for policy in the field of tension between media and politics.

6. The Master has an analytical attitude towards problems of political communication. This analytical attitude is a priority in order to satisfactorily execute each core competence.

7. The Master has the ability of nuanced evaluation and showing him/herself to be open to different political, cultural and philosophical convictions.

8. The Master has a sense of social responsibility and is able to reflect on the domain of political communication in relation to society and taking into account social, cultural, economical, technological and political elements in media/communication and society.

9. The Master has a critical understanding of the context in which political communication takes place, and of the complexity of the problem of political communication in a federal, European and international context.

10. The Master has an intense (scientific) curiosity about issues of political communication and the interaction between politics, media and public opinion.

11. The Master is able to give a clear definition and interpretation of problems in political communication.

12. The Master is able to adequately formulate problems of political communication in setting up research, to put these questions in operation and to indicate them.

13. The Master is able to set up and carry out independent qualitative and quantitative research in the field of tension between media, politics and journalism, using the current social scientific research methods.

14. The Master is able to write and present a scientific report or a policy report.

15. The Master develops his/her own view on problems of political communication.

16. The Master is able to discuss and reason, recognize sophisms, develop standards for argumentation, recognize plausible points of view.

17. The Master is able to expose the essence of complex subjects and cases in political communication.

18. The Master is able to work in a team by communicating clearly and active listening.