American studies, full-time, first cycle programme (S1-PRK-AM)

The American Studies Center is an interdisciplinary research and higher-education institution of the University of Warsaw. Its faculty members specialize in various fields of knowledge about the United States and the Western Hemisphere—culture, literature, arts, film, media, history, economy, politics, history of ideas, society, and law.

The American Studies Center has a full-time liberal arts undergraduate program in American Studies. The program lasts three years (or six semesters). All instruction is conducted in English, by permanent, adjunct, and visiting faculty. Among our permanent faculty are Polish professors as well as professors from the US and Mexico.

The program covers both humanities and social sciences— the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies, history, political science, sociology, as well as literature. Cultural studies is the leading one in the program. The ASC American studies program is one of the largest in Europe. It’s also unique in Poland in that it is interdisciplinary and includes a comparative perspective on the US vis-à-vis Latin America. It’s also unique in that it’s an all-English program, thus promoting intercultural understanding and international exchange. Our American studies program teaches how “to address the problems of the modern era—locally, regionally, and supra-regionally,” and helps develop “skills most looked for by employers on today’s job market” (from the mission of the UW Institute of the Americas and Europe to which the ASC belongs).

The program includes obligatory courses introducing students to the five major disciplines as well as elective courses helping students expand their knowledge within individual disciplines, in particular knowledge relevant to research projects which students engage in for the purposes of their BA theses. The program also provides for courses on research methods in humanities and social sciences as well as courses in academic writing in English. Research grants allow our best students to travel abroad for research purposes to other American Studies libraries in Europe or the United States and to conduct empirical research there.

The current study program is available on the website of the American Studies Center

The graduates of the ASC’s undergrad program are awarded BA degrees in American Studies. They have knowledge allowing them understand various cultural phenomena, in particular those of the United States of America. Trained to understand various cultural phenomena and institutions, ASC alumni seek employment in the media, cultural institutions, foundations, institutions of state administration, local governments, and other public institutions.

Our graduates know how to formulate and address various research problems; they know how to identify, understand, interpret, explain and analyze the causes and dynamics of cultural processes and phenomena observable in the US. They know how to use various resources for this purpose and how to employ several research methods and tools developed in humanities and social sciences. ASC alumni have all the necessary skills and competences to collect, evaluate, and sort various facts of culture and society, and to draw conclusions. In short, they know how to carry out work done by researchers, entrepreneurs, journalists, teachers of humanities and social sciences, social activists, and specialists working at various public institutions. Thanks to our interdisciplinary program, our graduates can not only recognize and understand basic phenomena and processes, but also collect, connect, and interpret them, and on their basis offer autonomous judgments and opinions.

Our BA graduates are equipped with skills and competences necessary to continue their studies at the MA level.

ASC graduates find employment in business, trade, journalism, media, cultural institutions, higher education, public administration, diplomacy, international organizations, and tourism.