Welcome!

2019-20 School Year

Two-year MA Program in Political Science

Topics to Be Covered

Who’s Who

Calendar

Diploma requirements

Sample study plan

Faculty & Supervision Interests, Mentorship

Certificate programs

Course readers, communication

Student representatives

Departmental office

Q&A

Who’s Who

Head of Department

Zoltan Miklosi Associate Professor

Office Budapest: Nador. Str. 9, FT 803

Office Vienna: Quellenstrasse 51, B110

Email: miklosiz@ceu.edu

Tel: 36-1-327-3000/2569

MA Program Director

Attila Folsz Assistant Professor

Office Budapest: Nador. Str. 9, FT 807

Office Vienna: Quellenstrasse 51, B110

Email: folsza@ceu.edu

Tel: 36-1-327-3000/2074

Who’s WhoAdministrative Staff

Eva Lafferthon Department Coordinator

Office Budapest: Nador. Str. 9, FT 808

Office Vienna: Quellenstrasse 51, B111

Email: lafferthone@ceu.edu

Tel: 36-1-327-3078

Ildiko Tropa MA Program Coordinator

Office Budapest: Nador. Str. 9, FT 808

Office Vienna: Quellenstrasse 51, B111

Email: tropai@ceu.edu

Tel: 36-1-327-3416

Fax: 36-1-327-3087

Borbala Darabos MA Program Coordinator

Office Budapest: Nador. Str. 9, FT 808

Office Vienna: she is present only in Budapest

Email: darabosb@ceu.edu

Tel: 36-1-327-2789

Calendar

Pre-session (September 2 – 6) – Budapest

Prepare for the semester:

- get to know CEU facilities like the computer system and the library;

- attend orientation sessions;

- start thinking about what classes to register for;

- mandatory Scope and Methods class at 11.00 today;

- mandatory Academic Writing courses;

- Math Refresher classes;

- General Knowledge Test at 13.00 on September 3.

For further details see the departmental schedule at

https://politicalscience.ceu.edu/course-schedules

Calendar

Zero Week (September 10- 14) – Budapest

- One introductory class from each course (try to attend all these classes and check out the cross-listed courses);

- Welcome Reception - September 12, Thursday at 4 pm in the Nador 13 Rooftop Garden

- Opening Ceremony at 5 pm, on September 13, Friday

CalendarFall term, 2019 (September 16 – December 6) – Budapest & Vienna

- Take five mandatory courses, remedial course if required, academic writing,and quantitative methods course;

- Sep 28-29: students from departments/schools with fall term in Vienna depart for Vienna.

Winter break (December 7 – January 6)

- No exams, just holidays! (but final papers).

Winter term (January 7 – March 27) – Budapest

- Take two mandatory courses + elective courses.

Spring term (March 30 - June 12) – Budapest

- Special elective courses held by visiting faculty.

Fall term 2020

- Take missing mandatory course (if any), choose a mandatory elective course and take elective courses (register at least for 8 ECTS);

- Thesis writing.

Winter and Spring term 2021

- Take elective courses (register at least for 8 ECTS).

Calendar

Thesis scheduling

2020

- March 5-6: Thesis writing workshop - attend only

- March 8: Thesis questionnaire submission (choose topic and supervisor)

- April 9: Thesis topic and abstract (approx. 500-word)

- April 27: Detailed thesis proposal (approx. 2,500-words) including

milestones/deliverables

- May 28: First draft of an introductory/theory chapter (of approx. 5,000 words)

- June 5: Thesis writing workshop - present first chapter

- Summer, 2020: Individual fieldwork/analysis

- Sept.-Oct.: Thesis draft consultation with Center for Academic Writing

- October 5: Second draft: Intro + Fieldwork/analysis chapter (50% of the thesis. apr. 8,000

words)

Calendar

2021

- February 10: Revised/expanded fieldwork/analysis chapters (2/3 of the thesis, approx.

12,000 words)

- March 4-5: Thesis writing workshop - present most interesting part

- May 3: 15,000-word full draft

- May 27: 18,000-word final thesis

- May 31 – June 2: Defense + oral exams

Calendar

Graduation Ceremony

June, 2021

Diploma requirements

I. Complete mandatory and elective credits in courses in two years, earn 100 ECTS credits,

which

1. HAVE TO include

Scope and Methods (Fall)- 4 ECTS

and

Introductory courses (mandatory)

- Academic Writing (Fall) - 0 ECTS

- Remedial courses (Fall) - Depending on educational background, you will be

contacted directly via email

Foundational theoretical and methodological courses (mandatory courses)

- Foundations of Political Philosophy (Fall) – 4 ECTS

- Comparative European Politics (Fall) – 8 ECTS

- Political Economy I (Fall) – 4 ECTS

- Introduction to Political Communication (Winter) – 8 ECTS

Diploma requirements

Core discipline mandatory courses

- Constitutionalism and Democracy (Fall) – 8 ECTS

- Multivariate Statistical Analysis* (Winter) – 8 ECTS

- Thesis Writing – total of 4 ECTS

Mandatory Electives (choose one out of six, recommended in the second year)

- Concepts in Political Economy/ Political Economy II – 8 ECTS

- Introduction to Political Theory: Justice and Equality/ Political Theory – 8 ECTS

- Comparative Politics / Comparative Political Research – 8 ECTS

2. include elective courses offered or cross-listed by the department and...

3. MAY include:

8 ECTS offered by the Department of International Relations or the School of Public Policy;

8 ECTS of any other courses offered at CEU without permission;

and/or 8 ECTS in PhD-level political science courses, with a permission of the doctoral committee and the department. Such a request must be sent to ds(at)ceu.edu AND polsci(at)ceu.edu.

II. Defend a thesis

*Multivariate Statistical Analysis

You will have to take the Multivariate Statistics course in the Winter semester –

this course requires some background knowledge in statistics. This course has a

prerequisite of

passing the Introduction to Statistics course in Fall. Attending the classes

should give you the proper background necessary for Multivariate Statistics.

Sample study planFall 2019

Academic Writing

Foundations of Political Philosophy (Fall) – 4 ECTS

Comparative European Politics (Fall) – 8 ECTS

Political Economy I (Fall) – 4 ECTS

Research Design and Techniques [Scope and Methods] (Fall) – 4 ECTS

Introduction to Statistics (Fall) – 4 ECTS

Constitutionalism and Democracy (Fall) – 8 ECTS

Winter 2020

Introduction to Political Communication (Winter) – 8 ECTS

Multivariate Statistical Analysis* (Winter) – 8 ECTS

+ Elective courses 8 - 12 ECTS

Sample Study planFall and Winter 2020/21

One of the following courses

Concepts in Political Economy (Fall)

Political Economy II (Winter)

Introduction to political theory: Justice and Equality (Fall)

Political Theory (Winter)

Comparative Politics (Fall)

Comparative Political Research (Winter)

+ Elective courses (at least 8 ECTS in each teaching term)

Take mandatory thesis writing courses (altogether 4 ECTS starting in Winter 2020)

Faculty & Supervision InterestsFaculty mentors:

After your arrival at CEU, you can choose a personal mentor from among the faculty, whom you can always consult with any kind of issue related to your studies.

Check the faculty profiles at https://politicalscience.ceu.edu/faculty and signal three professors whom you would like to have as a mentor in this survey until Sep 8, 2019: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5168339/Select-a-Mentor-2019-20

Mentors will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis, as each faculty member can mentor 3-4 students, based on their availability.

The MA Welcome Reception is a good opportunity to make contact with your mentor, and otherwise you should just email them or pop in during their office hours when you want to meet them.

N. B.: Mentorship is voluntary and informal, and not related to thesis supervision.

Besides courses, you will also need to write a thesis, therefore pick a thesis supervisor by Mar 8, 2020: http://politicalscience.ceu.hu/research-interests

Students are expected to work closely with their approved supervisor during their thesis writing.

Certificate programs

Basic idea

In the course of your studies for an MA in Political Science

you can, if you so wish, specialize in a field of your choice,

and receive from the department – in addition to your MA

diploma – a certificate proving this.

Certificate programs

Available programs in 2019/20

- Social and Political Theory

- Comparative Politics

- Political Economy

- Political Communication

- Electoral Politics

- Research Methodology

- Comparative European Politics

- Post-Communist Politics

- Public Policy

- Constitutional Politics

Certificate programs

Requirements

you will earn at least 40 ECTS (20 CEU credits) in courses related to

the given specialization,

receive a B+ or better grade in each course and

write your MA thesis on a topic related to the given specialization.

The list of courses belonging to each specialization will be available

through the departmental website

(https://politicalscience.ceu.edu/certificates).

Course readers, communication

Course readers

The readers for all the courses are available in electronic form. You will get

information on them via e-mail. Please check also CEU's e-Learning site:

http://ceulearning.ceu.edu

Communication

Primary communication is via email (polsci [at] ceu.edu). It is your duty as a

student to check your CEU email regularly (at least daily) and respond

promptly to all departmental requests.

If you receive regular mail it will be delivered to the secretariat and an e-

mail notification will be sent to you.

Student Representatives As MA students of the Department of Political Science, you have the right to vote

and the right to be elected as a representative to the Student Union of the MA

students.

You are to elect your representative and his/her deputy.

Representatives will be invited to dept. meetings to take part in decisions.

Representatives can also take up positions in various university bodies.

As of the rights and obligations of students and their representatives, please visit

the site of the CEU Student Union http://www.ceu.edu/studentlife/student-union

Please send a short statement that you would like to run as a candidate to the

departmental email (polsci(at)ceu.edu) by Monday, September 9. There are no

other requirements for nominations, and we will circulate these statements to all.

Election date and time will be announced later on. (Please note that MA1 students

will elect their own representative so there will be two elections.)

Departmental office

Our offices have an open-door policy.

Please visit the Secretariat on work days between 9:30 -16:30, if possible.

Location: Office Budapest: Nador. Str. 9, FT 808

Office Vienna: Quellenstrasse 51, B111

Central e-mail address: polsci [at] ceu.edu

Q&A