Rethinking Knowledge
We live in a knowledge society. Be it in politics, education, business, academia or civil society, acquiring and disseminating knowledge is playing an increasingly important role. But who decides what knowledge is? How can knowledge be effectively communicated? And in what way is data related to knowledge? These are some of the questions that students will be addressing in the new master’s degree programme “Knowledge and Communication” at the Department of Communication (IfK), commencing in the winter semester 2025/26. Applications for enrolment in the coming semester are being accepted until 15 July.
‘Various forms of knowledge – scientific knowledge being one of them – inform decisions in politics, society and in organisations,’ says degree programme coordinator Prof Dr Julia Metag. ‘That’s why we need experts who are well-versed in the impact and management of knowledge.’ The master’s programme is taught in English and is thus targeted at both German and international students. It is also research-oriented and teaches analytical competence and additional methodological skills to students with a socio-scientific background. ‘Digitalisation is changing how knowledge is produced and disseminated and also creating new bases for knowledge – especially in the form of data,’ asserts Prof Dr Thorsten Quandt from the Department of Communication. Thanks to enormous masses of data, new findings are coming to light in many areas. What’s more, knowledge resources and databases are becoming more accessible overall. That is why the degree programme also focuses on questions of knowledge communication with automatised data-analytical methods. This coupling with “computational methods” is what makes this programme unlike any other in Germany.
For Becky Osazuwa and Julia Prawitz, two students in the first cohort, the first one and a half semesters were challenging but informative. ‘There was lots of variety in terms of teaching and examination formats with enough room to address one’s own questions and specific areas of interest,’ says Julia Prawitz, who earned her bachelor’s degree in communication science at the University of Erfurt. With just 18 spaces available in the degree programme, the small cohort requires everyone to think for themselves. ‘I wanted to specialise without losing sight of the broader horizon and interdisciplinarity. This programme brings the perspectives of different countries together – the discussion between the students is extremely fruitful,’ says the 23-year-old Prawitz.
Becky Osazuwa studied mass communication in Nigeria but had lived for a time in Germany as a child. ‘I was interested in a programme that goes beyond traditional communication studies and reflects the realities of the 21st century where artificial intelligence, digital media and the way people engage with public topics are constantly in flux,’ explains the 37-year-old. ‘The programme helps me critically reflect on communication and its role in society.’ She especially appreciates the international learning environment, the programme’s cross-disciplinary character and the way it interconnects the content with current social issues.
With regard to their professional future, neither of them has set upon a particular course. Julia Prawitz can imagine working for an NGO, an international organisation, in the academic sector or the field devoted to combatting disinformation. Becky Osazuwa envisions herself working in digital media, for which responsible-minded communication is essential. All the graduates will have a diverse range of (international) career perspectives to choose from, e.g. in research, data processing or communication in companies, cultural organisations or the media sector.
Author: Julia Harth
This article is taken from the university newspaper wissen|leben, issue no. 4, 17 June 2026.