Digital Communication

1. This full-time degree course is designed to support high-quality journalism. The academic in charge is Dr Christian Stöcker, who previously headed the Netzwelt section of Spiegel Online, the website of Germany’s leading news magazine Der Spiegel. He joined HAW Hamburg’s Department of Information as its professor of digital communication in winter semester 2016/17. A host of guest lecturers from key media outlets provide students with comprehensive insights into how today’s media businesses do journalism.

2. The course is designed to be as close to the day-to-day realities of journalism as it gets. It is the first degree course at a German institution to have a newsroom modelled on the ‘teaching hospitals’ used in journalism education in the US. Students produce professional, up-to-the-minute multimedia reporting on events at HAW Hamburg and in the city of Hamburg while learning about audience development via the use of data, search engines and social media.

3. HAW Hamburg has Germany’s most modern ‘media campus’, where a range of experts in journalism, multimedia content, social media, data visualisation, drone journalism and SEO provide students with a unique breadth of specialist knowledge and skills. Its on-campus TV and radio station and specialist AV labs offer top-level technical infrastructure.

4. A potential funding boost: High-performing students, or those in need of particular support, can apply for a one-year Deutschlandstipendium scholarship, worth €300 per month and funded by the German federal government and leading businesses. Students who receive the scholarship award can apply for part-funding for their Master's thesis from a participating business.

5. Outstanding job opportunities and an excellent network: Our graduates work at DER SPIEGEL, DIE ZEIT, Beiersdorf, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Correctiv, Greenpeace, Gruner + Jahr, Hamburger Abendblatt, Hamburg Süd, Hoffmann & Campe, Microsoft, Mit Vergnügen Hamburg, NDR, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Share, Tchibo, T-Online and WDR, among others. Numerous graduates have successfully started their own companies.

This Master’s degree course is aimed at gifted communicators with a first degree (Bachelor, Magister, Diplom or Master, or international equivalents) and excellent knowledge of German and English. We’re looking for highly motivated and creative thinkers with initial experience in media who want to help shape the digital transformation of our societies.

You will need to successfully complete an interview with the selection committee to be awarded a place.

As well as gaining hands-on experience in the newsroom, our students gain leadership competencies for the digital economy in their first two semesters in two special academic modules:

• Communication Skills: this course teaches you key aspects of digital communication across disciplines, including IT, media psychology and media management.
• Digital Strategy: this module provides a thorough grounding in vital strategic competencies to help you handle the systemic and structural shifts of the digital revolution in regard to media ethics, media law, and communication planning.

In the course’s second year, you’ll start your journey into your real-world future career with two supervised communication projects in your third semester. In your fourth and final semester you will progress to a project you plan and realise independently in cooperation with a media business and whose trajectory and results you document in your Master's thesis.

Our graduates leave us with up-to-date knowledge and skills in a range of areas, including research and fact-checking, digital news, cross-media formats, digital leadership, storytelling, social media and community engagement, debating, big data, project management, newsroom strategy, psychology of communication, media ethics, journalism and PR, Internet politics, design thinking, user research, content marketing, SEO, data visualisation and blogging.

• A first degree worth at least 180 credit points, with a minimum grade of ‘good’ (2.5) in the German system (or an equivalent grade).
• Diploma Supplement/Transcript of Records
• International applicants are required to demonstrate proficiency in the German language via a recognised language test, which should be one of the following: Goethe Institute C1, TestDaF 4, telc C1 Hochschule, DSH2, Deutsches Sprachdiplom issued by the KMK (Kultusministerkonferenz), or Kleines or Großes Sprachdiplom issued by the Goethe Institute.
• All candidates are required to demonstrate proficiency in the English language at CEFR level B1 via an appropriate means (your Abitur grade, TOEFL test score, etc.)
• For your application, you will need to submit your certificate(s) of qualification, a letter of motivation, your CV and samples of your work. Please note that you must provide proof that you are the author of the writing samples submitted. Successful completion of an interview with the selection committee is a prerequisite for being awarded a place.

This degree course has a two-step application and admissions process.

Step 1 – 15 to 30 October: Please submit your online application here during the application period.

Step 2 – 15 to 30 November: During this period you will receive notification and possibly an invitation to attend an interview with the selection committee (planned for the end of November, beginning of December). We will then let you know if your interview was successful.