How our program prepares you for the world

This multidisciplinary program draws on the resources of departments throughout the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Fine and Performing Arts. You can focus on particular geographical, cultural or historical aspects to shape a program that fits your interests and needs.

The major has four components:

A CORE OF FOUR COURSES, including classes in history, political science, geography, and the humanities, grounds you in the broader aspects of European culture. FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY to the point of working proficiency. Studying abroad in a European university in which you are instructed in a foreign language can fulfill this requirement. FORM AN AREA OF CONCENTRATION by selecting geographical, chronological or disciplinary courses. For example, you may focus on the European Community, on German-Russian relations, or on the interaction of European arts and letters. SENIOR SEMINAR: select a research topic and share the insights and knowledge drawn from your program with your fellow majors.

If European Studies is part of a double major, many of your European Studies courses will count toward the second major or toward general education requirements for a bachelor’s degree in Arts and Sciences.

Study Abroad

Our program has study-abroad programs of its own and is also affiliated with programs in Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Denmark and Russia. Many of these programs are comparable in cost to paying for room, board and tuition at NU, plus transportation costs. You can remain registered at UNL while studying abroad, and courses taken overseas can count toward the major and general degree requirements.

Lectures, movies, exchange students, and conversation tables

Throughout the academic year the European Studies program sponsors a series of lectures by University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and visiting experts. Students are invited to attend and interact with the speakers.

The Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater regularly schedules movies from Europe.

Exchange students from Europe come to the university each semester to study.

The weekly "conversation tables" for language practice outside of class, sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.