The Department of Social Sciences integrates the disciplines of sociology, political science as well as communication and media studies. This is a unique combination in Germany that makes it possible to reflect on the interactions between media, politics and society in research and teaching.

The Department of Social Sciences offers three integrated degree programmes: the "BA Social Sciences: Media, Politics, Society", the "MA Social Sciences: Social Structures and Democratic Governance" and the "MA Political Communication". In addition, sociology, political science and communication and media studies can be studied as minors in combined study programmes. The degree programmes are characterised by a strong training in research-oriented and practice-based social science methods. The department also has a CATI telephone laboratory.

The "BA Social Sciences: Media, Politics, Society", one of the oldest Bachelor's programmes in Germany, was awarded the prize for the best social science reform programme by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft in 2003.

The German Accreditation Council has consistently granted the seal of approval to the study programmes of the Department of Social Sciences. The Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) repeatedly ranked the department's study programmes in the top group. The department with its sociology section also occupies a prominent place in the research rankings of the Wissenschaftsrat (German Council of Science and Humanities). The department is a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Institute (ASI).

The website of the department's international office is available here.

The university website provides extensive information in English for international students and researchers at https://www.hhu.de/en/international.

We are currently working on our English website. For those pages that are not yet available in English, we recommend using Google Translator, which allows you to browse through these websites easily and effectively. The university library offers a video tutorial at https://www.ulb.hhu.de/en/. Simply proceed accordingly and type "Sozialwissenschaften" and "hhu" into the Google search box.