Courses
The majority of the courses in English language deal with subjects important to International Communication, and they cover both practical and theoretical aspects of communication. The courses will cover at least one and generally two or three of the CoMundus study areas. Subjects change each semester, so that students staying for two or more semesters will be able to take a broad range of courses. Normally a special CoMundus core course is offered to CoMundus students only.
Some examples of subjects are as follows: audience analysis and methods, new media and international communication, perspectives on globalization, identity and cultural diversity, organizational communication, net-based communication and co-operation, knowledge sharing, intercultural communication, health communication. Practical courses may be on production (e.g. net media, video or oral communication) or may involve methods of data collection and analysis.
Assessment is carried out by the course teacher in a format that has been defined by him/her in the course plan, typically a short written report or a PowerPoint presentation.

Project
Master module 1 projects involve problem-oriented project work by students working in groups. A group size of three to five members is recommended, and we strongly discourage project work by individuals rather than groups. Once the theme for a project has been developed, the group applies for a supervisor. For deadlines, see the Semester Plan. The director of studies allocates supervisors, trying to, but not guaranteeing, that particular wishes are met. The theme of a project is subject to the approval of the Director of Studies and will also have to be negotiated with the supervisor. However, we do offer extensive freedom of choice as long as the subject is relevant. In order to provide some ideas – and guidelines – for choice of theme, here are three examples of topic-areas that are taught in the courses and could form the basis for project work:

1) Intercultural communication
This topic area focuses on intercultural encounters (in a Danish or international context) from theoretical perspectives that stress the historically and socially specific nature of categories such as national and ethnic identity and the consequences of particular forms of categorization for power relations. It aims to build general qualifications and analytical skills enabling students to manage different communication situations in intercultural contexts. From a humanist perspective it is less important to navigate according to an ‘Etiquette Book International’ than to have the tools for asking questions and to be able to qualify discussions on culture. Instead of understanding and describing the world in terms of fixed categories, we try to create awareness about the intercultural encounter, about the face-to-face meeting, body conventions, non-verbal communication, etc. It is assumed that the verbalization of culture as problem reproduces the conception of culture as dominant and problematic – which in turn may cause a lack of focus on other communication problems.
Examples of projects and masters' dissertations:
• Organizational culture and interculturalism – An intercultural conceptual analysis of the SOS Children’s Village Kakiri in Uganda.
• Future sexual instruction material – in the light of the modern, multiethnic society.
• The possibilities for ethnic minorities to participate in practices in a multiethnic workplace in Denmark - applying a social constructionist approach to intercultural communication.
• Development of a communication strategy for the improvement of student mobility from USA to RUC in the light of the internationalisation of further education (on the basis of a target group analysis).
• Discourses of Islam among Danish high school students –A target group analysis as the basis for the production of teaching material for Danish schools.

2) Mediated Communication, Communication Planning and Culture
The focus in this topic-area is the analysis and production of planned communication from theoretical perspectives that address central social and cultural developments such as changed relations between the local and the global and the spread of mediated communication (via both the "conventional" and "new" media). Key approaches covered operate with concepts such as target group and communication barriers and with how to combine mediated and non-mediated communication in communication campaigns designed to facilitate behavioral or social change. This area overlaps with other Roskilde University programmes, such as International Development Studies and Cultural Encounters, but differs by having mediated communication as its object of analysis.
Examples of projects and masters' dissertations:
• Discourses of masculinity in HIV communication campaign in Uganda focusing on senders' meaning-making and the interplay between global strategy and local implementation.
• Is the BBC serving the nation? A study on the BBC and its digital future focusing on the consequences of the use of digital media for the role of the BBC as national media institution.
• The discourse of war: Reproduction and transformation of speeches by Bush in the news coverage by TV2 (on the reception and subsequent production of foreign news in Danish media).
• Soul Buddyz - tomorrow is ours: A study of the South African television edutainment programme as a case of planned communication for social change.
• The discursive construction of the war on terrorism: Discourse analysis of press coverage of speeches by Bush in six different countries.

C) Organizational communication
In this topic area, students work with organizational communication and negotiation problems in international and intercultural contexts. Key themes are the global diffusion of ideas and arguments (e.g. conceptions of gender), the global standardisation of organizational cultures (e.g. the diffusion of "strategic action rationality" in small activist groups) and the challenges faced by organizations operating with internal or external strategic communication in international contexts. One type of strategic communication covered is knowledge-sharing in on-line communication.
One possible topic is communication problems arising from international mergers.
In the study of online communication in a global context, students engage in solving methodological problems of how to study globally dispersed online organizations and how to analyze the ways online and offline communication interact. Students attempt to find viable strategies for the negotiation of preconceptions and differences in organizations such as multinational corporations or NGOs. It is regarded as important to challenge the naïve globalization optimism which often accompanies enthusiasm about the opportunities of new technologies. For, even if technology does not recognize borders, language, people and cultures often do. At the same time, the corresponding naïve globalization pessimism is challenged through studies of the use of new media for knowledge sharing and studies of the transformation of hierarchic organizations into networks, etc.

Examples of projects and masters' dissertations
• Tourism marketing, e.g. ‘Branding Denmark’.
• Communicating an identity – An analysis of branding as communication strategy (case: The International Club at Roskilde University).
• Merge – A CMC system for creative co-operation (between editorial offices in two countries; how to support idea generation among creative workers).
• Online communities as communication and information strategy in humanitarian organizations.
• When staff members became a resource – Power relations in a company with an image as nursing and developing the human resources of its employees (on global influences on organizational culture).

In both projects and course activities that support project work, a wide range of different approaches to communication can be applied within the above three topic areas. And projects can work not only within but also across the three topic areas, combining for example a focus on planned communication via mediated and non-mediated communication with a focus on intercultural communication or organization communication. In all cases, it is possible for exchange students to bring material or cases from their own countries, to be used in comparative studies together with Danish co-students.

Read more about project work at RU here.

Module 2a is the dissertation module. Module 2a students form groups at the start of the semester (individual dissertation work is discouraged), apply for acceptance of their project proposal and are assigned a supervisor, and then embark on a project that equals one semester of full time work (30 ECTS-points). Dissertations have to be completed within six months. There is a choice of just submitting the dissertation or submitting the dissertation and taking an oral exam on the basis of it. Detailed rules apply for the dissertation. Please refer to the Semester Plan or the Communication Studies home page.

Module 2b is only for students who are not going to write a dissertation at Communication Studies (fx. exchange students and guest students). Module 2b should be completed in conformity with the regulations applying to Master module 1. You are not allowed to take identical courses at Modules 1 and 2b. The Module 2b term project also should differ significantly from your Master module 1 project.