The Department of Cultural Studies, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek
25th February 2016
partner
doc. dr. sc. Tihomir Živić, predsjednik Katedre za knjižničarstvo: tzivic@kulturologija.unios.hr
The Department of Cultural Studies was established as the seventeenth scientific-teaching unit and the fifth university department of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek. Being the youngest Department within the Osijek University, it is unique concerning a model of its Program in Cultural Studies—the first university interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate study program at the Osijek University having three programmatic courses of studies: Cultural Management, Media Culture, and Library Science.
In addition to interdisciplinarity, such an open model aspires to promote the acquisition of theoretical knowledge in various analytical discourses (media theory, information science theory, theory of nation, educational theory, cultural anthropology, cultural studies, deconstruction, New Historicism, gender studies, environmental sciences, postcolonial studies, subcultural theories, etc.), incessantly perplexed with professional practice.
Thus, modern and innovative learning models—adjusted to the students of all courses of studies—are tried to be applied, also facilitating professional qualification by a practical teaching segment in the form of mandatory workshops. The teaching is realized in cooperation with the versatile cultural institutions and experts from the practice, being relocated outside of departmental classrooms as to enable the students to acquire special competences and skills necessary for an active participation in the labor market in a direct encounter with various cultural activities. Methodologically, the teaching is based on a change of the teaching paradigm from a “post-learning research” into a “learning through research” and develops the students’ awareness about social participation in the local environment of the City of Osijek, Eastern Croatia, and Croatia as a whole.
Launching interdisciplinary scientific-teaching projects (national and international), the Department will be established as a hub of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in the framework of the Osijek University. Besides a scientific-teaching activity, it will also promote an artistic activity, introduce various professional training programs within a lifelong learning concept, and motivate the faculty’s professional and postdoctoral specialization and mobility, as well as an intercultural communication with the various domains of science and arts.