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The European Master is a result of the European Union’s
Socrates programme, which started with an emphasis on media studies in 1988/89.
Founding members were the University of Kassel, the University of Manchester
and the Institute of Education, University of London. The University of Burgundy,
Dijon, and the University of Florence as well the Autonomous University of
Barcelona and the University of Bradford joined the network. As a consortium
the network has awarded the European Master of Arts in Media, Communication
and Cultural Studies since 1992/93. In October of 1999 the representatives
of the Universities of Burgundy, Bradford, Florence and Kassel signed a contract
in Dijon to institutionalise and formalise the success of the European Master
course by providing a common European study programme and a joint degree. In
2004 under the label CoMundus the European Master was recognised by the EU
within its Erasmus Mundus programme, which delivers annually up to 26 student
grants for non-EU students.
The Institute of Education, University of London collaborated with the study
programme, but established the European Master as a local degree in 2004. Since
2000 new university members have been added to the Consortium: the Arizona
State University, USA, (2000), the University of Texas at Austin, USA, (2001),
the University of Roskilde, Denmark, (2002), the Université Stendhal
Grenoble 3, France (2002) and the University of Aarhus, Denmark (2004). In
broadening its membership, the Consortium recognized the benefits of widening
the range of universities beyond Europe, by including North American universities
who support the mission and programmes. In spring 2005 the University of Sao
Paolo, Brazil, and the State University of St. Petersburg, Russia became members.
This is also a tribute to the results of globalisation during the 1990s.
The University of Manchester, the New University of Barcelona and the University
of Bradford have left the Consortium.
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