Semiotics as an object science is especially productive in the description of sign processes which have been either disregarded by the traditional arts and social science disciplines (such as nonverbal communication, social rituals and political symbols) or require cooperation on a common  theoretical basis  (such as the multimedia sign processes of opera, circus, theater, film and television). 

As a metascience, semiotics can analyse and compare sign processes in the discipline; in methods the measuring procedures of natural sciences, the observation and test procedures of social sciences and the interpretation essences of arts sciences; in the systematization of results the development of axiomatic theories, the production of reality models and the use of  argumentative and narrative discourses; in the representation of events the development of artificial languages, the drafting of maps, diagrams and graphs, the introduction of two and three dimensional formulas as well as the use of natural languages with different grades of reglementation. 

As an interdisciplinary approach, semiotics promotes the cooperation of the sign-related disciplines in describing complex cultural reality, for example by setting the methods of interpretation used in  human and social sciences on a common theoretical basis, and by combining them in the description of multi-media sign processes. 

As an applied science, semiotics can contribute theory-based procedures for solving everyday problems that cannot be solved within the framework of any single traditional discipline (e.g. problems with complex design, of human-machine-interaction, organisation of knowledge). 

These study specifications establishes the basis for Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics at the Technical University Berlin. The course is concluded with a series of university exams in a cumulative form and confirmed with a certificate stating the attained level of achievements. In the event of discontinued study, achievements sofar are confirmed with a certificate. The successfully completed postgraduate course can be continued with the aim of a PhD in semiotics. 
 
 

The course begins at the beginning of the summer or winter semester. Apart from the general prerequisites for entry onto the course at the Technical University Berlin according to the ruling of the Technical University Berlin on the rights and duties of students as well as the conditions according to § 10 of the Berlin law for institutions of higher education - Berliner Hochschulgesetzes (BerlHG), immatriculation for Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics requires the presentation of a degree, master's or state examination certificate of completed study in a sign-related subject in the arts or social sciences or a relevant subject of natural or semiotically relevant discipline of engineering. 
 
 

The course coordinator, who is appointed by Faculty 1: history and and communication sciences, decides on the entry of applicants for Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics.
 
 

Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics facilitates professional activity in all the areas mentionned in the preamble. Together with arts or social science subjects, it particularly qualifies students for professional tasks which overlap disciplinary borders: 

• media careers in the press, raadio, television and publishing 
• cultural and scientific journalism
• documentation as well as development and supervision of data bases
• software technology in information technology
• teaching in a sign-related discipline in an interdisciplinary context
• academic organisation of science in schools, universities and in private and public insitutions of further education
• cultural politics and administration

Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics embraces a core course and a supplementary course. The core course (20 semester week hours)  includes attendance at: 

• 1 introductory course (2 hours),
• 1 reading course (2 hours),
• 1 description course (2 hours),
• 4 semiotic pro or main seminars (2 hours each),
• 2 semiotic lectures (2 hours each),
• 1 semiotic colloquium (2 hours).

The supplement course (4 semester week hours) consists of further study options in semiotics and in sign-related subject areas which the students choose freely according to their areas of research. 

The whole syllabus for Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics consists of  24 semester week hours. They are normally distributed over 2, 3 or 4 semesters, which yields a course participation average of  12, 8 or 6 semester week hours. 
 
 

In the supplementary course the choice of teaching options and sign-related content is left open to the students. The core part of the course requires attendance at 1 semiotic colloquium, 2 semiotic lecture, 3 semiotic courses and 4 semiotic pro or main seminars. The content of the colloquia, courses and lectures are chosen freely from those on offer. Four types of course content are offered for pro or main seminars, with alternating subject matter. One of the following types of seminar is to be attended: 

1.  Pro or main seminar in theoretical semiotics: 

• General semiotics: 

 

a)	objects: sign processes, sign situations, sign systems, sign systems, sign complexes
b)	dimensions: syntactics, semantics, pragmatics
c)	methods: exploration of sign processes, hypotheses formulation, operationalisation, sign study, sign analysis, sign interpretation; model formation, production and reconstruction of sign systems
d)	theories: structuralist, pragmatic, phenomenological, behavior- theoretical, among others
e)	representation: conceptual-verbal, diagrammatic, algebraic, among others.

• the relationship between general semiotics, regional semiotics and the individual disciplines (the semiotics of literature, music, art, theater, film, architecture, medicine, among others).
• the relationship between semiotics and other interdisciplinary approaches (information theory, cybernetics and system theory, synergetics, Gestalt theory, cognition research, hermeneutics, among others).
• the relationship between semiotics and the philosophical views (idealism, materialism, marxism, structuralism, poststructuralism, among others).

• practice in the description of selected sign processes, sign situations, sign systems and sign complexes 
• isolation of a cultural sign system (e.g. mimic and gesture, clothing, eating habits, political rituals and symbols, sport, tourism, pictograms, traffic signs, writing, design objects in the present or the past, Europe or other parts of the world)
• sign theoretical analysis of such a sign system with regard to redundance, economy, and efficiency 
• description of cultural work division of labor in selected sign systems  (e.g. word and picture, language and music, oral and written communication)
• comparative analysis of sign complexes of different  kinds from literature, music  and art; analysis of aesthetic communication and interpretation in the study of literature, music or art (drawing on recitals, concerts, exhibitions, readings etc.)

• the historical development of sign concepions and sign-related disciplines in the West: in Greek and Roman antiquity, in the Latin, Greek and Jewish Middle Ages, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, as well as in the 19th and 20th century
• the sign conceptions of non-western semiotics: in the Ancient Oriet, the Islamic world, in India, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Oceania, the Ancient Americas and non-Islamic Africa
• modern semiotic movements: Peirce, Saussure, Frege and their followers, phenomenological semiotics, significs, onomasiology and semasiology, logical empirism, constructivism, praxeology, Wittgenstein and the  philosophy of normal language,  Jakob von Uexküll and ecology, Cassirer and his followers, Morris and behavioral semiotics, Russian formalism, Prague functionalism,  Jakobson and structuralism, Hjelmslev and dthe glossematics, the Moscow-Tartu school, Greimas and his school,  Umberto Eco, Nelson Goodman, poststructuralist semiotics.

• a relevant class from the following faculties 

 

1	history and communication sciences
2	educational sciences
3	mathematics
7	environmental and social sciences
8	architecture
9	construction engineering and applied geosciences
10	travel and transport studies
13	information technology
14	economy and management
15	nutrition and biotechnology

In accordance with  § 6, the necessary proof of 20 hours per semester week and two certificates of achievement, which in culmulative form take the place of a final examination, should be presented to the course coordinator upon the student's completion of studies. 

Successful participation in Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics is confirmed by the issuing of a certificate. This certificate names the titles of classes attended and the subjects of the papers which form the basis of the two certificates of achievement. The certificate is signed by the university dean and the course cordinator, and carries the seal of the Technical University Berlin  . 
 
 

The consulation service provides information on the respective requirements of each series of classes via consulation with the faculty members. The Research Center for Semiotics  (RCS) is in charge of the consultation, coordination and organization of Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics. For both students and applicants the consultation takes the form of individual consultation during which information is provided on entry requirements, course content, syllabus, study options and certificates etc. 

General information can be obtained from the Research Center for Semiotics and the administration office of  Faculty 1: history and communication sciences as well as the relevant sections of the universtity's central administration. 
 
 

The regulations for Postgraduate Studies in Semiotics came into effect after their publication in the official information broschure of the Technical University of Berlin, thus invalidiating  the regulations for the course in Semiotics from October 31 1991.