The interdisciplinary doctoral programme in American Studies is an established study programme with a long tradition. It has been run continuously at the Faculty of Social Sciences since 1985 and at the Faculty of Arts continuously since 1998. With this programme, the University of Ljubljana relatively early joined a small group of universities nurturing the interdisciplinary academic approach to American Studies, which is strongly developed not only in the USA but also at many universities in Europe and worldwide. The diversity of the programme's electives from different disciplines (political science, literature and culture, history, migration, and the like) is noteworthy, as is the programme's collaboration with renowned faculty and academic institutions from the US, Canada and other countries (University of California at Davis, Washington State University, University of Manitoba, Stanford University, Cergy-Paris). This study programme also actively collaborates with relevant professional, cultural and academic associations from the area where the students are also placed.
The aim of the programme is to train experts who are well acquainted with American developments in society, culture and politics. Doctoral students will be well equipped to deal with the day-to-day tasks in their working environment in the fields of administration, media, business, diplomacy, education and research, thus also benefiting in terms of their employability and professional network. The American Studies programme is designed to broaden the academic knowledge of graduates from various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The knowledge acquired should lead to better results in various academic fields and thus to more attractive careers.