The Master's program in English-Comparative Literature has been tailored to satisfy the need of talented students who are armed with an outstanding knowledge in English and Arabic literatures and who enjoy a convenient proficiency in the two languages. With its unique courses and research-focused learning methodologies, the Master's program in English- Comparative Literature will provide them with ample opportunities for looking beyond the national frontiers or geo-cultural boundaries of literary texts, and for studying literature within international and comparative contexts, by creating a dialogue between literary works and exploring the adaptation and reception of these works within different historical and ideological contexts.

The MA program in English-comparative literature is a 36-hour course comprising two pathways; dissertation writing and comprehensive exam. Irrespective of the chosen pathway, students have to successfully complete 21 core credit hours. Students who choose the dissertation-based pathway must also study 9 optional credit hours and a dissertation unit in which they will engage in a supervised research on a topic of their choice and submit a dissertation up to 15,000 words. On the other hand, students who decide to take the comprehensive exam must choose 15 optional credit hours, and sit for a final comprehensive exam at the end of their MA program. 

General Objectives:

The MA Program in English-Comparative Literature, taught by experts in the field, will:

1. Introduce students to the history and nature of Comparative Literature as a discipline.
2. Explore interdisciplinary, cross-national approaches to literature and critical theory.
3. Prepare students with the necessary skills which will enable them to produce professional research in the field of comparative studies. 
4. Enable students to complete a substantial dissertation or to sit for a written, comprehensive exam. 

The specific objectives of the program are:

1. Trace and examine the comparative concepts and contexts of the translated literature.
2. Present and discuss the themes and aesthetic configurations of post-modern literature.
3. Acquaint students with postcolonial genres and themes such as travel writing, memory, trauma, exile, expatriation, immigration, emigration and citizenship.
4. Examine Arabs’ reception and adaptation of Western literature and vice versa.
5. Create a dialogue between male and female authored texts and examine the competing ideologies of language and authorship that inform their writings.

Graduates of this program should be able to demonstrate:

1. Basic mastery of authors or literary traditions across national boundaries.
2. Critical and analytical skills in the interpretation and evaluation of literary texts. 
3. High-level proficiency in literary research and in the synthesis of research.
4. Ability to develop and delimit a research question and conduct independent comparative literary study.
5. Ability to situate works from two or more literary traditions within their historical, cultural and discursive context. 
6. Mastery of a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to texts and adopting them for comparative textual studies.