Digital Society
The Digital Society programme is a master programme at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. It is currently offered as a minor programme (30 ECTS) and as a Major programme (90 ECTS) starting in autumn 2025. It focuses on the social dimensions and consequences of digital technology in today's societies.Public lecture series
On Tuesdays, at 4:15pm, a public lecture series takes place at PER-21, room B130. It gives you an overview of the variety of topics and perspectives of the Digital Society. Anyone interested is free to attend. No registration needed.
Admission
Enrolled students can switch to Digital Society via MyStudies. New students must enroll for the spring semester 2026 via the UniFR admission office. Click here to apply.
Description
Today’s society is strongly influenced by digital transformation. This transformation began with the development of modern computers in the second half of the 20th century, the establishment of the Internet in the 1970s and the emergence of the World Wide Web through the 1990s. There is no area in today’s society that is not affected by digitalisation. Digital technologies have a major impact on various areas of life, on personal interactions as much as on institutions and social processes. These areas of life include education, health, labour, social welfare, trade and consumption, media, law enforcement, agriculture, religion, transport, leisure and family.The master programme Digital Society focuses on the social dimensions and consequences of digital technology in contemporary societies. In the social sciences, research on digital society tends to be very interdisciplinary—including sociology, anthropology, economics, communication, system design, contemporary history, computer science and cultural studies. The programme examines how digital technologies have impacted social processes and structures for society as a whole and for individual actors, social groups and practices.
To learn more about the programme, consult the presentation from the Master Days 2025.
And after graduation?
The master’s programme Digital Society promotes skills useful for work in public administration, management and human resources, consumer protection and technology regulation, as well as for academic research in the social sciences, systems design, and digital technology development and application. Specific areas of employment for future graduates, in conjunction with another MA major programme, would include technology policy advocacy and legal regulation, human factors and user experience research, interaction design, technology journalism, project management for technology assessment, consumer protection, and information and communications technology (ICT) consulting.Brought to you by
The Digital Society study programme is part of social sciences programme and is offered in cooperation with the Department of Social Sciences, the Department of Social Work, Social Policy and Global Development, and the interfaculty Human-IST Institute of the University of Fribourg. If you have any question about the programme, please get in touch with Anna Jobin.Digital Society on social media
