Programme adaptations for international students

International students will follow the master’s programme with some adaptations:

·	Maximally 15 ECs are reserved for so called homologation courses (bridging courses) to bridge possible gaps in your prior knowledge. For Dutch students, these courses are part of the bachelor’s programme.

·	International students will not have a traineeship in a company. Instead they will carry out an Individual Research Project in one of the research groups of the department.

This leads to the following generic setup for International students:

Year	EC	Topic
	(max) 15	Homologation courses
First	20	Compulsory specialization courses
	5 or 10	Philosophical and Societal courses
	(min) 15	Electives
Second	15	Individual Project
	5	One elective
	40	Master’s thesis project

Homologation courses

Homologation courses (bridging courses) are advanced bachelor courses that you will have to follow if they contain essential knowledge for your master’s programme. Formally they are part of the master’s programme and as such they are included in the 120 EC study load of the programme. The courses depend on the chosen specialization and they have been selected by the Admission Committee.

Programme offer

Before arriving in the Netherlands, an international student will have received a so-called programme offer that states which homologation courses have to be done, the actual number of electives to be completed and whether or not an individual project has to be done. In most cases, a non-technical courses is compulsory. This programme offer is based on the specific content of the Bachelor’s programme that was completed and, if applicable, the more advanced education and/or working experience. It will not contain the main course programme as this should be setup by the student together with the programme mentor.

The individual project

The individual project is a small project that must be completed before you can start with the master’s thesis assignment. The goal of the project is to become acquainted with independent research, finding your own way through the project, and formulating the details of the research questions. During the project attention is given to the following aspects:

·	Describing the assignment, the problem(s) and the framework of the project

·	Looking for theoretical support for solutions, opinions and statements.

·	Motivating choices, while solving a problem

·	Distinguishing main and side issues

·	Planning your work

·	Reporting orally and in written form about your work.

For your IP, you can choose a chair which participates in the Electrical Engineering program for your Individual Project. All chairs will have a list of available projects, to choose from. The remaining time can be spent to the project.

Non-technical courses

If you need to do non-technical courses (that must be stated in the programme offer), contact the study adviser. You may search in Blackboard for e.g. “economy”. A frequently chosen course is Philosophy of Engineering (5 EC), as it is compulsory for Dutch master’s students. It runs in quartile 2 (2.5 EC) and in quartile 4 (also 2.5 EC).