Programme structure

The Public Administration master’s programme of the University of Twente is a top-quality programme and generated an overwhelmingly positive response from an international review committee of authoritative public administration specialists. This committee concluded that the PA master’s programme is leading at both the national and international level.

The one-year PA master’s degree programme is taught entirely in English (with the exception of the Legal Governance specialization) and consists of 60 European Credits (1 EC = 28 hours), divided over four quartiles.

Quartile 1

In the first quartile you will get three courses consistent with the first theme of your specialization. Each course is 5 EC.

Quartile 2

In the second quartile all students follow a course in research methods, and start with the theoretical framework of their Master Thesis.

Quartile 3

In this quartile you follow three courses which are consistent with the second theme of your specialization. The knowledge you gain allows you to improve your master thesis framework.

Quartile 4

In this last quartile you do the field work for your master thesis and write it. You work with a first and second master thesis supervisor and in the end have to defend your thesis. After that you may call yourself Master of Science. You will get a transcript of specialization-specific courses.

Two starts a year

Because of the structure with two themes in a specialization, it is possible to start your Master every semester, either in September or in February.

For course overview, click here.

Specialisations

There are four specializations within the Public Administration master’s programme:

- Policy and Governance
- Environment and Sustainability
- Higher Education

- Public Management
- Public Safety
- Legal Governance