Curriculum

During your Master’s in Chemical Science & Engineering (CSE), you will collect a total of 120 EC within two years. The specialisation in Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) consists of eight compulsory courses, an internship and your final master’s assignment.

In addition, you can fill up your free space with elective courses that interest you, both in and outside of the Master’s in CSE. Choosing a Capita Selecta is also an option. This is a self-study course in which you explore a specific topic of your interest, supported by a researcher of the related research group

European Credit Transfer System

Student workload at Dutch universities is expressed in EC, also named ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), which is widely used throughout the European Union. In the Netherlands, each credit represents 28 hours of work.

Year 1	Number of EC
Compulsory courses	37.5 EC	AMM Organic Materials Science AMM Characterisation AMM Inorganic Materials Science AMM Project Organic Materials AMM Project Inorganic Materials and Molecular Science and Technology Statistical Thermodynamics Surfaces of Thin Layers Phase Transformation and Manufacturing
Cross-disciplinary elective courses You will fill up part of your elective space with cross-disciplinary courses of other programmes than the Master’s in Chemical Science & Engineering, preferably of the Master’s in Applied Physics or Mechanical Engineering.	12.5 EC	Examples of electives: Lab on a chip Elastomer Science & Engineering Quantum Emitters Modern Topics in Condensed Matter Physics Linear Solid Mechanics Composites Forming Rheology & Processing of Thermoplastics
Free electives You can fill up the rest of your elective space with any course that meets your interests and ambitions, either related to the Master’s in CSE or other related master’s at UT.	10 EC	Examples of electives: Electrochemistry: Fundamentals & Techniques Chemistry of Inorganic Materials and Nanostructures Cryogenic Science and Technology Wind Energy Polymer Physics Advanced Ceramics Electrocatalysis: Materials and Spectroscopy

Year 2
Internship & Job Orientation Project	20 EC	In your second year, you will do an internship at a company, either in the Netherlands or abroad.
Master’s thesis	40 EC	You will finish your Master’s in CSE with your master’s thesis. You will complete this assignment at one of the research groups related to this specialisation. The choice of your graduation subject is largely up to you.
Total EC	120 EC

or Skype with a student and gain first-hand experience!

Internship

In the second year of your Master’s, you will gain practical experience by doing an internship for approximately three months. There are many options open to you when it comes to choosing your internship.

For example, you could write an advice report, examining certain materials for application in existing or novel processes, products or technologies. Or you could join a research & development department and contribute to the development of new materials, or apply your in-depth knowledge of materials directly in a manufacturing process. The types of companies or organisations you can complete your internship vary from a.o. manufacturing companies to engineering firms and consultancies to research institutes or universities. You can choose to do your internship abroad as well!

Master's thesis

You will complete your Master’s in CSE with your master’s thesis. The choice of your graduation subject will be largely up to you. You could for example focus on researching material behaviour, design a new type of material (property), improve materials interfaces or develop coatings for various applications.

Whether you want to focus on inorganic materials science, thin films, polymer membranes or nanomaterials, it is up to you! You will write your thesis under the supervision of a professor of one of the research groups. You could (partially) execute your research project at an external institution or organisation as well.

Your master’s thesis could involve investigating questions such as:

What is the chemical cause of various types of stains that occur in specific industrial manufacturing processes? And how can you prevent or remove them, keeping the surface clean, while staying away from cleaning agents that may later cause outgassing in a vacuum system?
When a substrate is covered by a thin coating or layer, it is common that some internal residual stresses remain behind in the film. How can you determine the residual stresses in substrate-supported metallic films and minimise the occurrence of such stresses to improve the performance or lifetime of the layer?

Research