Curriculum | Master's structure | Communication Science

The Master’s in Communication Science is a one-year programme comprising 60 EC. You will take two compulsory courses and choose elective courses to specialise in a specific domain. In the end, you will write a master’s thesis. It is possible to combine a master’s thesis with an internship, where your thesis serves as the foundation of your internship project.

European Credit Transfer System

Study workload at Dutch universities, and in the European Union as a whole, is represented in EC, also known as ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). In the Netherlands, each credit represents 28 hours of work.

Structure

You will take two compulsory courses, and you can tailor the curriculum to your interests by selecting elective courses from your preferred track or combining courses from multiple tracks.

Full descriptions of all courses can be found in our brochure

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Curriculum
Compulsory courses	20 EC	Critical reflections on Communication Science (5 EC) Societal Challenges (10 EC) Research Proposal (5 EC)
Elective courses You get to choose elective courses in any combination of the focus areas	20 EC
Track Social marketing and behavioural change		Behaviour and technology: an interdisciplinary approach Consumer psychology, marketing, and behavioural change Data-driven design for strategic communication Social change dilemmas Visual communication and corporate branding
Track Strategic organisational communication		Behaviour and technology: an interdisciplinary approach Positive organising The future of work The public discourse: stakes and stakeholders Visual communication and corporate branding
Track Society, media and technology		Behaviour and technology: an interdisciplinary approach Digital life unpacked Social change dilemmas The post-truth society: power, polarization, and participation The public discourse: stakes and stakeholders
Master’s thesis	20 EC	You will complete your Master’s by writing a master’s thesis.
Total EC	60 EC

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Master's thesis

You will complete your Master’s by writing a master’s thesis. For example, past projects involved evaluating how organizations can navigate communication in crises, build corporate reputations, and manage the complexities of corporate social responsibility. Others studied how people interact with technologies such as smartphones, AI assistants, and wearables. In another assignment, a student examined the impact of social robots on organisations, investigating how the presence of a social robot as a colleague influences company identity and employer branding.

As part of your master’s thesis, you can undertake research projects such as:

Designing communication strategies that encourage sustainability, reduce food waste, and promote environmental responsibility through innovative communication tactics (Social marketing and behavioural change track).
How the implementation of an enterprise social media system fosters or hinders the sense of unity between departments (Strategic organizational communication track).
Analysis of critical issues like privacy, disinformation, and the use of AI in political communication, and develop strategies for responsible, ethical communication (Society, media and technology track).