The Master’s in Public Administration consists of one year, in which you will collect a total of 60 EC. In addition to five compulsory courses, you will follow two elective courses that relate to your chosen profile. You can also make a cross-over by choosing elective courses of two different profiles. Eventually, you will end your Master’s by writing your master’s thesis.
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.
STRUCTURE
The Master’s in PA consists of five mandatory courses. In addition, you have a great deal of freedom to structure your Master’s with elective courses that interest you. You can choose two elective courses related to the profile of your interest. Mixing courses of two different profiles is also an option. It is all up to you! In one year, you will collect a total of 60 EC.
You will spend the last semester of your Master’s on graduating by writing your master’s thesis.
Total EC
60 EC
MASTER’S THESIS
The last semester is mainly dedicated to your master’s thesis. The choice of your graduation subject is largely up to you and the profile you have chosen. Some students tap into ongoing research at UT, but there is plenty of room to propose an idea of your own as well. You can also choose to conduct your thesis at an external organisation or institute, as many students do. The core course in Academic Research helps you prepare for your master’s thesis project.
What I like about the field of Public Administration is the diversity of challenges you can come across. I wanted to keep my Master’s broad and still explore different domains and topics.
Romy
Before I started the Master’s in Public Administration at UT, I had already done a Master’s in Public Policy and Human Development at the United Nations University. This programme had a strong focus on an international, European context. I thought following a second programme that focuses on the Dutch government would be of added value, and this Master’s offered exactly that! I chose the Dutch-taught profile Nederlands Openbaar Bestuur, with elective courses in:
Lokale en regionale samenlevingskracht
Institutionele kaders: ontwerpprincipes van lokaal en regionaal bestuur
What I like about the field of Public Administration is the diversity of challenges you can come across. I wanted to keep my Master’s broad and still explore different domains and topics, so I chose the profile Safety & Security and follow up with a thesis in the healthcare domain, in which I focused on flexible deployment of healthcare workers. l I followed elective courses in:
Public and Private Policing
Public Safety
During my Bachelor’s in Media & Entertainment Management (now Creative Business) and also while working on my own business as an entrepreneur, I became interested in corporate responsibility and strategy. I’ve realised that I wanted to think about more than just profit maximisation and business goals. I chose this Master’s to take a deeper look into how an organisation relates to society and what it can do to tackle societal challenges and operate responsibly. I chose the profile Public Affairs with elective courses in:
