Curriculum

In the first semester you participate in four compulsory courses:

In block 1 you follow the courses Cities, States, and Citizenship; this course deals with the development of urban citizenship to national citizenship as an example of a process of institutional change. In the course Politics and Society in Comparative Perspective you familiarize yourself with methods for comparative and long-term analysis.

Compulsory courses in block 2 are Politics and Policy of Sustainability and Themes in the History of Politics and Society, where you develop the design for the thesis you will write in the second semester.

In addition you take two electives (in block 1 and 2). At the end of the first semester you participate in the career seminar, a series of trainings to help you prepare for the labour market and a meeting with alumni of the program.

In the second semester you do an internship and write your thesis. Ideally you will spend half of your time in study periods 3 and 4 on the internship and the other half on the thesis. However, it is also possible to concentrate the internship in one study period and the thesis in the other.

Your thesis requires you to do individual historical research based on primary sources and to report your findings according to the rules of the field. During the course Themes in the History of Politics and Society in study period 2 you already selected one of the subjects on offer and developed a thesis design, allowing you to make a quick start with the actual research in study period 3.

The internship comprises an individual assignment at an academic level related to a political or societal issue. An alternative for the internship is a skills lab: a project that allows you, in cooperation with a small group of fellow-students, to chart a current-day political or societal debate from a variety of angles and to record your findings in an advice or report. 

Entry Requirements

Look carefully at the entry requirements of the courses and whether there is a placement committee.

If you wish to deviate from the curriculum, you must first ask your programme’s Board of Examiners for approval or exemption. In case your request is granted, the changes will be processed in OSIRIS and integrated into your exam programme and Study Progress Review.

In order to graduate, you will need to meet your programme's exam requirements as described in the Education and Examination Regulations. Based on these criteria and your Study Progress Review, the Board of Examiners determines whether you have graduated. The courses that are listed on your Study Progress Review will appear on the International Diploma Supplement (IDS), the attachment that you receive with your diploma. Note that courses listed under the heading ‘Results-Other’ are not part of the examination syllabus and do not appear on the IDS.

If you have questions about your Study Progress Review or find errors in it, contact the Student Desk Humanities.