Psychology

For information about course prerequisites please refer to the course planner.

The PSY11 Introduction to Psychology course offers a broad overview of the field, from the biological basis of behavior to social psychological processes and abnormal psychology. Attention is paid to historical emergence of the different sub-disciplines within psychology and their connection to other academic disciplines. The focus is on getting to know what psychology is all about. The exams are designed to check whether that knowledge is in place; presentations and individual papers serve to stimulate students to apply the methods of psychology to questions that fascinate them.

At the intermediate level 2, a number of dedicated topical ‘state-of-the-art’ courses is offered, allowing students to learn as well as to experience what types of discoveries have contributed to our broad understanding of human behavior. At the level 2, project work is an important component in the evaluation, besides exams. To progress to these courses students must have taken Introduction to Psychology and for the majority of courses having taken a methodology course is also required. Please check the course planner for specific prerequisites.

At the advanced 300-level, focused specialist courses are offered in a format that resembles a seminar setting. At this level, students are expected to actively use the acquired knowledge from their earlier courses. This is also reflected in the fact that each course targets not only the student who considers him- or herself a Psychology major, but students who specialise in other domains as well. The courses are designed so that these students can learn from one another.

Combinations of sub-sets of psychology courses

1. Social psychology: UCSSCPSY11: Introduction to Psychology, UCSSCPSY21: Social Psychology/UCSSCPSY27: Cross-cultural Psychology, UCSSCPSY31: The Psychology of Ethnic Relations/UCSSCPSY33: The Psychology of Human Motivation, especially interesting for students interested in LAW, SOC, and ANT; combined with statistics interesting for students who want to continue with psychology and/or research.
2. Mental Health: UCSSCPSY11: Introduction to Psychology, UCSSCPSY23: Psychopathology, UCSSCPSY37: Health Psychology; especially interesting for students interested in MED or clinical practice.
3. Development: UCSSCPSY11: Introduction to Psychology, UCSSCPSY22: Developmental Psychology, UCSSCPSY39: Adolescent Development; especially interested for students interested in working with children, but also for those interested in CRI
4. Cognition: UCSSCPSY11: Introduction to Psychology, UCSSCPSY27: Cross-cultural Psychology, UCSSCPSY33: The Psychology of Human Motivation; especially interesting for students interested in ECO, education, or management.

Entry requirements for Health Psychology (UCSSCPSY37)

For the 2024-25 academic year the entry requirements for this course will be as follows:

At least 1 of the courses below must have been passed with at least a 1.7:

• Mechanisms of Diseases (UCSCIMED21)
• Social Psychology (UCSSCPSY21)
• Psychopathology (UCSSCPSY23)
• Global Health (UCINTGLO21)(UCINTGLO21)
• The Psychology of Human Motivation (UCSSCPSY33)
• Public Health (UCINTLAS34)

As the study of human behaviour, Psychology has links with a number of other fields, including but not limited to sociology, anthropology, linguistics,  cognitive neuroscience, methodology and statistics, biology and medical science.

Depending on the exact course package taken and on the type of thesis-work accomplished, University College Utrecht graduates with a focus on Psychology tend to do well in their further education. Competitive 2-year research Master's programmes happily accept our students, who are well equipped to continue training as a researcher. Our students are also readily accepted into the broad range of 1-year academic Master's programmes. Lastly: clinical programmes note deficiencies in content knowledge only since University College Utrecht does not offer courses in diagnostics, communication skills, or in advanced psychopathology. However, University College Utrecht students are allowed to take these Bachelor courses at Utrecht University, either before or after graduating – after which they are accepted into the clinical masters at the Utrecht University. Here is an overview of the types of Master's programmes that are available.

Research Master's programmes (2yr)

Good access, good performance; nr. of PSY courses taken not essential; MET31 recommended, a quantitative thesis important

Academic Master's programmes (1yr)

Good access, good performance; specific PSY courses taken can be essential for a program (deficiencies can be prohibitive); many clinical psychology academic Master's programmes are only offered in Dutch. One notable exception is Clinical Psychology (UU). Please get in touch with the Psychology fellow for more information.

Clinical Psychology Master’s program (1yr)

UCU and UU Clinical Psychology have come to an agreement that UCU students are eligible and welcome to apply for the UU Clinical Psychology Masters program. Eligibility is not the same as automatic acceptance. The admissions process for the Masters’ program is rigorous. The three primary evaluation criteria are the Masters’ program requirements, your GPA (with a particular emphasis on grades from the required courses) and your responses to a motivational questionnaire.

To meet the requirements for the UU Clinical Psychology Masters program, UCU students are required to do the following:

1. UCU Psychology Course requirements: Applicants must have completed the following courses at UCU.

• Introduction to Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Health Psychology
• Psychopathology
• Social Psychology

2. Methods and statistics & Research report requirements: Applicants must have completed the following specific courses at UCU. Research in Practice: Methods and Statistics for the Social Scientist [UCACCMET12] and Applied Multivariate Statistics [UCACCMET22] and the Psychology Thesis [UCSSCPSYT1] with quantitative analyses.

3. Assessment and Communication techniques requirements: Fulfilling the Assessment and Communication techniques requirements can be achieved through the UU summer school course “Psychodiagnostics: Theory and Skills Training (Online)” (contact details: Franziska Lechner-Meichsner (mailto: f.lechner-meichsner@uu.nl) which is scheduled from mid to late August. It is important to note that attending this program has a fee of 700 euros. The deadline is usually at the end of June/beginning of July.