Practitioners in charge of recordkeeping and collection management – whether in television studios, film archives, contemporary art museums, libraries, government archives and agencies, corporate organisations and heritage institutions – are concerned with comparable issues of access, use and sustainability. This programme introduces students to archival histories and a wide range of concepts, principles and techniques of archiving and (re)presentation. In their core courses, students are encouraged to critically reflect on how such concepts, principles and techniques are used in a wide range of professional and institutional functions, cultures and traditions.

In the first year of the programme, students acquire critical knowledge of the history, theory and practice of archiving, preserving, making accessible, curating and reusing information, as well as organisational functions and structures. In parallel, they learn how data and information are transforming lives, economies, social relations, and politics.  

Electives

In the second semester, students can choose from a number of elective courses. They are free to take any elective offered by the Graduate School of Humanities, but the Archival and Information Studies programme also offers its own electives.

Internship allowance dual Master's
The information below is only applicable for students in a professional Master’s programme.

A dual Master's programme comprises two parts: 60 ECTS credits in courses and a thesis and 30 ECTS credits in a work-study component or internship. For Curating Art and Cultures students, the latter comprises 60 ECTS credits.

During the work-study component, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is responsible for arranging an allowance of at least €275 per month. As the majority of dual Master's students receive an internship allowance that is often over €275, the UvA is meeting this responsibility. However, if the internship allowance is lower than this, you can submit a request for a supplementary allowance from the Profiling Fund, to bring the total to €275. In addition, students receiving a supplementary student grant from the Education Executive Agency (DUO) are eligible for an allowance equal to their supplementary grant, in addition to this allowance of €275.

If you have any questions and/or want to apply for a supplementary internship allowance, please send an email to: Student Counsellors, Attn: Karin Waanders.

In the second semester, students will write a Master's thesis in which they reflect on the major challenges of information management, recordkeeping and archiving.

The Master's thesis reports on research carried out under the supervision of an academic staff member connected to the programme. The thesis’ topic must be mutually agreed upon by the student and the academic adviser. The subject is relevant to the field of media studies, and more specifically, Archival and Information studies. The final text is between 17,000 and 23,000 words.

In the second year, students partake in an extensive internship with parallel themed weekly sessions to reflect on and gain more in-depth knowledge about specific aspects of information management and recordkeeping. The internship period is an integral component of the Dual Master’s in Archival Studies. The internship period gives you the opportunity to apply the concepts, principles and techniques you were introduced to in the first year, while building up a network in your future professional field. During this internship period there will be weekly sessions in which you will explore, discuss and deepen your knowledge, skills and insights through intensive seminars and workshops based on the experiences in your internship.

Students taking a dual Master's programme may in some cases be eligible for a reimbursement.