For best experience please turn on javascript and use a modern browser!
You are using a browser that is no longer supported by Microsoft. Please upgrade your browser. The site may not present itself correctly if you continue browsing.
Pre-Master’s programme

European Studies

The pre-Master’s programme European Studies is aimed at students who have a degree from a University of Applied Sciences (such as Dutch HBO) or an academic Bachelor’s degree that does not grant direct access to the tracks of the Master’s programme European Studies. This pre-Master's programme is taught in English.

Grants access to:

If you successfully complete the pre-Master’s programme within a year, you will automatically be admitted to the Master's programme you wish to pursue. However, you do need to complete the programme within one year, as you cannot start the Master's without fully meeting the entry requirements. After completing the pre-Master's programme you will not receive a diploma or certificate.

Programme

Please note: If you have obtained an academic Bachelor’s degree, you do not need to take the two Academic Skills courses (2 x 6 ECTS), which means that the programme will comprise 30 ECTS instead of 42 ECTS. Below you see the programme of the current academic year; the courses in the coming academic year may differ slightly. The Course Catalogue for the new academic year will be published in May.

You will follow one of the programmes listed below. All of them give access to all of the Master’s programmes listed above, but we strongly recommend that you choose the variant that corresponds with the Master’s you are looking to do.

Recommended for East European Studies

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC
  • Academic Skills pre-Master's
    12
  • 20th Century Russian and Soviet History
    6
  • The Trials of Communism: Justice and Ideology in Central-Eastern Europe
    6
  • Russian pop culture
    6
  • Philosophy of the Humanities 2: European Studies
    6
  • Post-Cold War Geopolitics and the Emergence of New States In Europe
    6
UvA Course Catalogue : pre-Master's East European Studies

Recommended for European Policy

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC
  • Academic Skills pre-Master's
    12
  • The Contemporary European Union: Process and Policies
    12
  • Unequal Europe: Inequalities and Justice in Europe
    6
  • Technocracy and Democracy in the Economic and Monetary Union
    6
  • Philosophy of the Humanities 2: European Studies
    6
UvA Course Catalogue: pre-Master's European Policy

Recommended for Identity and Integration

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC
  • Academic Skills pre-Master's
    12
  • Articulating Europe: Cultural Histories of a Political Idea
    12
  • The global 1970s: Contestation, Disillusion and Renewal
    6
  • Philosophy of the Humanities 2: European Studies
    6
  • Europe and the “Global South” in the 19th and 20th Century
    6
UvA Course Catalogue: pre-Master's Identity and Integration

Application procedure

Your application to the Graduate School of Humanities always starts by submitting an enrolment request for the Master's programme you wish to pursue. You can only submit an enrolment request for the pre-Master's if you have been admitted to the Master's programme on the condition of successful completion of the pre-Master's programme.

  1. Check the application deadline
    As you must first submit an application for the Master's programme, the application deadline of the Master's programme you wish to pursue applies. This is 15 May for students with a Dutch or EEA nationality, and 1 March for students with a non-EEA nationality.
  2. Submit an enrolment request in Studielink for the Master's European Studies
    Please complete all of the steps of the application process for the Master's programme you wish to pursue, including the application in MyInfo and the submission of all required application documents. This will ensure that you can automatically be admitted to the Master's in the following academic year.
  3. Wait for the admission decision
    The selection committee will assess your prior education. If you are able to meet the entry requirements for the Master’s by completing the pre-Master’s programme, you will receive a rejection for the Master's and a positive decision for the pre-Master’s.
  4. Submit an enrolment request in Studielink for the pre-Master’s European Studies
    Only after you have been (conditionally) admitted to the pre-Master’s do you register for the pre-Master’s European Studies in Studielink (in dutch: Europese studies - schakelprogramma). You will be informed by email in more detail.
Register via Studielink First enrol in the Master's More about applying for a pre-Master's programme

Important information for non-EEA students

If you need a visa for your stay in the Netherlands, please note that the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) only issues visas to pre-Master's students for the duration of one year. If you do not complete the programme in one year, you cannot continue your studies anywhere in the Netherlands.

Costs

The tuition fee rate for a pre-Master’s programme in the academic year 2023-2024 is €38.56 per ECTS, with a maximum of €2,314. This means that for a 42 ECTS pre-Master’s programme, the fee is €1,620; for a 30 ECTS programme, the fee is €1,157.

Facts & Figures
Mode Full-time
Credits 30/42 ECTS, 12 months
Language of instruction English
Conditions for admission University of applied sciences degree (HBO), Academic/research university degree (WO)
Starts in September