Selective Master's degree programmes

Some Master's degree programmes have a selective admission.

What does selective admission mean?

This means that an applicant must both meet the admission requirements and successfully complete a selection procedure in order to be admitted to the Master's degree programme.

Which Master's degree programmes does this concern?

All Research Masters and Joint Degrees
Applicants must demonstrate that they are suitable to follow these degree programmes.
- Research Masters: you aim for a career as a researcher.
- Joint Degrees: you have an affinity with international cooperation and you are willing to partially study abroad.
A number of regular Master's degree programmes
The selection of admission guarantees the quality of education, in particular when it threatens to be jeopardized due to an excessive intake, too few internships or for comparable reasons. Some of the selective masters therefore also have a capacity limitation set. During the selection, we look at which applicants are most suitable for the degree programme.

An overview of the Master’s degree programmes with selective admission can be found at the bottom of this page.

What does the selection procedure look like?

In addition to the admission requirements, each selective Master’s degree programme has at least two qualitative selection criteria.

Admission requirements concern the knowledge and competences that the student may have acquired during the Bachelor's degree programme and therefore relate to the content of the Bachelor's degree programme.
Selection criteria concern skills of the student that exceed the exit qualifications of the bachelor's degree. For example:
- Personal qualities of the student (motivation)
- Results from the previous education that exceed the level of the exit qualification of the Bachelor's programme
- Past academic performance and study-relevant results. In order to determine whether the student can successfully complete the degree programme within the time limit.
  
  You may be asked to submit a letter of motivation, a CV, a reference letter or a score on a test (e.g. GMAT/language test).

The admission requirements, selection criteria and information about the selection procedure, such as deadlines and documents to be submitted, can be found on the relevant Master's degree programme page and in the Teaching and Examination Regulations of the faculty.

How can you best prepare for selection?

You should do the following:

Check whether you meet the admission requirements.
If you have any questions, you can contact the study advisor of the Master's degree programme you interessed in.
Find out what you need to do to participate in the selection procedure.
This differs per Master's degree programme.

You will find the necessary information on the Master's degree programme page. The link to this page can be found in the overviews at the bottom of this page.

What happens if I am not selected?

You cannot register for the Master's degree programme for which you have not been selected. However, you may register for another Master's degree programme. Hereby, you must take into account the starting dates and application deadlines of the Master's degree programmes.

In 2017, the universities decided that graduated Bachelor students should have access to a Master's degree programme that fits within the discipline in which you obtained your Bachelor's degree. For the University of Groningen, this means that within the university all UG Bachelor graduates have direct access to at least one Master's degree programme.

More information can be found in the University of Groningen UG Quality Assurance Protocol.