System of Compulsory and Selective Courses

Over the course of your studies, you will be required to earn 120 credits. Of those, 36 come from compulsory courses in our department. The other necessary credits can come from your second subject, from the core courses, and also from selective and free choice courses.

Each year you have a different number of courses that are compulsory. In addition to these required subjects, you have two other kinds of courses you need to take: Selective courses and courses related to your Master’s Thesis.

Additionally, there are prerequisite courses that you must pass in order to progress through your studies.

Selective Courses

During your bachelor studies, you will have to complete at least three of these courses and at least one of those three must be a methodology course (that is the compulsory part). Which subjects you choose is up to you (that is the optional part), you can choose anything for the other two, and you are welcome to participate in more than three if you have the time and interest.

Note that Combined students do not have the requirement about which kinds of courses they must take. They only need to take four compulsory-optional courses of any kind.

You can see a list of the courses on offer on the page Offered Selective Courses. Note that you are able to start taking these kinds of courses beginning in your first semester.

Master’s Thesis Courses

All students must begin taking courses related to their master’s thesis beginning in their second semester. In the second semester, there is the course DPP_AJ Master’s Thesis Project. In the fourth semester, there is the course DP_AJ Master’s Thesis. And in the fifth semester, there is the course DPD_AJ Master’s Thesis Completion. (If your thesis is in another department, all of the codes will be different after the “_”.)

Passing each of these courses requires work with a supervisor. You can find out what our teachers are interested in supervising in IS in the application Packages of Topics (under Student). Then you can contact a potential supervisor and work out all necessary things with them.

Students who will write their thesis at the Department of English, in addition to the above, will also need to pass either AJPV_ASWR Academic Skills: Writing or AJPV_WRIB Expository Writing during their first year, if they have not completed these courses during their bachelor’s studies.

Semester by Semester

What follows is a possible look at how you can fulfill your requirements each semester.

In the first semester, you have 12 credits from required courses at our department. Additionally, you can begin taking compulsory-optional courses now, including AJPV_ASWR Academic Skills: Writing.

In the second semester, you have 13 credits from required courses at our department, including the last required courses from Practical Language. You can continue taking compulsory-optional courses, including either AJPV_ASWR Academic Skills: Writing or AJPV_WRIB Expository Writing. You must sign up for the Master’s Thesis Project course (and discuss your ideas immediately with a supervisor), no matter where you are writing your thesis.

In the third semester, you have 9 credits from required courses at our department. You can continue taking compulsory-optional courses. You must sign up for the Master’s Thesis course, no matter where you are writing your thesis.

In the fourth semester, you only have 2 credits from required courses at our department. None of your courses last more than 6 weeks (as you need all of your credits by 20 April in order to be eligible for the state exams). You must sign up for the Master’s Thesis Completion course, no matter where you are writing your thesis.

Then you need only complete the state exams and defend your thesis and you will have your master’s diploma.