January 2008

Research master's "Sociology and Social Research" at ICS-Utrecht

Dear Colleague,

The Department of Sociology and the Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) at Utrecht University offer a two-year research master's program "Sociology and Social Research" that is completely taught in English. The research master's program has a clear profile, offering structured and systematic training in theoretically and methodologically advanced research in sociology and the social sciences in general. Special features of the program include:

- A strong focus on the integration of social theory, empirical research, and methods of data-analysis.

- In various courses, students gain extensive hands on experience in social science data analysis.

- Students gain hands on experience in writing a publishable research article in English: the master's thesis that completes the program is written in the format of a publishable research article. In fact, experience shows that many students do indeed submit their thesis to a journal and quite some of these submissions are accepted for publication.

Students benefit from intensive supervision. Instructors involved in teaching the program and supervising students inlude prominent researcher from the Department of Sociology and the ICS such as Vincent Buskens, Henk Flap, Tanja van der Lippe, Ineke Maas, Anne-Rigt Poortman, Werner Raub, Rene Torenvlied, Frank van Tubergen, Beate Volker, Jeroen Weesie, and others. Students likewise benefit from much interaction and collaboration in a relatively small group of peers. Drop out rates of students from the program are very low and almost all students entering the program do complete it in due time within two years. The profile of the program ensures that the labor market position of alumni is excellent: students who have completed the program are very successful in acquiring subsequent positions as PhD students, as researchers in institutes and organizations outside the university system, as trainees, etc.

The target group of students consists of promising students with a Bachelor's degree or an equivalent period of at least three years of undergraduate study and qualifications that justify the expectation of successful completion of the program in due time. This includes students with a BA Sociology or Social Sciences, broadly conceived and including Economics, Political Sciences, Public Administration, Demography, and (Social) Psychology.

Students from outside the Netherlands are explicitly encouraged to apply and can easily follow the program since it is taught in English. About 30-50% of the students are students from outside the Netherlands. Admission to the program is selective. "Sociology and Social Research" is one of Utrecht University's Prestige master programs and thus benefits from special funds of Utrecht University. Some teaching and research assistantships are available for talented applicants. Also, funding is available for participation in summer schools outside the Netherlands (for example, Essex and Ann Arbor).

Each year, a new group of students enters the program. We are currently searching for talented candidates for the academic year 2008/2009. Courses for this group will start on September 1, 2008.

The deadline for applications for the academic year 2008/2009 is March 1, 2008. The number of new students per year is limited to 15. We received unusually many applications already for the early bird-deadline (December 1, 2007) but we expect that some places in the program will still be available for students using the March-deadline for their application.

Detailed information on the program - such as courses taught and an overview of projects for master's thesis projects - is available at

www.uu.nl/sasr

and

www.fss.uu.nl/graduateschool

Please use

gradschool@fss.uu.nl

for any enquiries about the program and about admission procedures.

Please don't hesitate to draw the attention of talented students to the program. Also, please don't hesitate to forward this message to other colleagues who might wish to inform students on the program.

Werner Raub Coordinator research master's program "Sociology and Social Research"

Werner Raub | Department of Sociology / ICS | Utrecht University | Heidelberglaan 2 | 3584 CS Utrecht | Netherlands | phone +31 - (0)30 - 253 47 38 | phone secretary +31 - (0)30 - 253 21 01 | w.raub@uu.nl | www.fss.uu.nl/soc/raub | www.fss.uu.nl/soc/iscore | Sociology and Social Research www.uu.nl/sasr