Masters Degrees in English Literature & Language, Netherlands

Our BA and MA programmes have been rated in 2011 and 2012 as the best in the Netherlands by the two leading university league tables. English Literature and Culture offers an attractive and challenging programme that allows students optimal choice from a range of courses (which changes every year) drawing on the full historical and geographical sweep of literatures in English. Students may also take courses from our other MA programme Writing, Editing, and Mediating.


Our staff have received their doctorates from Dutch universities as well as international institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Toronto, and Edinburgh. At the same time, students' theses are supervised by researchers whose work is being published and read throughout the English-speaking world.

Note that all our courses are delivered in English and are only suitable for candidates who can comfortably function in English at postgraduate level. This is a full-time course which is the equivalent of 60 ECTS. As such, it typically consists of 4 taught courses and a final thesis of 15-18,000 words.

Why in Groningen?

- Teaching Excellence: Both BA and MA programmes in the English department have been rated in 2011 and 2012 as the best in the Netherlands by Elsevier and Keuzegids Masters, respectively
- Research Quality: Our staff are internationally known and publish throughout the English-speaking world
- Employability: Our focus on balancing academic excellence with transferable skills gives us a strong graduate employment record in sectors such as publishing and education

Job perspectives

After graduation, you are well prepared for a career in for example:
- publishing
- teaching
- research
- translation
- journalism
- cultural functions
- administrative jobs etc.

Research in the Department covers all areas of English literature and linguistics. Our particular strengths lie in modernism, premodern culture, and language development, and we publish widely on such topics as critical theory, visual culture, travel literature, women's writing, medieval learning, or language acquisition and loss. Our staff members run or participate in a number of international research projects, including the Language Attrition project and the Hakluyt Editorial Project.

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Judged Best in the Field

The highly regarded Keuzegids Master’s Selection Guide 2016 ranked Utrecht University’s Literature programme as the best in the field in the Netherlands.
In this year's Elsevier Best Studies Survey, students have also rated Utrecht University’s Literature programme as the best programme.

In the Master's programme in Literature Today, you will learn how literature works in the modern globalised, digitalised, and commercialised world.

You will learn to identify and critically evaluate the most recent national and international developments in literature, and to situate these from a historical perspective. You will be equipped with the tools to identify and explain the quality of literary works in times of increasing commercialisation. You will learn how literature circulates within the market as part of a creative industry sustained by centuries-old tradition, and you will investigate from theoretical and practical angles how to help to spread literature, explain it to a broader public, and translate academic insights for the reading public.

Tracks

You can choose from among the following six tracks to tailor the programme to your interests and desired career path:

*English and Comparative Literature track (entirely in English)
*Dutch Literature track (in Dutch and English)
*Modern European Literature: French track
*Modern European Literature: German track
*Modern European Literature: Italian track
*Modern European Literature: Spanish track

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The master's programme in Literary Studies at Leiden University offers you a specialised qualification in one of four languages and cultures or a comparative perspective on literature and culture, with each programme offering considerable scope for individual customisation.

Customise your degree

We believe that freedom plays an important role in unlocking potential. The master’s programme in Literary Studies has a high degree of flexibility to enable you to tailor the programme to your particular interests. Your curriculum could include a single or combined major and electives from other specialisations – even other master’s programmes. You are also free to go abroad for a specific university course or an internship in order to deepen or widen your focus.

Small classes and an individual approach

Academics from the renowned Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) teach the master’s programme in Literary Studies. This means that every class you attend is taught by scholars of international standing who are true experts in their fields. Small, interactive classes or one-on-one mentoring ensure you get the most from their expert guidance and advice. An important objective is to teach you the value of questioning: you will acquire a broad, investigative and critical approach to problem solving that can be applied to any challenge in any role.

Specialisations

• French Literature and Culture (MA)
• English Literature and Culture (MA)
• Literature in Society. Europe and Beyond (MA)
• German Literature and Culture (MA)
• Italian Literature and Culture (MA)

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The two-year Literary Studies (research) master at Leiden University integrates the study of media, art history and literary theory to bring you a unique and relevant qualification.

Customise your degree

Create your own specialised area of expertise within the interdisciplinary master's programme in Literary Studies (research) at Leiden University. An expansive curriculum and flexible programme format give you the freedom to tailor your studies to reflect specific interests or career goals. Focus your studies on a medium, discipline, genre, or period in time. You will be able to study subjects and courses not available elsewhere.

Choose your research theme

The main research themes of the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, LUCAS, guide the themes of the courses offered. The themes are:

• art, agency and rhetoric;
• a global approach to texts, art and media;
• and intermediality.

Join a centre of expertise

Taught by Leiden University's internationally-acclaimed Faculty of Humanities, this programme integrates the study of media, art history, literature and literary theory. At Leiden University, you are joining one of Europe's leading universities providing you with access to Leiden University's world-famous collection of manuscripts, books and periodicals.

Small classes and an individual approach

During the programme you will develop outstanding academic skills and knowledge that incorporates global and comparative perspectives. Small classes ensure a high level of contact with your lecturers – many of whom are researchers at the leading edge of their fields.

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