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Grants access to:

This pre-Master’s does not grant access to the Research Master’s Media Studies.

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 one-year Master’s programmes, but we strongly recommend that you choose the variant that corresponds with the Master’s you are looking to do. For access to one of the Dual Master’s programmes, it is mandatory to follow the corresponding programme.

 

Pre-Master's Film Studies

Recommended for the tracks Film Studies
Mandatory for the tracks Documentaire en fictie and Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC
  • Academic Skills pre-Master's
    Period 1
    Period 3
    12
  • Media Aesthetics
    Period 1
    Period 2
    12
  • Media and Culture: Media Culture in Transformation
    Period 2
    6
  • Media Theory
    Period 4
    6
  • Media, Time and Space
    Period 4
    6
UvA Course Catalogue: Pre-Master's Media Studies

Pre-Master's New Media and Digital Culture

Recommended for the tracks Cultural Data & AI and New Media and Digital Culture
Mandatory for the track Journalistiek en media

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC
  • Academic Skills pre-Master's
    Period 1
    Period 3
    12
  • Analysing Digital Culture
    Period 1
    Period 2
    12
  • Media Theory
    Period 4
    6
  • Histories of Digital Culture
    Period 5
    Period 6
    12
UvA Course Catalogue: Pre-Master's Cultural Data & AI / New Media and Digital Culture / Journalistiek en media

Pre-Master's Global Cross-Media Cultures

Recommended for the track Global Cross-Media Cultures

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC
  • Academic Skills pre-Master's
    Period 1
    Period 3
    12
  • Television Analysis
    Period 1
    Period 2
    12
  • Media and Culture: Media Culture in Transformation
    Period 2
    6
  • Media Theory
    Period 4
    6
  • Media, Time and Space
    Period 4
    6
UvA Course Catalogue: Pre-Master's Television and Cross Media Culture 2024-2025

In the 2023-2024 academic year, the program was still called Television and Cross-Media Culture.

Pre-Master's Archival and Information Studies

Mandatory for the track Archival and Information Studies

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC
  • Academic Skills pre-Master's
    Period 1
    Period 3
    12
  • Archives, Information and Society
    Period 1
    Period 2
    12
  • Restricted-choice elective
    Period 4
    6

    You can choose between 'Media Theory' and 'Philosophy of the Humanities 1 (Media Studies)'.

  • Free choice elective: in History or Law
    Period 2
    Period 5
    12

    You can choose an elective in History or Law. For questions, please contact the Master coordinator of Archival and Information Studies, dr. Annet Dekker (A.Dekker@uva.nl).

UvA Course Catalogue: Pre-Master's Archival and Information Studies

Application deadlines

Please check the deadlines below very carefully, because they are strict. Missing one of the deadlines means that your application cannot be processed. 

Application procedure

Your application to the Graduate School of Humanities always starts by submitting an enrolment request in Studielink and MyInfo application for the Master's programme you wish to pursue, even if you think you are eligible for the pre-Master’s programme.

An enrolment request in Studielink for the pre-Master’s programme alone is not sufficient and will not be taken into consideration.

Important information regarding visa

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.

Tuition fee for pre-Master's programmes

The tuition fee rate for a pre-Master’s programme in the academic year 2025-2026 is €43.35 per ECTS, with a maximum of €2,601. This means that for a 42 ECTS pre-Master’s programme, the fee is €1,820.70; for a 30 ECTS programme, the fee is €1,300.50.

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