Why choose the Tinbergen Institute (TI) Research Master in Economics?

1. The high standards of TI's Research Master's programme are guaranteed by the teaching staff. They are selected from among the best researchers of the three universities participating in the programme.
2. Admissions are highly selective and competitive. A maximum of 35 students from all over the globe is annually admitted.
3. After the first year of thorough grounding in economics, econometrics and finance, the second year offers over 40 electives in which students work in close collaboration with the university. Half of the second year is devoted to thesis research under expert supervision.
4. Most students who successfully complete the programme obtain a fully paid PhD position at one of the schools that jointly run Tinbergen Institute.

Is the Tinbergen Institute Research Master for you?

Tinbergen Institute students are typically hard-working, independent, mathematically skilled, creative and inquisitive and have the ambition to start an academic career.  

This programme is very selective. Selection of students is a careful process and includes an interview with the applicant. Selection is based on:

1. previous education and test results: students usually perform in the top 10-20%;
2. strong motivation to pursue a PhD;
3. recommendation letters to support the application. 

Career prospects

The programme is the entry point to PhD positions at the Schools of Economics and Business at EUR, UvA and VU. Over 90% of the graduates transfer to PhD positions at these departments or start a PhD trajectory elsewhere.

The three schools cover all fields of economics, econometrics and finance and give students a wide choice of subjects and supervisors. During the programme, students meet potential PhD supervisors as lecturers in courses, during formal meetings where researchers present their research, and during the many seminars and conferences. Roughly half of the alumni work in research universities in the Netherlands or abroad, many of them as full professors.

Application process

The application procedure consists of 4 steps.