The Euroculture Curriculum

Euroculture: European Politics, Culture, and Society in a Global Context offers a European Studies programme with an interdisciplinary course offer that ensures a broad and deep training, exploring modern European society through history, political science, law, sociology and cultural and religious studies. We supply you with the skills to see below the surface of contemporary issues, and to really understand the challenges of Europe and to apply this understanding to practice. You can tailor the programme to prepare yourself for a career in research, or for a wide range of professions which require in-depth knowledge of European political and cultural issues.

Euroculture offers a highly customizable curriculum that adapts to current developments each year. This means that some elements of the programme, such as the annual Intensive Programme, the Research Seminars, the Research Methodology course, the Eurocompetence modules, and the Academic Track are subject to change every year. Additionally, these modules might be presented and organized slightly differently at every Euroculture partner university. This page is therefore meant to give you a general overview of the course structure of the programme. For more specific information about the course offer at a particular Euroculture university, please contact the coordinator at that university or check out the individual university pages below.

Euroculture Course Structure

Year 1

Semester 1: Foundations (30 ECTS)

  • The first Euroculture semester offers an in-depth and critical look at the functioning of European political institutions.

  • The first Euroculture semester offers an in-depth and critical look at the cultural construction of European identity.

  • The first Euroculture semester offers a critical reflection on the history of the European continent, with a special focus on European integration processes.

  • Eurocompetence I is a skills-based course designed to improve and sharpen your transferable academic skills, such as academic citation, writing, and presentation.

Semester 2: Explorations (30 ECTS)

  • The content of these courses will differ at each Euroculture university. The seminars address a variety of European issues, and reflect on the role of Europe in a global context.

  • Theory and Methodology covers a variety of potential research designs that students might use during (and after) their studies.

  • Content and organizing university different each year. See here for details. The theme of the Intensive Programme is always relevant to current developments in Europe.

  • Eurocompetence II is a skills-based course focused on the acquisition of competences related to project management.

Year 2

Semester 3: Specializations (30 ECTS)

  • In the Academic Track, students work with researchers to advance their research interests. They may also receive advanced research seminars to improve their skills further.

  • Follow an immersive semester at one of our non-European partner universities and reflect on Europe from an outsider’s perspective.

  • Follow a professional placement of your choosing and expand your professional career with support from the Euroculture programme.

  • Make the initial preparations for your Master Thesis project, which you will then write in the final semester.

Semester 4: Mastery (30 ECTS)

  • Write your Master Thesis using the Joint Supervision offered by the programme.

  • Eurocompetence III is a skills-based course focused on the acquisition of competences related to grant application writing, either for PhD studies or other professional projects, such as EU subsidies and grants.

  • A seminar designed to reflect critically on your MA Thesis Writing.

  • Receive a special Joint Diploma at the end of your studies, issued by the universities you studied at in semester one and two!

Year One: Foundations and Explorations

Foundations: Building Knowledge and Understanding

The Euroculture programme provides its graduates with deep knowledge and thorough understanding of such concepts and phenomena as: multiculturalism, national and European identity, political and legal aspects of  (European) governance, and evolving socio-political processes in Europe. European integration process is studied from a cultural-social perspective, which expands on the conventional political, institution-centred approach to integration. Different regional and national perceptions of integration are discussed, while political and social developments in Europe are placed in a global context. Throughout the Master, students are equipped with theoretical and methodological approaches to facilitate their independent research in the relevant fields.

Foundations: Acquiring Skills and Competencies

While understanding Europe is a priority learning outcome for the programme, practical skills and competencies – which are needed to apply the knowledge to practice – are of no lesser importance. Among the transferable skills trained within the Euroculture Master, the following are emphasized:

  • communicating politicised, often sensitive information to different audiences, in writing and orally;

  • team work skills, such as coordination, conflict management and in-group communication, particularly in a multicultural setting;

  • management skills, such as leadership and decision-making;

  • planning, designing and managing complicated, medium-term projects in a transnational environment (including time-management and fundraising)

  • writing project and/or PhD applications to secure funding for independent projects;

  • flexibility and resourcefulness: learning from and responding accurately to unexpected developments, developing suitable strategies accordingly;

  • reflexivity and self-analysis: having insight into one's personal abilities and career preferences, and applying this insight it when entering the labour market upon graduation

Foundations: Critical and Problem-oriented Approach

The Euroculture curriculum is designed to teach students to better orient themselves in a highly complex world and to apply the theoretical knowledge that they get to real-life problems. The programme thus focuses on training the ability to locate, select, and manage information required for addressing key current issues. Euroculture strives to develop students’ capacity to make judgements by integrating complex (often, conflicting and insufficient) data to identify rational and sustainable solutions for identified problems, while remaining aware of their high sensitivity.

Foundations: Introducing the Eurocompetence Modules

As a module of the Euroculture programme, Eurocompetence is designed with the goal of preparing Euroculture students for their entry to the labour market as experts of the European integration process and European culture, and their development into committed citizens. Eurocompetence modules are characterised by an interdisciplinary, project-based, and problem-oriented approach.

Eurocompetence I and II are part of the first year of the programme, while Eurocompetence III is taught in the second year.

Foundations: Eurocompetence I

The goal of Eurocompetence I is to promote generic competencies that are of particular interest with regards to students’ entrance into the labour market.

Thus Eurocompetence I aims to train diverse personal and professional competences, such as language and presentation skills, critical thinking and (self)-analysis, academic writing and research. It also focuses on  composing a personal (professional) profile, CV writing, and conducting a job interview. Individual students have different strengths and levels of training in specific areas; thus the Euroculture programme offers both general and individual support in preparation for Eurocompetence modules.

Explorations: Eurocompetence II

In this Eurocompetence module, working on designing and implementing a group project is emphasized. Euroculture students, working in smaller teams, plan, execute and evaluate individual projects with supervision and workshops by Eurocompetence II tutors and guest lecturers.

In addition to project work, that develops one’s organizational, time management and teamwork skills, Eurocompetence II module focuses on such key competencies such as intercultural communication, conflict management and social entrepreneurship.

Explorations: Research Seminars

Each university of the Euroculture Consortium offers a unique Thematic Focus. While the same curriculum is broadly offered at each of our universities, there are distinct research seminars available at each university that allow students to pick and choose research topics that interest them the most. The course offer for each university is updated every year. An information booklet with a detailed overview of each available course is offered during the first semester, in preparation for the mobility semester at their second university of choice.

Euroculture is a Master that prepares you to work with people from different backgrounds, cultures and mother tongues. It introduces you to the latest academic discussions across different disciplines, and the mobility components encourage adaptability and flexibility, two much-needed skills in the workplace.

Lauren Mason (2015-2017)

Year Two: Specializations and Mastery

Option I: Professional Track

Professional Placement

The key component of the Professional Track is the work placement (or internship). This placement is follows up the Eurocompetence I and II modules. The placement is designed to link previously acquired theoretical knowledge, skills and understanding with practical experience. The placement must last at least 4 months and is awarded with 25 ECTS upon successful completion. 

Students have to secure a placement themselves, with certain guidance from their coordinators as well as Eurocompetence I tutors. The work placement can be done with an organization of student's choice. However, the work they are doing has to be relevant for their Euroculture studies.

Each degree-awarding Euroculture partner university (i.e., FP) provides a placement supervisor who assists with the process of conducting the placement. Upon completing the placement, the student is required to prepare a report which is assessed by the organisation offering the placement and the second university offering the Joint Degree.

A sample list of placements pursued by students over the past 6 editions can be found here.

Option II: Academic Track

The Euroculture Academic Track follows up on the second-semester Research Seminars and (if relevant) the student’s Intensive Programme paper. The Academic Track offers the opportunity to deepen the student’s theoretical knowledge, skills and understanding, and preferably relates to the student’s MA thesis topic. The track takes place during the 3rd semester. Within the Academic Track, several choices are offered.

1) Academic Track Inside Europe: Academic Placement

As part of the academic placement, students design a personalized research plan in cooperation with the offering university and attempt to match this plan with ongoing research projects relevant to the Euroculture programme.

A sample list of placements pursued by students over the past 6 editions can be found here.

2) Academic Track Inside Europe: Research-Based Courses

As part of the research-based course offer, students attend advanced research seminars on topics related to their interests. With some universities, this seminar offer is supplemented with a smaller academic placement.

The research seminar offer is dependent on the offering university’s course offer, and is communicated in advance of the semester through a booklet.

3) Academic Track Outside Europe

The Academic Track outside Europe consists of modules adding up to 25 ECTS credits which can be followed at one of the four non-European partner universities of the Consortium: 1) UNAM in Mexico City, Mexico, 2) Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, 3) The University of Hyderabad in India, 4) The University of Osaka in Japan.

Note: A limited number of spaces is available each year for the Academic Track outside Europe. First-year students may apply for this track during semester two. The application process consists of:

  1. Indicating two of the four non-European partner universities of the Consortium (UNAM, Queen’'s, Hyderabad or Osaka) where the student wants to complete the Academic Track.

  2. Motivating the choice for each of the two universities, indicating how the programme at the chosen non-European partner university will contribute to the student’s research aspirations.

Placement for the Academic Track outside Europe is not guaranteed, as there are a limited number of spaces available. Based on the quality of the motivations of each applicant, a maximum of 20 students are selected and placed with one of two universities of their choice.

Mastery: Eurocompetence III

As a module of the Euroculture programme, Eurocompetence is designed with the goal of preparing Euroculture students for their entry to the labour market as experts of the European integration process and European culture, and their development into committed citizens. Eurocompetence modules are characterised by an interdisciplinary, project-based, and problem-oriented approach.

Eurocompetence I and II are part of the first year of the programme, while Eurocompetence III is taught in the second year.

This course facilitates the independent preparation and writing of an appropriate professional or research grant application (depending on the specialization chosen in semester 3).

Eurocompetence III focuses on the process of writing a significantly developed project proposal. Students are first introduced to the process and theory of writing a project proposal or grant application. Subsequently, students will gain practical experience in writing their own grant application or project proposal.

Within the professional specialisation, the emphasis is on understanding the process of preparing an application as a collaborative, team-based effort, and will acquire knowledge and skills in researching and identifying potential sources of funding and meeting requirements of donors and grant providers. The research specialization is dedicated to developing detailed knowledge about the opportunities and resources for proposed PhD research projects available within the European context, and practice preparing their research project applications.

Mastery: The Master Thesis

The Euroculture thesis is an important stage in a student’s intellectual development and the writing of it takes place in the third and fourth semester.

The purpose of the thesis is to give evidence of a student’s abilities in collecting and evaluating information, critically evaluating theories and methods to analyze and interpret the gathered information, and constructing, testing and defending an argument. The thesis should also demonstrate a student’s ability to present research results concisely and in a scholarly form, and further show that the student is capable of producing original and independent work.

The Euroculture thesis should focus on an issue within a contemporary European context (20th or 21st century). This issue should be related to the field of Euroculture, which includes European culture, history, politics,  foreign relations, literature and the arts, European law, history of religion in Europe or European institutions. Just as courses taught within the Euroculture curriculum vary widely, so do MA thesis topics of Euroculture students. 

The best Euroculture master thesis will be awarded with the Annual Liesbeth Brouwer Award (ALBA).

The Euroculture Network

Euroculture has a large network of participating universities, and you may choose to study at multiple universites throughout your studies! Learn more about the mobility options offered by the programme on our Mobility page. You can also click on the logo of each university to learn more about their role in the Euroculture programme.

Learning Outcomes

The Euroculture programme is designed to provide students with both high-level, in-depth knowledge and necessary 21st-century skills to navigate contemporary European challenges. Through an innovative, student-centred curriculum, the programme integrates insights from multiple disciplines, encourages project-based learning, and offers specialization tracks that allow students to tailor their expertise.

With a strong focus on societal engagement, Euroculture aligns with values such as human dignity, democracy, equality, and the rule of law ensuring that graduates are equipped to contribute meaningfully to academic, professional, and policy-oriented fields.

The programme follows a structured and progressive learning approach, known as the Matrix of Learning Outcomes, which ensures that students systematically build their knowledge, skills, and competences over time. This approach enhances both academic rigor and professional readiness, making Euroculture graduates well-prepared for careers in international organizations, government, cultural institutions, NGOs, and beyond.

The full overview of our learning outcomes can be found in the following table: Link.