Second-cycle courses and study programmes shall be based fundamentally on the knowledge acquired by students during first-cycle courses and study programmes, or their equivalent.
Second-cycle courses and study programmes shall involve the acquisition of specialist knowledge, competence and skills in relation to first-cycle courses and study programmes, and in addition to the requirements for first-cycle courses and study programmes shall:
- further develop the ability of students to integrate and make autonomous use of their knowledge,
- develop the students’ ability to deal with complex phenomena, issues and situations, and
- develop the students’ potential for professional activities that demand considerable autonomy, or for research and development work.
For a Master of Arts/Science (60 credits) degree, the student shall have:
Knowledge and Understanding
- demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the main field of study, including both an overview of the field and specialised knowledge in certain areas of the field as well as insight into current research and development work, and
- demonstrated specialised methodological knowledge in the main field of study.
Competence and Skills
- demonstrated the ability to integrate knowledge and analyse, assess and deal with complex phenomena, issues and situations even with limited information,
- demonstrated the ability to identify and formulate issues autonomously as well as to plan and, using appropriate methods, undertake advanced tasks within predetermined time frames,
- demonstrated the ability in speech and writing to report clearly and discuss his or her conclusions and the knowledge and arguments on which they are based in dialogue with different audiences, and
- demonstrated the skills required for participation in research and development work or employment in some other qualified capacity.
Judgement and Approach
- demonstrated the ability to make assessments in the main field of study informed by relevant disciplinary, social and ethical issues and also to demonstrate awareness of ethical aspects of research and development work,
- demonstrated insight into the possibilities and limitations of research, its role in society and the responsibility of the individual for how it is used, and
- demonstrated the ability to identify the personal need for further knowledge and take responsibility for his or her ongoing learning.
Knowledge and understanding
On completion of the programme, the student shall be able to:
- demonstrate knowledge, as well as theoretical and critical understanding, of central concepts such as state and nationhood, transnational integration processes, democracy and citizenship,
- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of patterns of political culture in terms of theoretical understanding and empirical overview, and
- demonstrate methodological knowledge within the field of the programme.
Competence and skills
On completion of the programme, the student shall be able to:
- demonstrate methodological skills within the field of study of the programme, and
- demonstrate the capacity to formulate and analyse research problems relevant to the concepts raised above, and communicate these in spoken and written form, notably in the form of a master’s degree thesis.
Judgement and approach
On completion of the programme, the student shall be able to:
- reflect upon and individually analyse how long-term processes of state-formation, nation-building, citizenship and democratisation have evolved, and
- demonstrate critical reflections on the role of identity, such as ethnicity and gender, as well as multiculturalism, nationalism and populism, in contemporary politics.
Semester 1:
- Politics of Transnational Integration and National Fragmentation, 7.5 credits
- State Formation and Citizenship, 7.5 credits
- Processes of Democracy and Autocracy, 7.5 credits
- Comparative Political Culture, 7.5 credits
Semester 2
- Social Science Methods III – Political Science, 15 credits
- Master’s Degree Thesis in Political Science, 15 credits
