Admission procedure
Applicants who follow this procedure are admissible to the MA programme in Japanese Studies.
Admission requirements
Applicants are admissible to the MA programme in Japanese Studies who:
- have earned the degree of bachelor at an academic university equivalent to a Dutch university bachelor’s degree, or can demonstrate that they meet the requirements for such a degree
- have knowledge and understanding of the at least three of the following disciplinary approaches (problems, theories, methods, analytical concepts): history, art history and material culture, religion, literature, linguistics, politics, philosophy, law, economy and/or sociology of Japan.
- have knowledge of the japanologic traditions and understanding of disciplinary-methodological issues in this field;
- have knowledge of the important historical, sociocultural and political developments in the region;
- have sufficient command of Japanese, at a level comparable tot the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT2) Level N2;
- are sufficiently proficient in written and spoken English: IELTS test level of at least 6.5 or TOEFL score of at least 570/230/88-90, evidenced by an appropriate test.
This requirement does not apply if you have:- completed your education in Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, New Zealand or Australia, or
- an International Baccalaureate, or
- a Dutch VWO-diploma
Required application documents
As a rule you need to submit these required application documents when applying for a master's degree programme.
Essay required
Prospective students are required to add a recent essay in English of approximately 1250 words on a topic related to Japan Studies to their application documents, to demonstrate their level of knowledge and understanding. This may be work written as part of your previous education or a new essay.
Selection procedure
This programme has a yearly maximum of 17 places. (For East Asian Studies, the comparable one-year programme, there is no restriction on the number of places available.)
Because of the selection procedure, the application deadline for all students is 1 April. It is important that your application documents are all available from the start of the procedure, so the Board of Admissions has all information necessary to make the selection.
The Board of Admissions will first divide all prospective students in two groups: those who meet the entry requirements and those who don’t. Students who don’t meet the requirements will be informed before 1 May.
The Board will then rank all students who do meet the requirements according to the quality of their application dossier in relation to the entry requirements. The top 17 students will be admitted to the programme.
All students will be informed of the decision on admission before 1 June.