Research in Public Management & Organisational Science

This programme offers subjects from the Public Administration and Organizational Science programme in the fields of public administration and policy, organizational culture, communication, and strategic human resource management. It aims at preparing students for the further practice of public administration and organizational science research either in the form of an advanced PhD programme and PhD research, or in the form of policy-oriented research.

When you are interested in further deepening your knowledge of Public Administration and Organizational Sciences, but are not sure whether you would like to undertake a PhD programme or become a research trainee, this research Master's programme may be something for you.

The Researchmaster in Public Administration and Organizational Science? is a 2-year-programme developed by the Utrecht School of Governance (USG) in cooperation with the Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration (TSPPA) and the Department of Public Administration of the Erasmus University. These institutions belong to the best Public Administration and organizational Science research groups in our country and guarantee covering central issues in modern public administration and organizational science and introduce students directly and thoroughly to the most prominent researchers in these areas.

A two-year programme is necessarily to meet the requirements of the research master programme in terms of both the level of Public Administration and Organizational Science theoretical competence and methodological expertise leading up to a research project and master?s thesis that meets the standards of an international publication.

The programme has both a practice-oriented and theoretically-oriented track. You start with deepening your theoretical knowledge of central themes in Public Administration and Organizational Sciences and get acquainted with various research methods and techniques. You then choose whether you wish to follow the practice-oriented or the theoretically-oriented track. As a practice-oriented researcher, you go through all the phases of contract research, ranging from acquisition, through consultation with the customer up to the final report. As a theoretical researcher, your efforts will result in an academic article and a detailed research proposal.

Candidates for the research-master programme have to meet several criteria. An admission committee tests candidates on the basis of a portfolio to be compiled by them. To learn more about this please contact the co?rdinator mentioned below.

Prerequisites:

Candidates for this Master?s Programme should hold either:

• A national Bachelor?s Degree in Public Administration;
  
• A national or University College Utrecht (UCU) Bachelor?s Degree in one of the related disciplines (General Social Sciences, Business Administration, Policy Studies, Communication, Cultural Anthropology, Organizational Science, Human Resource Management, Social Sciences, Sociology, Political Science);
  
• An international Bachelor?s Degree in one of the above mentioned disciplines;
  
• A one-year (inter)national Master?s Degree in one of the above mentioned disciplines.

In principle, successful participation in the Research Master?s Programme is feasible for students who are well-grounded in general academic knowledge and skills. In addition, they should have knowledge of, and insight and skills in issues of Public Administration and Public Organizations, and of research methods. More formally: an honours degree, or in-depth knowledge of theory and research in the domain and proven excellence in conducting research at bachelor?s degree level, is a prerequisite.

Pre-master?s Track

The above mentioned Bachelor?s Degrees meet the entry requirements set for this Research Master?s Programme. Students with a Bachelor?s Degree other than in Public Administration should have completed:

• at least a minor in Public Administration and Organizational Science or courses in the Bachelor?s Programme that are equivalent to the minor courses;
  
• at least a basic introduction to research methods, including quantitative and qualitative methods of Public Administration and Policy and Organization research, and they should be able to set up and carry out empirical research.

This Masters programme prepares you for an academic career in the field of Public Administration and Organizational Sciences (e.g., a PhD programme or research traineeship at a university or academic institute). Alternatively, you could embark on a career as a researcher with a Dutch or international research institute, a professional organization or government institution, or take up a research-oriented policy position with a government or semi-government organization or an organization with a public function.