Prospectus

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Political Science and Public Administration (Research)

Master

The Leiden Research Master’s Programme in Political Science and Public Administration aims at providing students with a thorough grounding in the literature on political institutions and a rigorous training in the methodological skills that are necessary to conduct research in this field. Students acquire this knowledge and these skills not only by being taught, but also by gaining hands-on experience. This way they learn how a broad research interest is transformed into a theoretically informed puzzle with concrete hypotheses, how a research method is chosen that is appropriate for the hypotheses that are to be tested, what problems can be encountered in data collection and analysis, how the data can be interpreted to test the hypotheses, and how the results can be presented effectively.

Preliminary Info

Welcome Meeting

The welcome meeting (with lunch) for all research master students is on Tuesday 5 September 2017, 11.30-13.00 in room 5B16 at the Pieter de la Court building in Leiden.

Registration for courses

IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO BE REGISTERED FOR YOUR COURSES IT IS IMPORTANT TO COMPLETE YOUR STUDY REGISTRATION IN STUDIELINK BEFORE AUGUST 1st!

In the first semester you follow four mandatory courses: ‘Classics in Political Science and Public Administration (5 EC)’, ‘Research Design (5 EC)’, ‘Quantitative Methods I (5 EC)’ and Comparative State and Polity Formation (5 EC)’. On top of that you choose elective seminars (see e-Prospectus) up to 10 EC in the first semester, upon the approval of the programme director (either 2 seminars à 5 EC each from the regular 1 year MSc Public Administration or 1 seminar à 10 EC from the regular 1 year MSc Political Science).

You will be registered in uSis by the secretariat for the mandatory courses in the first semester.
You submit your choice for the elective(s) via e-mail to instituutsbureaupolwet@fsw.leidenuniv.nl after you have received approval of the programme director (prof. dr. S. Groeneveld s.m.groeneveld@cdh.leidenuniv.nl for public administration seminars and prof. dr. P. Kopecky kopecky@fsw.leidenuniv.nl for political science seminars).
Sending an e-mail with your choice to instituutsbureaupolwet@fsw.leidenuniv.nl is possible from Monday, 21 August, 10.00 a.m. until Monday, 28 August, 10.00 a.m.

Elective seminars have a maximum number of participants. Registration is on a first-come-first-served basis. (If fewer than 8 students register for a seminar, we cannot guarantee that it will take place.)
Students from the MSc Political Science specialisations have priority for the political science seminars in block I, because for them these seminars form part of their core curriculum.

For the second semester you will be enrolled for the mandatory courses by the OSC.
You submit your choice for the elective(s) via e-mail to OnderwijsServicecentrum@leiden.edu after you have received approval of the programme director (prof. dr. S. Groeneveld s.m.groeneveld@cdh.leidenuniv.nl for public administration seminars and prof. dr. P. Kopecky kopecky@fsw.leidenuniv.nl for political science seminars), before 22 January 2018.
Registration for the course Qualitative Methods II or Quantitative Methods II, in block 4, should be completed by sending an email to the OSC before 19 March 2018.

Please note that official course registration in Usis does not lead to automatic Blackboard enrollment. You must enroll yourself on Blackboard for your courses. For more information about Blackboard please see the website.

Year 1

In each semester students choose elective seminars up to 10 EC, upon the approval of the programme director either from the regular Political Science Master programme or the regular Public Administration Master programme.

For registration see Preliminary Info.

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Semester 1, Block I
Classics in Political Science and Public Administration 5
Research Design 5

Semester 1 Block I & II: Students choose 1 Seminar PS (10 EC) or 2 Seminars PA (2 x 5 EC)

Semester 1, block II
Quantitative Methods I 5

Semester 1 Block II Optional: Students choose 1 Seminar (5 or 10 EC) or take the removed course 'Comparative State and Policy Formation' next year

Semester 2, Block III
International Cooperation and Institutions 5
Qualitative Methods I 5

Semester 2 Block III & IV: Students choose 1 Seminar PS (10 EC) or 2 Seminars PA (2 x 5 EC)

Semester 2, Block IV: Political Science Specialisation
The Politics of Public Policy 5
Quantitative Methods II 5

Or...
Qualitative Methods II 5

Year 2

The courses below are the 2nd year courses for the student cohort that started in 2016-2017

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Semester 1 - Political Science
Advanced Methodology 5
Proposal Lab 5
Public Opinion and Political Decision-Making 10
International Cooperation and Institutions 10

Semester 1 - Public Administration
Advanced Methodology 5
Proposal Lab 5
Inside the EU - Governance and Accountability 10
International Cooperation and Institutions 10

Semester 2 - Political Science and Public Administration
Philosophy of Science 5
Replication Workshop 5
Political Science and Public Administration RM Thesis 20

Transitional Regulations

Transition Regulations

For students from earlier academic years who have not successfully completed all components of the first year of the research master:

  1. Conflict and Cooperation: Classics (5 EC) = Classics in Political Science and Public Administration (5EC)
  2. Advanced Academic and Professional Skills (5 EC) = Research Design (5 EC)
  3. Institutionalism I: Pol. Perspectives (5 EC) = Comparative State and Polity Formation (5 EC)
  4. Institutionalism II: Organisational Perspectives (5EC) = Policy (5 EC)
  5. Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis (5 EC) = Qualitative Methods I (5 EC)
  6. Quantitative Data Collection and Analysis (5 EC) = Quantitative Methods I (5 EC)
  7. Personalisation of Politics (10 EC) = Political Science elective seminar (10 EC)

More info

The Research Master programme totals 120 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) credits. Students are expected to earn approximately 30 ECTS credits per semester. One credit equals 28 hours of study, including lectures, reading, writing papers, and preparing for tests and examinations.

Examiners:
The teachers that are mentioned in each course are appointed by the Board of Examiners to conduct examinations.

The Department expects the highest scholarly effort and achievement from students. Students’ academic work will be evaluated per assignment and per course. This includes both oral and written assignments. Timely completion of degree requirements is expected.

More information on grading, graduation and other information can be found on the website of Political Science .

More information on the entry requirements of the programme can be found on Masters in Leiden .