Arts, Literature and Media (Research)

First Year

Second Year

Extra Requirement

Extra requirement research master Arts, Literature and Media
Introduction

Students in the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media can choose master courses for 30 ECTS within their area of research, yet an extra Research MA component is obligatory in that case. The goal of this extra requirement is to ensure that the research master students are engaged in a higher level of theoretical and disciplinary debate than a regular MA.

What is the extra requirement?

The extra requirement is meant to bring a regular master’s course to a research master’s level. The extra requirement can be met in courses of 10 ECTS on an arts, literature and/or media subject taught at MA level.
The most common extra requirement is that the student write a longer research paper for the course, applying a more complex analytical approach than would be expected from an MA student. This approach must address relevant theoretical and/or disciplinary debates. The research paper can be 1000/1500 words longer than that required of MA students taking the same course.
Alternatively, a separate assignment can be set that addresses the relevant theoretical/disciplinary debates in another way.

What is the procedure?

• The student chooses the elective.

• At the beginning of the class the student lets the lecturer know that he/she/they want to follow the course with an extra requirement.

• The lecturer will let the student know how the extra requirement should be interpreted for the course in question.

• The student sends this extra requirement proposal to the board of examiners for approval

• In grading the paper, the lecturer takes into account whether the extra requirement has been met and in what way.

• After the paper is graded, the lecturer notifies the Education Administration Office Arsenaal (osz-oa-arsenaal@hum.leidenuniv.nl) about the grade for the course and about the extra requirement (for this, the office uses a separate uSis-code).

Exemption of the extra requirement

Exemption for the extra requirement does not apply. Students must complete all 30 EC of their elective package at research master’s level.

More Info

The programme has the following objectives:

1. to broaden and deepen the students’ historical, theoretical and medium specific knowledge, their cultural understanding, and their aesthetic and ethical sensibilities; to train them in the use of scholarly methods in the fields of arts, literature and media

2. to enable students to develop the following academic and professional skills:

• the ability to solve (academic) problems independently, critically and creatively;

• the ability to analyse complex problems;

• the ability to clearly report academic results, both in writing and orally,

3. to prepare students for an academic career at a university for postgraduate programmes;

4. to prepare students for a non-academic career in the public or private sector for which advanced research skills and practical research experience are a prerequisite.

More information can be found in the Course and Examination Regulations (OER) of the programme: Faculty and study programme regulations

Career Preparation

Career Preparation in the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media

The programme

The curriculum of the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media is characterised by a focus on Arts and Culture, Media Studies or Literary Studies, or students explore a single period (Middle Ages/Early Modern or Modern and Contemporary). The programme's flexibility will encourage you to adopt an interdisciplinary perspective. During your studies you will acquire a valuable range of skills and knowledge, both disciplinary and interdisciplinary, historical and theoretical.

How can you use this knowledge and the skills that you acquire? Which specialisation should you choose within your study programme and why? What skills do you already have, and what further skills do you still want to learn? How do you translate the courses that you choose into something that you’d like to do after graduation?

These questions and more will be discussed at various times during your study programme. You may already have spoken about them with your study coordinator, the Humanities Career Service or other students, or made use of the Leiden University Career Zone. Many different activities are organised to help you reflect on your own wishes and options, and give you the chance to explore the job market. All these activities are focused on the questions: ‘What can I do?’, ‘What do I want?’ and ‘How do I achieve my goals?’.

Activities

You will be notified via the Faculty website, your study programme website and email about further activities in the area of job market preparation. The following activities will help you to thoroughly explore your options, so we advise you to take careful note of them:

• Introduction to the the Humanities Career Service

• Internship information session

• Humanities Career Event

• Activities of study associations

• Guest lectures of alumni

• Workshop ‘How do I find a job?’

• Workshop ‘CV and letter’

• Various other Humanities Career Service workshops

Transferable skills

Future employers are interested not only in the subject-related knowledge that you acquired during your study programme, but also in the ‘transferable skills’. These include cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, reasoning and argumentation and innovation; intrapersonal skills, such as flexibility, initiative, appreciating diversity and metacognition; and interpersonal skills, such as communication, accountability and conflict resolution. In short, they are skills that all professionals need in order to perform well.

It is therefore important that during your study programme you not only acquire as much knowledge as possible about your subject, but also are aware of the skills you have gained and the further skills you still want to learn. The course descriptions in the e-Prospectus of the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media include, in addition to the courses’ learning objectives, a list of the skills that they aim to develop.

Courses of the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media

Courses of the study programme obviously help to prepare you for the job market. As a study programme, we aim to cover this topic either directly or less directly in each semester.

Students can opt for an internship where they gain valuable work experience. You can contact the coordinator of studies to discuss this option.

Contact

If you have any questions about career choices, whether in your studies or on the job market, you are welcome to make an appointment with the career adviser of the Humanities Career Service, or with your study adviser