Admission requirements for the Master’s tracks in Psychology

You will have to satisfy the following requirements and criteria:

1. General criteria
2. Track-specific criteria when applying for one of the following tracks:
   
   - Klinische Psychologie (this track is only available in Dutch)
   - Clinical Forensic Psychology & Victimology
   - Clinical Neuropsychology, Klinische Neuropsychologie
   - Ontwikkelingspsychologie (this track is only available in Dutch)
   
3. Proficiency in Dutch or English

For more information on the general and specific track criteria and language requirements, see the sections below.

Admission

The Admissions Board will decide whether you qualify for admission based on your previous education (including courses that you still have to complete before the start of the Master’s track) and the application form you submitted.

Several weeks after the application deadline, you will be notified whether you qualify for admission to the Master’s track(s) of your choice, whether you need to participate in a selection procedure, and what the next steps in your admission process are.

You will have to satisfy the following requirements and criteria:

1. A Bachelor’s degree from a Dutch university (not a ‘short programme’)
2. General criteria
3. Track-specific criteria when applying for one of the following tracks:

   - Klinische Psychologie (this track is only available in Dutch)
   - Clinical Forensic Psychology & Victimology
   - Clinical Neuropsychology, Klinische Neuropsychologie
   - Ontwikkelingspsychologie (this track is only available in Dutch)

4. Proficiency in Dutch or English

For more information on the general and specific track criteria and language requirements, see the sections below.

Admission

The Admissions Board will decide whether you qualify for admission based on your previous education (including courses that you still have to complete before the start of the Master’s track) and the application form you submitted.

Several weeks after the application deadline, you will be notified whether you qualify for admission to the Master’s track(s) of your choice, whether you need to participate in a selection procedure, and what the next steps in your admission process are.

Pre-Master’s programme

If you do not qualify for direct admission to a Master’s degree programme, you may be offered a pre-Master’s programme to raise your knowledge and skills to the required level. You will be admitted to the Master’s degree programme upon completion of this programme (within two years). The pre-Master’s programmes only start in September and there are a limited number of places available!

For more information, you can refer to the Dutch version of this page.

You will have to satisfy the following requirements and criteria:

1. Bachelor's degree in Psychology from an academic university or in a variant of Psychology from an academic university (not from a university of applied sciences or a ‘Fachhochschule’)

2. General criteria

3. Track-specific criteria if you choose one of the following tracks:

   - Klinische Psychologie (this track is only available in Dutch)
   - Clinical Forensic Psychology & Victimology
   - Clinical Neuropsychology, Klinische Neuropsychologie
   - Ontwikkelingspsychologie (this track is only available in Dutch)

4. Proficiency in Dutch or English

For more information on the general and specific track criteria and language requirements, see the sections below.

> Substantive Psychology courses (at least 60 ECTS) on psychological theories and application (i.e. not general courses such as philosophy, history, or general skills courses).
If you do not satisfy the criterion of 60 ECTS, you can compensate for 15 ECTS of these with track-related non-psychology courses (i.e. non-psychology courses that are directly relevant to your chosen track).

> Statistics: at least 15 ECTS** in courses that at least covered the following techniques (to a reasonable amount of depth):

• Basic descriptive statistical techniques
• Basic graphical statistical techniques
• Basic inferential statistical techniques (confidence intervals, significance testing)
• Non-parametric statistical techniques
• Simple and multiple regression
• Logistic regression
• ANOVA (One- and Two-way designs)
• Repeated measures ANOVA
• ANCOVA
• Moderator analysis (= regression analysis including interactions of quantitative predictors)

Mere application of statistical techniques within the framework of research methodology, other courses, or a thesis, will not count towards the 15 ECTS,
nor will psychometric techniques for determining estimates of the reliability or validity of tests (e.g. factor analysis).

> Psychological research methodology (at least 10 ECTS), including:

• Theoretical concepts in research methodology (approx. 5 ECTS)

• Research ethics

• Practical training in research skills (approx. 5 ECTS) to conduct an entire research project:

  - Deriving and formulating a research question
  - Designing a study (which should be at least partially quantitative)
  - Collecting data
  - Analyzing results
  - Reporting on the entire research project
  - Concluding with a ‘discussion and conclusion section’.

> Reliability and validity of psychological tests (at least 5 ECTS), having covered/discussed at least classic test theory.

> Philosophy of science and/or history of psychology (at least 5 ECTS)

* If you have a Bachelor HBO Toegepaste Psychologie, you will in principle be admissible to the Master’s phase upon completion of a pre-Master’s programme in Psychology. See the page on admission for students with a Bachelor HBO Toegepaste Psychologie.

** Partial exemption is possible for the track in Theory and History of Psychology. Any lack of statistics knowledge can be partially compensated with extra knowledge of Philosophy of Science and/or History of Psychology and/or Qualitative Methods.

If you are not sure whether your courses satisfy the admission requirements, you can look up course information for the Bachelor’s degree programme in Psychology of the University of Groningen to compare.

> Content-specific Psychology courses (at least 60 ECTS) on psychological theories and application (i.e. not skills courses).

At least 20 ECTS of these should be in the field of Clinical Psychology,
via courses similar to the courses taught at the University of Groningen:

• Klinische psychologie (NL- 5 ECTS)

• Clinical psychology (ENG - 5 ECTS)

• Psychopathology: symptoms, classifications and diagnosis (5 ECTS)

• Understanding psychopathology (5 ECTS)
• Diagnostiek in de Klinische Psychologie (NL - 5 ECTS)

• Diagnosis and assessment (ENG - 5 ECTS)
• Cognitive behavioral processes across disorders (EN - 5 ECTS)

• Overzicht van psychotherapie (NL - 5 ECTS)
• Overview of Psychotherapy (EN - 5 ECTS)

• Introduction to cognitive behavioural therapies (EN - 5 ECTS)
• Forensische psychologie (NL - 5 ECTS)

• Selected Topics in Forensic Psychology (ENG, literature study - 5 ECTS)
• Seksuologie (NL - 5 ECTS)

• Selected Topics in Human Sexuality (literature study, ENG - 5 ECTS)
• Deception in Clinical settings (EN - 5 ECTS)
  

> Communication and Diagnostic Skills (at least 5 ECTS), similar to the course Gespreks- en diagnostische vaardigheden taught at the University of Groningen

> A Bachelor’s thesis or similar written thesis (at least 9 ECTS).

> Content-specific Psychology courses (at least 60 ECTS) on psychological theories and application (i.e. not skills courses).

At least 10 ECTS of these should be in the field of Clinical Neuropsychology,
via courses* similar to courses taught at the University of Groningen:

• Introduction to Clinical Neuropsychology (5 ECTS)
• Introductie in de Klinische Neuropsychologie (5 ECTS)
• Clinical Neuropsychology (5 ECTS)
• Neuropsychology of Ageing and Dementia (5 ECTS)
• Gerontology (5 ECTS)
• Developmental Neuropsychology (5 ECTS)
• School Neuropsychology: Mind, Brain and Education (5 ECTS)
  

> Psychopathology (at least 5 ECTS), similar to the courses taught at the University of Groningen:

• Psychopathology: symptoms, classifications and diagnosis (5 ECTS)
• Understanding psychopathology (5 ECTS)
• Cognitive behavioral processes across disorders (5 ECTS)

> Communication and Diagnostic Skills (at least 5 ECTS), similar to the course Communication and Diagnostic skills taught at the University of Groningen

Please note
If you are considering applying for either the Dutch or English-taught Master’s track in Clinical Neuropsychology/Klinische Neuropsychologie, bear in mind that these tracks differ in language, content, and internship (location and number of ECTS), which will have consequences for your career perspectives (e.g. a healthcare training programme). More information can be found on the  Clinical Neuropsychology website.

*Courses in the field of clinical neuropsychology focus on the impact of brain disorders on behaviour, cognition, and emotion, and discuss these topics from a clinical neuropsychological perspective, including diagnostics and treatment. Course units that discuss more fundamental topics, such as biopsychology, neurophysiology, neurosciences, or cognitive psychology, will generally not, or only partially, satisfy the requirements of clinical neuropsychology.

> Content-specific Psychology courses (at least 60 ECTS) on psychological theories and application (i.e. not skills courses).

At least 10 ECTS of these should be in the field of Developmental Psychology,
via courses similar to courses taught at the University of Groningen:

• Ontwikkelingspsychologie (5 ECTS)
• Developmental psychology (5 ECTS)
• Persoonlijke documenten en de constructie van de levensloop (5 ECTS)
• Interventions in individual development (5 ECTS)
• Theorieën over ontwikkelingsgebieden (5 ECTS)
• Diagnostiek in de ontwikkelingspsychologische praktijk (5 ECTS)
• Ontwikkeling, opvoeding en onderwijs (5 ECTS)
  

> Communication and Diagnostic Skills (at least 5 ECTS), similar to the course Communication and Diagnostic skills taught at the University of Groningen.

• For all other tracks, you will only have to satisfy the general admission criteria.
• If you do not satisfy the criterion of 60 ECTS in content-specific Psychology courses, you can compensate for up to 15 of these with track-related non-psychology courses (i.e. courses that are directly relevant to your chosen track).

Depending on your background and the language of instruction of your chosen track, you may have to present proof of proficiency in Dutch or English before the start of the Master’s degree programme.

Dutch-taught tracks

For the Dutch-taught tracks Ontwikkelingspsychologie, Klinische Psychologie and Klinische Neuropsychologie, the following qualifications will be accepted as sufficient proof of proficiency in Dutch at native-speaker level:

• Babel language test in Dutch for medical professionals B2+ (speaking and writing). Check the website for more information and how to register for the Babel language test. When registering indicate that this is related to a Master's in Psychology at the University of Groningen.
• Diploma from a Dutch-language secondary school.

English-taught tracks

• Candidates who have completed an entire secondary school programme or Bachelor’s degree programme in the US, at an English-taught institution in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, or Australia, will be deemed to have satisfied the language requirements.
• Dutch and foreign Bachelor’s students at Dutch universities will be deemed to have satisfied the language requirements.
• University of applied sciences students of Applied Psychology as well as Bachelor’s students from foreign universities will have to present proof of having passed one of the standard tests listed below.
  

Accepted tests

A sufficient test result in one of the following tests will constitute proof of English proficiency.

Please note:
Test results that are older than two years cannot be accepted (except vwo-diplomas).