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Education Master's and PhD degree programmes Communication and Information Studies
Header image Communication and Information Studies

Communication and Information Studies

Are you interested in information and communication processes? Then you should choose one of the tracks of this Master's degree programme.

  • Communication Studies This track allows you to either specialise in one field of communication or broaden your understanding of communication studies as a whole by choosing a range of courses from our four central themes: health, education, corporate and organizational, and environmental communication. Students will acquire essential knowledge and skills to thrive as communication experts in a range of professional settings.
  • Information Science This track is completely in English and focuses on the theory and the research of language, text and digital communication. Topics that are of interest are e.g. natural language processing, semantic web and digital communication.
  • Digital Humanities The track Digital Humanities teaches you to look at culture, language and history through the lens of digital research methods.
Sign up now for the Master's Week from 18-22 November!
Facts & Figures
Degree
MA in Communication & Information Studies
Course type
Master
Duration
12 months (60 ECTS)
Croho code
66826
Language of instruction
Dutch, English
Start
September
Faculty
Arts
Why study this programme in Groningen?
  • Our curriculum connects contemporary issues to societal discourse.
  • This programme is interdisciplinary: communication processes are analyzed based on theories and insights that are rooted in different academic disciplines.
  • Language and language use are at the centre of every course module.
  • We offer students the opportunity to start individual projects, internships and follow part of their studies abroad.
Programme
Programme options
Communicatiekunde (track)

What role does communication play in addressing societal challenges, such as environmental obstacles, the rise of AI-tools, and the spread of misinformation? How can the analysis of conversations between doctors or doctors and patients improve patient care? How can you measure the effectiveness of audiovisual material in strategic communication?.This MA track allows you to either specialise in one field of communication or broaden your understanding of communication studies by choosing a range of courses from our four central themes:* Health communication* Education communication in practice* Corporate and organizational communication,* Environmental communicationBy connecting the knowledge and skills taught in this programme to societal themes and issues, you will be able to develop sustainable solutions to complex problems. You learn to communicate complex social and environmental issues and to promote sustainable practices. This programme equips you with communication skills for societal developments with perspectives on language and communication from disciplines such as (critical) discourse analysis, psychology, and sociology.

You can choose to follow an internship during your Master’s. The programme helps you find an internship at companies such as Noordhoff Publishers, Berenschot, Mircury and CNV Internationaal. This allows you to gain work experience in, for example, writing popular science articles, researching (prospective) audiences, and producing content for social media.

Sign up now for the Master's Week from 18-22 November!

More information about this option

Digital Humanities (track)

Do you want to be at the forefront of the digital turn in the humanities? The current information revolution opens up exciting perspectives for research and its applications in society.

This Master's track equips you to look at culture, language, history or philosophy through the lens of digital methods.We are witnessing many exciting new trends in information technology. The vast amount of digital data that is available nowadays opens up new research questions and opportunities for real life applications. This Digital Humanities track offers a systematic way to incorporate information technology in humanities research. It trains students with a humanities background for the growing number of research and other job opportunities that require processing of digital information. It reflects on the underlying theory and the impacts on our culture and society. It offers courses for collecting, analyzing and visualizing humanities data. Finally, you will be skilled to work with professional databases, programming scripts, and statistical tools.Students who graduated successfully from this programme were able to integrate a humanities perspective with computational methods. For instance, the thesis “Tracing Joyce’s notes for Ulysses” (2017) employed automation strategies for the digital representation and for source-tracing of Joyce’s notebooks. Another example is the thesis “Visualizing trade” (2018), in which an analysis of the Baltic trade in the 18th century was done by using visualization applications on the Sound Toll registers. By exploring visualization as a tool, the student was able to implement a Digital Humanities approach to a historical problem not just to identify patterns and analyze them, but also suggesting new interpretations.Sign up now for the Master's Week from 18-22 November!

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Information Science (track)

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Are you fascinated by artificial intelligence and language technology? In this study you learn how to develop and assess smart applications such as conversational agents, automatic translation systems, and intelligent search engines.As an MSc student of Information Science, you learn how to analyze unstructured data (such as text) automatically, and find out which machine learning techniques can be used to solve problems in information science. You also take part in shared tasks (working with a group on a challenging problem in language technology), and apply methods from artificial intelligence to real-world applications such as machine translation for low-resource languages, the semantic web, hate-speech detection, and smart user interfaces.

The Master's track builds on the knowledge, insights and skills that you have acquired in your Bachelor's degree. You will learn to carry out research independently and improve your programming, analytical and presentation skills.

This track is a specialization of the Master's degree programme in Communication and Information Sciences. All courses are taught in English.Sign up now for the Master's Week from 18-22 November!

More information about this option

Study abroad

  • Study abroad is discouraged

Study abroad is possible, but not recommended due to study delay and limited course options.

Entry requirements

Admission requirements

Specific requirementsMore information
previous education

For specific information on the entry requirements for the different Master's track, please select the link below:

language test

Additional requirements English: A VWO diploma or a subject certificate for VWO English (mark 6 or higher), minimum requirement of TOEFL iBT 90 (with a minimum of 21 on all items), or IELTS 6.5 (with a minimum of 6 on all items).

Application deadlines

Type of studentDeadlineStart course
Dutch students15 August 202501 September 2025
EU/EEA students01 May 202501 September 2025
non-EU/EEA students01 May 202501 September 2025

Admission requirements

Specific requirementsMore information
language test

Additional requirements English: A VWO diploma or a subject certificate for VWO English (mark 6 or higher), minimum requirement of TOEFL iBT 90 (with a minimum of 21 on all items), or IELTS 6.5 (with a minimum of 6 on all items).

Application deadlines

Type of studentDeadlineStart course
Dutch students15 August 202501 September 2025
EU/EEA students01 May 202501 September 2025
non-EU/EEA students01 May 202501 September 2025
Tuition fees
NationalityYearFeeProgramme form
EU/EEA2024-2025€ 2530full-time
non-EU/EEA2024-2025€ 18700full-time

Practical information for:

After your studies

Job prospects

The Master's degree programme in Communication and Information Science prepares you for positions in research, education, training and consultancy.

Job examples

  • Communications Advisor
  • Communications Manager
  • Communications Officer
  • Journalist
  • Marketing Manager
  • Media Advisor
  • Editor
  • PR Officer
  • Web Coordinator
Research

Research in the field of Communication Science at the University of Groningen focuses on oral, written, audiovisual and digital communication in one's mother tongue or in a second or foreign language, linking the functional characteristics of the various communication media and channels to the contexts and aims of the communication. In addition to careful analyses of the communication itself, experiments are also conducted to measure its effects.

The CIW research is coordinated by the Discourse and Communication group, which is part of the Centre for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG). This research group conducts both qualitative and quantitative research on the use of language and other semiotic systems in specific communicative contexts. Particular attention is paid to the effects of strategic (persuasive) communication in professional settings, such as organizational, media and health communication.

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marktdiverse locatiesMore information

Contact

  • Ask Your Question Here (please fill in this contact form, we will answer you as soon as possible.)
  • Drs. Marloes Bergmans (Studieadviseur)
    Email: studyadvicecis rug.nl
  • Albert Everaarts (Studieadviseur)
    Email: studieadviseurik rug.nl
    Telephone: 050-363 5809
  • Sjors van Ooij (Studieadviseur)
    Email: studieadviseurik rug.nl
  • Marnix van den Berg (Student Ambassdor Communication Sciences)
  • Henry Hornung (Student Ambassador Digital Humanities)
  • Admission Office (Contact form)
    Telephone: +31-(0)50 363 8976

De mogelijkheid om een eigen twist aan de opleiding te geven is een groot pluspunt

Als tekstschrijver in spe schreef ik op jonge leeftijd al verhaaltjes en raakte ik geïnteresseerd in de communicatiewereld.Het kiezen van een studentenstad was niet moeilijk: op naar Groningen! Ik kon mijn passie voor communicatie combineren met twee grote interesses: gezondheidszorg en psychologie. Momenteel werk ik als tekstschrijver bij een tekstbureau dat schrijft over overheidskwesties. Dagelijks leef ik me uit op teksten en interviews voor verschillende media en doelgroepen.

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Study associations

Commotie

Commotie is the study association for all communication students in Groningen.They offer their members a wide range of both educational and social activities and want their members to get the most out of their student life. In-house days, workshops, lectures and congresses give a broad insight in the workfield and career possibilities of communication.
Social activities contain an annual trip abroad, monthly socials, parties and many other fun activities. These activities give members the opportunity to make new friends and meet new people. More info? Check the website.
https://www.svcommotie.nl/home

Marug

The Marketing Association of the University of Groningen (MARUG) is the inter-departmental study association for students who are interested in marketing.
The MARUG acts as an intermediary between marketing theory and marketing practice and organises several career events and social activities during the year, such as a monthly social. At this moment, the MARUG has more than 1500 members from different fields of knowledge.
https://www.marug.nl/
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Study support

Each Master's degree programme has a study advisor whom you can contact if you have questions or need advice about your degree programme and other study-related matters. Everything you discuss will be treated confidentially. If you have a more complex problem, for example study delay, a performance disability or if you are ill for a long time, you should contact a student counsellor.

In addition, you can also follow various courses at the Study Support section of the Student Service Centre (SSC), for example on study stress and holding presentations.