Literary study is socially relevant: from the medieval to the modern, it maps the forces which divide and unite people. English is the global language of cultural exchange and experiment.
The themes of conflict and co-operation are at the core
of the Master's track in English Literature and Culture, a
programme that allows students a broad choice from a range of
modules drawing on the full historical and geographical sweep of
literatures in English.
It is a key tenet of the track that the academic study of English
literature can be used to reflect on the ways that people - as
individuals and as groups - interact with one another, and that it
provides a catalyst for insight into contemporary social debates.
Literature captures the separation and the solidarity of its
writers and audiences in a manner particular to itself: it is a
multidisciplinary practice that is as diverse as the texts it
studies. The programme's core themes of conflict and co-operation
are linked to sustainable
society, a research priority of the university.
For more information see: English Language & Culture.
Semesters | ||||
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CoursesCourse Catalog > | 1a | 1b | 2a | 2b |
Humour and Religion in Medieval Drama (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Literature's Society (5 EC) | ||||
The Art of the Short Story (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Travel Writing (5 EC, optional) | ||||
MA Thesis (20 EC) Your degree ends with a thesis on a subject of your choosing. | ||||
Module from Writing, Editing and Mediating – e.g., Towards the Digital Text, Part A or B; Creative Writing, Part A or B (10 EC, optional) | ||||
American Literature in the Age of Urban Crisis (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Fan Fiction as Transformative Practice (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Jane Austen, George Eliot and the ethics of Sympathy (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Magic and Medicine in Medieval Literature (5 EC, optional) | ||||
MA Research Seminar (5 EC) | ||||
Whodunit? Exploring the Relationship Between Form and Formula (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Contemporary Literature and the Art of Belief (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Disruptive Bodies in Medieval Literature: Emotion, Gender, Power (5 EC, optional) | ||||
The Textual Worlds of Langston Hughes (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Tolkien in Context (5 EC, optional) | ||||
World War II: The Other Modernist War (5 EC, optional) | ||||
MA Work Placement (10 EC, optional) | ||||
Gender and Witchcraft in Modern Literature (5 EC, optional) | ||||
Order and Conflict in Renaissance England (5 EC, optional) | ||||
The World of Women in Early Medieval Europe (5 EC, optional) |
The course titles of the literature tutorials, above, are recent
examples. Courses vary each year. For detailed information about
compulsory and optional courses, please visit Ocasys.
For information about the variety of areas in which students can
write their dissertations, click the Research tab below.
As part of the programme, students can opt to complete a 10-credit work placement (a.k.a. internship). At the Faculty of Arts, students are responsible for finding a placement for themselves and having it approved by the placement coordinator for their programme, Dr Tekla Mecsnóber, who can be reached at t.d.mecsnober@rug.nl.
Programme options |
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Master's Placement (specialization) This Master's track includes an optional work placement for which you are awarded ECTS credit points. It is your responsibility to find a placement yourself, but the Office for Student Affairs can offer help with this where necessary. |
Specific requirements | More information |
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previous education |
Students with a Bachelor's degree in the field of English Literature and/or Culture are admissible to this Master's track. |
language test |
Additional English language requirement: a TOEFL iBT with a score of 110 (min. of 25 on all items); an IELTS, Academic Module, with a score of 8 (min. of 7.5 on all items); ERK level C1. Cambridge C1 Advanced (level A) or C2 Proficiency with a minimum score of 200. If your BA does not certify this, you may have to take an appropriate language test. |
other admission requirements |
To assess whether your educational/academic background meets the specific programme requirements, we will consider the level and curriculum of your previous studies. This evaluation is carried out by our Admissions Office and the Admissions Board. Students with an international diploma should fill in the checklist. This checklist needs to be uploaded via Progress Portal when applying for this programme. |
Study programme | Organization | Transition |
---|---|---|
English Language and Culture | University of Groningen | No additional requirements |
Study programme | Organization | Transition |
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English Language and Culture | All Research universities | No additional requirements |
Note: it's only possible to a very limited extent to start in February. For more information, please contact the study advisor.
Type of student | Deadline | Start course |
---|---|---|
Dutch students | 15 August 2025 | 01 September 2025 |
EU/EEA students | 01 May 2025 | 01 September 2025 |
non-EU/EEA students | 01 May 2025 | 01 September 2025 |
Specific requirements | More information |
---|---|
previous education |
Students with a Bachelor's degree in the field of English Literature and/or Culture are admissible to this Master's track. |
language test |
Additional English language requirement: a TOEFL iBT with a score of 110 (min. of 25 on all items); an IELTS, Academic Module, with a score of 8 (min. of 7.5 on all items); ERK level C1. Cambridge C1 Advanced (level A) or C2 Proficiency with a minimum score of 200. If your BA does not certify this, you may have to take an appropriate language test. |
other admission requirements |
To assess whether your educational/academic background meets the specific programme requirements, we will consider the level and curriculum of your previous studies. This evaluation is carried out by our Admissions Office and the Admissions Board. Students with an international diploma should fill in the checklist. This checklist needs to be uploaded via the Progress Portal when applying for this programme. |
Note: it's only possible to a very limited extent to start in February. For more information, please contact the study advisor.
Type of student | Deadline | Start course |
---|---|---|
Dutch students | 15 August 2025 | 01 September 2025 |
EU/EEA students | 01 May 2025 | 01 September 2025 |
non-EU/EEA students | 01 May 2025 | 01 September 2025 |
Nationality | Year | Fee | Programme form |
---|---|---|---|
EU/EEA | 2024-2025 | € 2530 | full-time |
non-EU/EEA | 2024-2025 | € 18700 | full-time |
EU/EEA | 2025-2026 | € 2601 | full-time |
non-EU/EEA | 2025-2026 | € 19200 | full-time |
Practical information for:
A Master's track in English is a well-recognized postgraduate qualification in a market where having a good BA is no longer enough. Some graduates secure jobs that are related to English literature (publishing) while other opportunities arise from skills integral to the programme. The most obvious of these is the ability to use English, a facility that is as prized in countries where it is the native language as it is in places where it is a medium for commerce.
Whether they study Beowulf or Virginia Woolf, our MA students hone their analytical and interpretative skills and work on expressing complex ideas clearly in writing and in oral presentations. They work on texts from other places or times and so engage with cultures other than their own, developing flexibility in habits of mind necessary in a globalized environment. Finally, graduates have written a thesis, thereby demonstrating their ability to manage their time and to work independently, two vital skills for responsible jobs. Regardless of where you go to work, the first thing you will have to do is to persuade an employer that you are right for a job. Jobs don't simply attach themselves naturally to the holders of a particular degree - they need to be won, and the skills imparted in the study of our Master's track provide graduates with the tools they need to do this.
Research in the Department covers broad areas of English literature from medieval times to the present. Our staff members run or participate in a number of international research projects, encounters with the New World and the inevitable conflict of worldviews that this entailed.
The department can supervise a broad range of literature dissertations dealing with texts written on topics from Old English, Middle English, Early Modern, and Modern literature. Dissertations can focus on literatures written in English from various parts of the world, including, for example, American and African writing. Dissertations dealing with recent authors, canonical authors, popular authors and lesser-known works are equally welcome. While dissertations that deal with the themes of conflict and co-operation are particularly welcome, students have a free choice of dissertation subjects within the areas of staff expertise.
Dissertations may be supervised by any appropriate member of staff. The following list indicates some of the areas in which dissertations can be written.
Dr David Ashford: Modernism, Post-Modernism, the Enlightenment, Theory and Philosophy, Post-Humanism, Imperialism, Cultural Geography, Poetry, Poetics and Publishing.
Dr Kees Dekker: Old English literature and language; Middle English literature and language; history of the English language; textual editing; manuscript studies.
Dr John Flood: Renaissance/Early-Modern literature; Romantic and Victorian literature; Christianity and literature; modern Irish literature; science-fiction; J.R.R. Tolkien; literature and war (especially World War I); twentieth-century British, Irish and American poetry; history of the book; textual editing; philosophy and literature.
Dr Ann Hoag: women’s writing; travel literature; contemporary American fiction; Modernism.
Dr Hans Jansen: Shakespeare, English drama; language acquisition; history of the English language; translation.
Dr Suzanne Manizza Roszak: Modern and contemporary US literature, multi-ethnic US and transnational American literature, world literatures in English, Italian American literature and culture, children's and young adult literature, the twentieth- and twenty first-century Gothic, diaspora studies, gender studies, critical race theory, trauma studies.
Dr Tekla Mecsnober: modernist writing (especially James Joyce, modernist magazines and experiments with language); eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British fiction; Gerard Manley Hopkins; Victorian poetry.
Dr Karin Olsen: Anglo-Saxon literature and culture; comparative studies in Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse and early Irish literature and culture; Middle English literature.
Dr Kees de Vries: nineteenth-century literature; Oscar Wilde; humour and literature; music and literature; literary theory.
For general information about the research in the department see the Research Page and the People page of English Language and Culture.
Here are some sample topics of students' MA dissertations:
Medieval
Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries
Twentieth Century and Contemporary
You are a graduate with a BA in English literature who wants a broad, challenging postgraduate programme.
The programme has a study advisor whom you can contact if you have any questions or if you need confidential advice about study-related matters. More complex problems, for example long-term illness, can be referred to the student counsellors.
In addition, you can also follow various courses at the Study Support section of the Student Service Centre (SSC), for example, courses on study skills and giving presentations.