English Language and Culture: VU University Amsterdam

Course Description

The English programme at VU University Amsterdam has an established and excellent reputation both within and outside the Netherlands, offering a wide range of dynamic as well as up-to-date MA courses in both English Language and Literature.

The Language and Linguistics section offers two specialist tracks, in language advising and in metaphor studies, while the main centres of focus of the Literature section are early modern British literature, postcolonial and American literatures, and the nature of textuality. With a long history of postgraduate study and research, which has evolved in response to the needs of today’s MA students, we aim to offer our students the opportunity to study and research in some of the most cutting-edge areas in the fields of English Language and English Literature. Thanks to our focus on quality rather than quantity, our students are recognised by prospective employers as being of a consistently high standard with qualifications that are second to none.

Career prospects

Your Master’s degree makes you a specialist in English studies. In particular you will have developed excellent oral and written communication skills, which allow you to provide clear and detailed answers to complicated questions.

This specific training, together with your international orientation, will give you excellent opportunities in the growing market of international companies in the Netherlands and abroad. In recent years, many of our graduates have found employment in the commercial sector, working as a communication specialist in international banking, as a marketing manager, but also as a lexicographer or a subtitler.

Admission requirements

Dutch students

Direct admission to the Master's programme is possible with a Bachelor's degree in English Language and Culture from VU University Amsterdam. Applications from students with equivalent Bachelor's degrees from other universities (in the Netherlands or abroad) have to be submitted to the Examination Board for assessment. If you have a Bachelor's degree in another subject, the Examination Board will decide what subjects in English you will be required to take in preparation for the Master’s programme. Depending on the number of subjects you have to take, you will either have to register for and complete the Bachelor's programme or you will be permitted to register for the pre-Master's course (one year maximum).

International students

If English is not your native language you must always present official test results proving your proficiency in English. This can be a TOEFL score (score 600 paper based or score 250 computer based) or an IELTS score (score 7.0).