Geographical Information Sciences (UNIGIS)

• This Master’s programme focuses strongly on professional roles in which geospatial methods and techniques are applied.
• There are extensive opportunities to learn from other professionals. The core composition of the student body consists of mid-career professionals working in a variety of fields of application.
• A highly skilled, professional team of lecturers with academic expertise in the application of GIS in a variety of scientific and societal fields, and experience consulting with various public and private institutions, will lead the study and closely follow your development.
• The Admission Board will decide upon your admission after having evaluated your complete online application.
• In order to gain admission to our Master’s programme, you will need to have at least a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited research university including at least three full years of academic study amounting to a minimum of 180 ECTS or equivalent.

Your prior training should include:

• A GIS course of 6 EC and at least 300 level (equivalent to a third-year course in a bachelor’s programme).
• An Academic and Research skills course of 6 EC and at least 300 level.

If you do not yet fulfill these admission requirements, a Premaster’s programme is also available.

VU Amsterdam requires all applicants to take an English test. You can, however, begin your application without having the test results. Exceptions are made for students who have completed a bachelor or master in Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, New Zealand or Australia.

The minimum English language proficiency requirements for admission to this master’s programme are:

• (Academic) IELTS: at least 7.0, on all subscores
• TOEFL internet-based test at least 100

The test results should be obtained no more than two years before the start of the programme at VU Amsterdam.

• The master’s programme takes three academic years of part-time study (14 hours per week). 
• It is possible to complete the full programme more quickly (if you can dedicate more time to your studies). 
• You can also exit the programme earlier, upon which you receive a Certificate or Diploma depending on the credits that have been obtained to date.

There are two premaster courses:

• Introduction to GIS, 6 EC
• Academic and Research Skills, 6 EC

The tuition fee is € 1,071.50  in case you need to take both courses.

In case you need to taken only one: € 535.75.

As a premaster student, you will not receive restitution on the fee if you decide to terminate your enrollment.

Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, both our current as well as prospective students may encounter study delays (despite several actions taken to facilitate the completion of their programmes). To facilitate transitions within programmes (BSc) as well as to new programmes (MSc) a number of policies have been developed again for the upcoming academic year 2021-2022 in collaboration with the government and other universities.

Please note that if you already made use of the so-called ‘Zachte Knip’ or ‘Soft-cut’ for the academic year 2020 – 2021 and are still in the same study phase as then, you will not be eligible to use it again.

If you wish to be admitted to the Master’s programme without having completed your Bachelor’s studies and you meet the requirements stated below, please fill in this form.

For questions about the ‘soft cut’ for international students, please contact your International Student Advisors on masters.sbe@vu.nl.

The below does not apply to admission to the part-time program in Accounting and Control, as this program starts twice a year.  

In accordance with the agreements made with the Dutch government, VU Amsterdam has developed guidelines for the so-called “zachte knip” (soft cut, i.e., transferring from BSc to MSc program without completing the BSc yet.) 

Based on these guidelines and previous experience with the “zachte knip”, the following requirements have now been developed for admission to SBE full-time programs : 

Students are allowed to miss a total of 18EC of their BSc degree program (10% of the total of 180EC than can be obtained), provided that: 

• a) The student has completed his/her BSc Thesis 
• b) The general qualitative entry requirements for the specific program are met (as stipulated with other academic degree holders), rather than specific courses (as is now the case for our own BSc students). 

For example, the MSc Marketing requires, in general terms:

• A university Bachelor's degree that provides a sufficient foundation in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour
• Successfully completed courses and studied literature related to the core of this programme, consisting of
  • a) at least 18 EC in course work on Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, and
  • b) at least 12 EC related to statistics (to a level of being able to use techniques such as (multiple) regression, ANOVA and factor analysis).

Requests for exemptions can be submitted via the usual procedures. The remaining 18EC need to be completed before September 1, 2022. If not, students will not be able to apply for their MSc degree. We have opted for the 10% maximum of missing EC, as it would be unlikely for students to have a reasonable chance of completing their MSc program otherwise. Even with 18EC missing, this is challenging. Students that start with a deficiency will therefore proactively be invited by the academic advisors to discuss their situation and see if they can offer help where needed. 

Note: for non-EEA students, the regular rules apply.

For questions about the ‘soft cut’ for international students, please contact your International Student Advisors on masters.sbe@vu.nl.  

Note: this applies to the premaster programs of the MSc in Business Administration , Entrepreneurship, Transport and Supply Chain Management, Finance, Marketing, Digital Business and Innovation and the full-time MSc Accounting and Control. 

There is a separate policy for the transition from the premaster to the part-time MSc Accounting and Control (see point 4 and 5). 

Students are allowed to miss a total of 12EC of their premaster program (40% of the total of 30EC than can be obtained), provided that the student has completed his/her Academic paper. 

This 40% deviates from the VU guideline of 10-20% EC not completed. This is motivated by the fact that: 

-  Our pre-master program only starts in semester 2 (contrary to most other programs at the VU) and our students are therefore disproportionally affected by the crisis; 

-  The premaster program, for a substantial part, consist of courses that are part of larger scale programs. In replanning all assessments, the planning for the core program takes preference over the premaster, which in some cases might lead to less favourable circumstances for the premaster students (despite customized measures being taken as well). 

- In normal circumstances, many of our premaster students perform well, both in the premaster as well as in the master program. The GMAT is an important selective criterium here. Hence, we are less concerned about the students that are not sufficiently ready to start the master will gain access via this route after all. 

The remaining 12EC need to be completed before September 1, 2022. If not, students will not be able to apply for their MSc degree. Also here, students that start with a deficiency will proactively be invited by the academic advisors to discuss their situation and see if they can offer help where needed.  

Note: for enrolment in the premaster starting in February 2022, the regular procedure and requirements will be applied, given that this program only starts in semester 2.

This specific regulation applies to the premaster program of the MSc Accounting and Control, which has a different structure and has a different structure and is mostly directed at students that want to enrol for the Part-time MSc Accounting and Control. 

The part-time master has two entry moments, in September and in February. Hence, for this premaster, in line with the VU guidelines, we refer to the two moments of MSc entry, and will not offer a “zachte knip ”.

Students can apply for a hardship exception if they can show that, because of specific personal circumstances arising out of the corona crisis, they will suffer a disproportionate delay if the regular criteria for admission to the MSc program are applied. This also applies to students in the premaster program that aim to enter the full-time program in September, 2021.

Note: For Bachelor students that want to enter the MSc Accounting, we refer to the regulation for all BSc students.

For enrolment in the premaster Accounting and Control the regular procedure and requirements will be applied, given that this program starts twice a year with substantial self-study.