Master in Political and Social Sciences

• Presentation
• Academic structure
• Admission requirements and calendar
• Evaluation criteria
• Grants
• Editions

Presentation

The Master in Political and Social Sciences includes a large international component. It is designed to prepare future political advisors and to provide them with the necessary training to carry out research in this field.

The Department of Political and Social Sciences offers students with a clear academic orientation the possibility to continue their studies in a dynamic environment which is clearly oriented towards the international academic and research spheres.

The Master is directly linked to the Ph.D programme in Political and Social Sciences, which has received several awards for quality: Firstly, it has been awarded three Quality Mentions by the ANECA (Ministry of Education and Science of the Spanish Government). Secondly, it has been included in the International Graduate School of Catalonia (IGSOC), which is now known as IQUC and is funded by the Departament d´Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government).

Students who successfully complete the Master may apply for admission to the Ph.D programme.

The Master programme is structured in four specialities which correspond to the main lines of research of the Department of Political and Social Sciences.

1. Citizens and Political Action
2. Democracy, Multiculturalism and Federalism
3. Public Policies
4. Socio-demography

• Duration: 1 academic year, from september to june
• Structure of the Subjects: each subject lasts one term and is evaluated at the end of the erm.
• Number of ECTS credits:
• Core subjects: 15 credits
• Compulsory subjects of each speciality: 15 credits
• Optional subjects: 10 credits
• Final research paper: 20 credits

TOTAL: 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) credits

Academic structure

All students must take three core subjects (5 credits each) and the three compulsory subjects of the speciality they have chosen (5 credits each).

The optional subjects may be chosen from:

1. the subjects offered by the other three specialities. It is not necessary for them to belong to the same speciality, or
2. the optional subjects also offered on the Master programme.

Finally, students must present a research paper (dissertation: 20 credits) in order to complete the Master programme (60 credits). This paper will be prepared with the supervision of one of the professors of the programme.

Admission requirements

Apart from complying with the general admission requirements, in order to be admitted to the Master of Political and Social Sciences, students must comply with the following specific requirements:

• to have a university degree in the field of social science, law, humanities or health sciences, with a minimum of 240 ECTS credits or 300 degree credits.
• prove that they have a sufficiently high level of English by attaining a score of at least 220 points on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or another equivalent certificate.

Evaluation criteria

The following criteria will be used during the selection procedure for candidates:

• The candidate´s academic profile in relation to the objectives and contents of the programme (3 points).

This point will we done according to a letter of a maximum of 2 pages where the candidate will explain his/her fitting in the profile of the master.

• Academic record (will be evaluated according to the internal rules of the UPF) (1.5 point).
• The contents of the two references (0.5 points).

Grants

You can consult the programme of Grants that is being offered by the University.

Editions

• New edition 2008/09
• Edition 2007/08