The Liberal Arts and Sciences bachelors of University College Groningen will educate ambitious and multi-talented students to develop creative and innovative solutions for the challenges of society.
At UCG you will be offered a traditional Liberal Arts and Sciences programme, which will provide you with a broad interdisciplinary base of knowledge. You can explore your talents in many directions and push the boundaries of your ambitions, which will allow you to specialise in a discipline that you are passionate about. Your specialisation will provide you access to a broad range of Master's programmes within the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands and abroad.
The heart of the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme at UCG is the 'IC2I learning line'. IC2I stands for Imagination, Creation, Invention and Innovation, and this learning line runs through the whole Liberal Arts and Sciences course. The IC2I programme develops students to ask the right questions, to examining the right questions to being able to deliver concrete and relevant answers for the questions asked. It will allow student to develop their creative talents to become a leading figure of modern society.
1st year
The emphasis is on orientation and ideas, seeing and identifying problems and imagining solutions, the first step in what we call the IC2I-learning line: creating horizon. In groups, students learn to provide informed suggestions on how to contribute to the challenges of modern society: What sould we solve or answer? And what can we imagine? Consequently students are invited to open new horizons through a systematic, disciplined nurturing of the cognitive, imaginative and creative potential.
Courses in the first year of LAS (10 ECTS each):
2nd year
The second year of the programme focuses on disciplinary specialisation by deepening competences through research methods and major courses as well as the second research-focused step in the IC2I-learning line: creating scholarship.
The second year has the following global structure:
3rd year
The third year focuses on working on advanced competences and skills to solve complex societal problems. Individualised specialisation and preparation for post-bachelor learning and development are offered through additional major and minor courses. In the IC2I-learning line, the students work in groups on how to make theoretically sound solutions effective: creating leadership. In addition, they work individually on their Bachelor's thesis project.
In the first semester, students follow minor courses to specialise and start on the execution of their research proposal for their Bachelor's thesis. Students will also be able to complete their minor programme through a study abroad in the first semester.
Specialisations / Tracks
The Health and Life Sciences major orientation provides a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms underlying the normal development and function of humans, and of mechanisms causing disease.
It includes mandatory courses on the living cell and the human body, discipline-oriented research methods, and electives in topical fields grouped around general courses, system- and disease-oriented courses and interdisciplinary electives, all related to the research theme on Healthy Ageing.
This programme offers a broad orientation on social phenomena, building on core ingredients of philosophy, political science and economics.
In the PPE major, students may choose to explore topics related to institutional design in general and sustainability in particular. Typical topics are history of philosophy, philosophy of science, ethics, logic, political science and international relations, microeconomics, markets and regulation and (international) macroeconomic theory and policy.
The major orientation Cognition and Behaviour offers a programme in psychology, cognitive sciences and closely related disciplines.
The major orientation starts with a choice between the courses 'Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience' and 'Social Environment and Behaviour'. A core topic is the History and Philosophy of the Mind and Society. Students may choose among a wide range of themes within Psychology and related disciplinary fields sich as Consumer and Economic Psuchology, Social Influence, Organisational Change, Social Cognition, Neuropsychology, Cognition and Attention, Gerontology and Perception. The topics can be explored further in relation to the three research themes.
This major orientation takes the self-reflective capacities of culture as its point of departure and offers two strands: the historical approach and the critical approach.
There are courses on cultural history, cultural analysis, a particular medium of art (film, television, literature, theatre and music), a particular historical period, the methods and methodology of the Humanities. This major orientation offers, in both approaches, the interpretative method and critital approach (textual hermeneutics) which form its methodological point of departure. The topcs studied are most closely related to the research within the theme of Sustainable Society.
This major orientation covers physics with an emphasis on energy and sustainability.
The programme includes a broad spectrum of physics courses in topical fields erlated to e.g. magnetism, electricity, mechanics and relativity, thermodynamics and the structure of matter. Electives are offered in the fields of energy and sustainability.
Programme schedule
Courses year 1Study abroad
(Binding) study advice
IELTS band : 6.5 CAE score : 60(Grade C) TOEFL paper-based test score : 575 TOEFL iBT® test : 90
To study at this university, you have to speak English. We advice you to
take an IELTS test.In general you will start to build a portfolio as soon as you ask admission to the programme. You will receive a username (e-mail address) and password with which you can login on Qualtrics (tool for administering online questionnaires and tests), where you will start composing a portfolio. First you will provide your personal information. Secondly, you will supply information about prior education. The details about most relevant diplomas that provide access to the programme are described in the table below.
Subsequently, you are asked to construct a Curriculum Vitae in several components like sports, work experience, hobbies and voluntary work. A last part consists of completing a standardized questionnaire about personality, motivation and self-efficacy. The estimated time for building the portfolio in this step is one hour.
The Admission Committee (Dean and IC2I tutors assisted by admission officer) decides which students meet the official criteria based on a GPA of 75/100 or top 15 % of the year class. The additional information about Curriculum Vitae and questionnaires are used in round 2.
Netherlands:
UK:
Germany:
International Baccalaureate (IB):
No work experience is required.
"The Academic Excellence Scholarship can provide up to a 50 % reduction in tuition per semester. These scholarships will be renewed if the student maintains superior academic performance during each semester of their 3-year Bachelor programme. The scholarship will be directly applied to the student’s tuition fees."
Scholarships for students who are already attending the University of Reading.
The University of Amsterdam aims to attract the world’s brightest students to its international classrooms. Outstanding students from outside the European Economic Area can apply for an Amsterdam Merit Scholarship.
* The scholarships shown on this page are suggestions first and foremost. They could be offered by other organisations than University of Groningen.
