General guide to the Bachelor's degree programme
This Bachelor's programme consists of one major and two minors. The major is the core curriculum and the two minors are relevant courses that help you gain a deeper understanding of the major or that help you expand your knowledge by taking courses offered by different programmes. The major includes several courses that overlap with other programmes, which means you will meet students from different programmes.
The programme is structured as follows: the first year of the degree programme (B1) consists of courses from the major and is concluded with a first-year diploma; in the second and third years (B2 and B3) you continue with your major and take two minors as well as core curriculum courses. You can design one of these minors yourself (known as an elective minor), pending the approval of the Examination Board. The other minors must be chosen from the minors on offer at the Faculty of Arts (including the programme minor offered by your programme). The Bachelor's programme is concluded with a Bachelor's degree. You can always transfer to the Master's programme that corresponds to your Bachelor's programme, irrespective of the minors you choose. Replacing your minors with a bridge programme will give you access to other Master's programmes offered by the Faculty of Arts of Radboud University. The Master's programme has a duration of one year and is concluded with a Master's degree. The Bachelor's programme also gives you access to one or more Research Masters, which have a duration of two years. These Master's programmes are subject to specific admission procedures.
Programme structure:
Academic year | Majors (expressed in credits) | Minors (expressed in credits) | Total credits |
Bachelor 1 | 60 | 0 | 60 |
Bachelor 2 | 60 | 0 | 60 |
Bachelor 3 | 30 | 30* | 60 |
Master | 60 | 0 | 60 |
*You have the option of studying abroad in the first semester of the third year (B3).
Studying abroad
As part of the CIS programme, students can choose to study abroad by taking courses, conducting research or participating in an internship at a foreign institute of higher education. The period spent abroad, as well as the academic results obtained during that period, will count towards your BA degree in Nijmegen (provided that written agreements have been made in advance with the Examination Board and the CIS study abroad coordinator. These agreements are documented in a Learning Agreement. After returning from your stay abroad, you must submit your academic results to the CIS study abroad coordinator for conversion before 1 September of the same academic year.
All study abroad requests must be submitted to the CIS study abroad coordinator, who will sign the request before submitting it to the Examination Board for approval. If you'd like to follow courses at a foreign institution that has a partnership with a different degree course other than CIS, and if you plan to take these courses as an elective minor in the CIS programme, you must first submit these courses to the CIS study abroad coordinator for approval. The coordinator will then forward your request to the Examination Board.
Studying abroad has many advantages: it improves your language skills, it increases your independence and it broadens your career prospects. Most CIS students choose to study at one of the programme's many partner institutes.
It's not possible to combine a study abroad programme with a distance learning CIS course. For organisational reasons, the exams for CIS courses cannot be offered at a different time, date or location than the ones listed in the schedule.
The CIS programme offers exchange programmes in the language of instruction at the foreign institute. To obtain approval for the courses you plan on following abroad (via the Learning Agreement) and to validate the credits you obtained abroad (when you return, via the Transcript of Records), please contact one of the following coordinators:
For German-speaking countries: U. Nederstigt (u.nederstigt@let.ru.nl); for English-speaking countries (including South Africa): C. Davis (C.Davis@let.ru.nl); for French-speaking countries: E. Fruit (E.Fruit@let.ru.nl); for Spanish-speaking countries: N. Dominguez (N.Dominguez@let.ru.nl); for other countries: International Office, Faculty of Arts.
Visit the Faculty of Arts' International Office website for more information.