Practical

We select for students with at least 180 ECTS  of prior higher education. This should have been obtained by a three-year bachelor programme, or by a bachelor programme, followed by a master programme. For more information on the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), click here. Students are only eligible to enter the selection process if they hold one of the following degrees:

Degree in Criminology: Preference will be given to students with a background in Criminology

Other degrees: Applicants with other degrees than Criminology, in one of the other Social Sciences or Humanities or Law  are eligible on the condition that the holder a) can demonstrate knowledge of questions of deviance and social control, and b) can demonstrate sufficient knowledge of both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

If your expected graduation is after the application deadline, you can send your diplomas at a later stage. In case you are admitted to the master, your final graduation and diploma is subject to enrolment. Please send a transcript of grades with your application that shows the courses you have completed so far. Preferably (but not mandatory), this document also contains your expected date of graduation or a letter from your university stating this.

EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme
For application purposes, “European” students have a passport from one of the EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme:

• Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden
• North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Republic of Türkiye

For more information about the eligible countries under the Erasmus+ Programme, please see the website of the European Commission (click here).

Third countries not associated to the Programme
All other applicants are considered as “non-European” students for application purposes.

Double citizenship
Applicants with a dual citizenship can apply with either citizenship but must choose one application category. It is not possible to apply as both “European” and “non-European” student at the same time and the category may also not be changed after the application has been submitted.

• All applicants are required to write a letter of motivation, on which basis a selection is made, with specification of prior knowledge, relevant diploma(s) and list of grades including a description of the grading system.
• Students are asked to indicate their preference for the track at one of the universities. Allocation of students depends on preferences as well as available spots per university. The university you study will execute a degree.
• Two letters of recommendation are required. If needed, these letters can also be send separately to imarc@law.eur.nl, with the name of the applicant in the reference.
• All applicants are required to send information on their prior/current education (in their CV):
  • name bachelor degree obtained/to obtain
  • educational institution, location, country of prior/current education
  • if applicable the specialisation, major and/or minor
  • start date and duration of the prior/current education.
  • A recent statement of proficiency in English

The IMARC programme has been selected as an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master (EMJM) programme. For the programme 2025-2027, Erasmus Mundus scholarships could be available. The Selection Committee decides on the admission of applicants and will rank the eligible candidates. Ranking of applicants is based on your Bachelor degree, transcript of grades, motivation letter, background (CV), reference letters, and self‐evaluation on methodology skills. Also, we take a geographical balance of students into account. 

For holders of a bachelor’s diploma in Social Sciences or Humanities or Law,  the candidates’ knowledge of research methods is assessed based on course descriptions of completed bachelor courses, according to the following criteria:

Qualitative and quantitative research methods

• Demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the strengths, limitations and ethical concerns of both qualitative and quantitative research methods.
• Demonstrate sufficient knowledge of formulating theoretically and empirically embedded research questions.
• Demonstrate sufficient knowledge of different research designs and research methods that are appropriate for answering different research questions.
• Demonstrate sufficient knowledge of and basic skills in analysing quantitative and qualitative data.
• Demonstrate basic experience in formulating a theoretically and empirically embedded scientific argument.

Criminological knowledge 

• Demonstrate knowledge of questions of deviance and social control.

To assess this, we ask you to motivate how your courses of prior education cover the above. Make a distinction between qualitative and quantitative courses. Your application must be accompanied with a self-report on your research skills. The template for the self report can be found here. 

All students wishing to apply for the IMARC Programme must show evidence of proficiency in English. This should take the form of:

• a minimum IELTS (International English LanguageTesting System; www.ielts.org) a minimum score of 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in each component or
• a minimum TOEFL IBT (Test Of English as a Foreign Language; www.ets.org/toefl) scores of 90 for the internet-based test with a minimum of 22 in R; 21 in W; 17 in L; 20 in S;
• IELTS and TOEFL test results must not be older than two years. Institutional TOEFL test scores are not accepted.

Exceptions to the English proficiency test are:

• Native English speakers (countries in which English is an official language) and/or students with a degree in English taught secondary education or a first degree or higher degree from an institution in which English is the primary language of instruction;
• Students with a Dutch pre-university diploma;
• Students holding a diploma of secondary education awarded by (an educational institution that is recognised by) the Flemish community;
• Students with an English taught bachelor’s diploma;
• •Students with an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma;
• Students who have passed University of Cambridge exams, Proficiency (CPE) or Advanced (CAE);
• Students who have passed Advanced Placement International English Language examination (APIEL) with a minimum of 4 points.

EEA/EU students: € 6.000,= per year. Non-EEA/EU students: € 12,000,= per year.

For the academic years 2025/2026 up to 2029/2030, the programme may award 60 full scholarships (approximately 15 per academic year). Scholarships will be awarded based on merit, established by the ranking of all applicants who submitted their application complete and within the period of 1 February 2025 until 15 March 2025.

There are two categories of scholarships, category 1, and category 2. No distinction is made between applicants from EU and non-EU countries when awarding scholarships in category 1. For category 2, scholarships are reserved for the best students from specific target regions of the Erasmus+ programme (IPA III and NDICI).

The scholarships are awarded as follows:
1. Approximately 10 scholarships per year for the best applicants in the overall ranking
2. Additional 5 scholarships per year for applicants from designated target regions of the Erasmus+ programme.

Within the funding period of 6 years, there is a maximum of 10% of students of the same nationality who may receive a scholarship in category 1 (approximately 1-2 students of the same nationality). For category 2, there are percentage targets for the number of scholarships awarded for different regions. Here we particularly, but not exclusively, invite applications from excellent students from the Sub-Saharan Africa region and the Western Balkans (Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo).

We also may offer financial support for students with special needs (e.g. pre-existing medical, physical, psychological impairments) from funds of the European Commission. Students interested in this opportunity must come up with a detailed overview of the needed support and envisioned costs.
If you are interested in applying for the scholarship and have not received an EMJM scholarship from any other EMJM-programmes before, please indicate your interest in your application and motivation letter. You can send you application between 1 February 2025 and 15 March 2025 with all required documents to imarc@law.eur.nl. All applications before 1 February or after 15 March will be evaluated as self-paying applications. Experience shows that we receive lot of applications that are interested in scholarships in general. Before sending your application we strongly urge you to check the eligibility criteria. Our programme is a research-oriented master in criminology with a focus on border crossing, security and social justice.

The IMARC consortium will provide all IMARC students with health and travel insurance coverage over the whole period of the IMARC academic programme.