Master's structure

Become a high-skilled geospatial professional

YOU HAVE A LOT OF FREEDOM TO CUSTOMISE YOUR MASTERS IN GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION.

Within the Master’s in Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, you build expertise in a specific field by following one of the seven specialisations. In addition, you can tailor your Master’s to your interests and ambitions by choosing elective courses. The freedom to customise your programme will ensure you become the geo-information specialist you want to be.

Co-decide the content of your master's

How to compose your Master's

Your curriculum depends on the choices you make when you compose your Master’s. There are two steps you need to take.

  • Step 1: Choose a pathway

    At the start of you Master's, you can choose a specialisation: this way, you build expertise in a specific domain in geo-information science and Earth observation. This Master’s has seven specialisations:

    More than that, you can also build your own study programme. So, are you keen on combining a few of the specialisations into one? Let’s say you want to explore the use of geospatial data in tourism and dive into geoinformatics, water security, and natural resources? This is possible as you can combine different specialisation courses and set up your own programme.

  • Step 2: Professional development during your master's

    Once you have chosen your learning path, it is time to decide what the rest of your curriculum will look like. In addition to the compulsory courses, which depend on the specialisation you choose, you have a great deal of freedom in choosing elective courses. You can choose among more than 15 elective courses, most of  which are available to everyone, no matter your specialisation.

    In your second year, you can do an internship at a company or a research institute to gain hands-on experience. The internship is optional: if you prefer, you can take elective courses equivalent the internship credits. If you decide that you want to apply what you have learned before your graduation, you can do your internship at consultant companies, government agencies, research institutes, or non-governmental organisations in the Netherlands or abroad. Learn more about the internship and elective options by choosing a specialisation.

  • STEP 3: Determine the topic of your master's thesis

    You and your supervisors will determine the precise focus of the topic of your master's thesis research. You can contribute to an ongoing research project or develop your own topic that falls within a research theme at ITC.

Master's structure

During your Master’s in Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, you will collect a total of 120 EC in the time frame of two years.

Below, you can find the general structure of this Master’s. As you have a lot of freedom to customise your programme, the exact courses you will follow depend on the choices you make at the start of and throughout your studies.

FIRST YEAR

During the first year, parallel to the specialisation courses and the coursework, you also take an academic skills course to gain the necessary skills required to do scientific research in geo-information science and Earth observation.

Quartile 1

 

During the first quartile, you learn the basics of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation. The core of the programme (14 EC) consists of three separate courses:

Quartile 2

 

This quartile is dedicated to two courses from the specialisation you have chosen (14 EC). Each specialisation has its own set of compulsory courses: choose a specialisation and find out which ones.

Quartile 3

 

You take one compulsory course from your chosen specialisation (7 EC) and a course on how geo-information science and Earth observation address global challenges (7 EC).

Quartile 4

 

You take one compulsory course from your specialisation (7 EC) and one elective course (7 EC).

  

Second year

During the second year, you will customise an Individual study programme and work on your MSc research proposal and MSc thesis.

Quartile 5, 6, 7, and 8

 

During the second year of your Master’s, you predominantly work on your research project. You will also take elective courses of which you have the option to complete an internship. Your research activities could include doing fieldwork, for example abroad, in order to collect data to support your research project.

Discover the exciting internship options at ITC!

Join us on a journey as we follow two Master students, Carolina Pereira Marghidan and John Ifejube, during their internships at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) at the University of Twente. Get ready to witness the impactful work they're doing in their respective placements and gain a glimpse into the future that awaits you as a prospective student. Watch the video!

Find out more

Are you interested in this Master’s and do you want to know more about your study programme and how to compose it? For example, are you curious about the choice topics, or the learning outcomes? You can find out all about it in our Online Study Guide*. 

* You are looking at the Study Guide of the current academic year. We always have the desire to strive for improvement. Therefore the course structure is subject to change.

Study details