Social Analysis
See study programmeHow can we understand a changing society? How can we manage a work life characterized by constant transformation and an accelerating pace of change? The Master´s program of Social Analysis gives you the professional skills and analytical tools you and our society need to meet tomorrow´s challenges.
The program runs over two years. Through the program, the students will acquire relevant theoretical and methodological tools for analyzing current societal issues and processes of change.
The study consists of both compulsory courses and selectable courses in a broad set of thematic areas, including timely issues such as digitalization, societal security, and sustainability. As part of the program, the student will write a master´s thesis on a self-chosen thematic area.
Knowledge:
The canditate…
- has advanced interdisciplinary knowledge of approaches in social sciences to studying processes of societal change
- has specialized insight into a self-chosen and delimited field within social sciences.
- has specialized and up-to-date knowledge of research methods within international social sciences, including digital methodology.
- can apply theory from social sciences to gain new insights within a wide range of disciplines and societal issues, such as sustainable social development, digitalization, inequality, and democratization.
- has a critical awareness of how different forms of knowledge production, nationally and internationally, shape the understanding of societal processes, and can identify connections between science, knowledge production and policy development.
Skills:
The Candidate…
- can navigate and apply national and international scholarly literature, analyze and critically reflect upon different types of source material, and sort and apply these to develop and communicate professional reasoning in both research and practical problem solving.
- can analyze and critically reflect on existing international social science theories, methods, and interpretations, and apply these for practical problem solving across disciplines and sectors.
- can apply approaches from social sciences to the critical analysis of societal processes and structures, both in a national and international context.
- can develop researchable research questions, choose appropriate research methods, and carry-out an independent social science related research or development project in accordance with current ethical standards.
Competence:
The candidate…
- can understand and analyze ethical issues and dilemmas in social science research and development work.
- can work systematically and interdisciplinary to understand, prepare and evaluate measures to meet contemporary national and international societal challenges, for example related to digitalization, democracy, inequality, and sustainability.
- is trained in knowledge transfer and has considerable flexibility competence
- can communicate about social science issues, analyses, and conclusions across disciplinary boundaries.
- can contribute to innovation processes through interdisciplinarity and holistic thinking.
View general admission and documentation requirements
Admission guidelines for Master´s Program in Social Analysis:
- Norwegian language qualification
- Bachelor degree of 3 years' duration (180 ECTS), equivalent to a Norwegian Bachelor.
The applicant must have prior knowledge of social science research methods or a historical method equivalent to 10 credits (e.g. ME118S Introduction to social science methodology, ME123S Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Social Science, HI122S Historical theory and methodology, or equivalent). Ex.phil and ex.fac are not considered as research methods.
- If the applicant does not have a bachelor's degree within social sciences, or believes that the method requirement is covered by topics other than the examples above, the method must be adequately documented within the application deadline. The applicant must then upload course descriptions and reading lists in the application for the course(s) to be assessed.
The applicant must have passed exams of at least 80 ECTS credits in social sciences in which the grade requirement is C on a weighted average.
- For applicants with a professional education, the grade average is calculated on the entire bachelor's degree. Improvements in grades may be included in the weighted average. Relevant additional education can be included in the grade average.
If there are more qualified applicants than the number of study places, the applicants are ranked on the following basis: Weighted average grades are calculated for the courses included in the calculation basis (with any improvements). Applicants with a foreign education are assessed individually. In addition, the ranking regulations at Nord University rules apply, see The Regulations to Studies and Examinations at Nord University, §4-4.
The structure of the master's degree in social analysis facilitates exchange in the second semester of the full-time program (mobility window). In this semester, all students choose a combination of optional courses, which will lower the threshold for traveling on foreign exchange.
The following educational institutions may be relevant for exchange:
University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) - Canada
Wageningen University – Netherlands
University of Iceland – Island
Roskilde University (RUC) - Denmark
There are no tuition fees.
In addition to the semester fee and expenses for course literature, it is expected that the student has a laptop at his or her disposal.
The study program is evaluated annually by the students through course evaluations and study program evaluation. The evaluations are part of the university's quality assurance system.
Relevance to work life and societal needs are ensured through a study program council.