Migration, Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism

Top-10 best master in the Netherlands
(Keuzegids Hoger Onderwijs 2013).




The programme in Migration, Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism (MERM) is the oldest Research Master’s programme at Utrecht University and was recently (2009) evaluated as one of the top three research masters in the Netherlands. The MERM programme allows you to develop an informed and interdisciplinary understanding of the critical and hotly debated questions about immigration, integration, and cultural diversity. Thus, the programme is ideal for students with a strong interest in these questions and in interdisciplinary social science.

Focus of MERM

The programme focuses on the analysis of different phases and aspects of migration flows, the (social, political and psychological) adaptation and integration of ethnic minorities in different societies, and the exclusionary (prejudice, racism) and inclusive (multiculturalism, tolerance) reactions of host societies and majority group members. Students investigate the nature and consequences of ethnic and religious diversity of nation states, in institutions (e.g., schools), and in local settings (e.g., neighbourhoods), with a special emphasis on potential ethnic conflicts and separatism in multicultural societies.

MERM is interdisciplinary

MERM is interdisciplinary and you will learn the main theories and approaches developed in social psychology, sociology, political science and anthropology. Further, you receive extensive training in research methodology. The second year of the programme is predominantly concerned with writing the Master’s thesis, supervised by one of the Migration, Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism professors.

The programme prepares students for subsequent PhD studies within the Interuniversity Centre for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) or other institutes in the Netherlands or abroad. Alternatively, graduates may embark on a career in research or advisory positions in academic institutes, policy organisations and NGO’s. 

More than half of our former students who have completed the programme (more than 70) came from outside the Netherlands from countries like Japan, Taiwan, United States, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Germany, France, Rumania, Greece, and Belgium.

Interested in this programme?
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