Career prospects
Being able to select the right information and use it as a foundation to write a clear commentary that offers creative solutions to complex problems is an art in and of itself. The International Relations in Historical Perspective programme will help you to master that art.
After graduating from the Master’s programme, you will possess the right knowledge and skills to start out as a policymaker. This programme primarily prepares you for a job in national governments, NGOs and international organisations within the area of international politics. However, businesses and local governments are asking more and more often for people with analytical skills and the ability to translate those skills into useful advice.
If you are not looking for a position as a policy maker in either the profit or non-profit sectors, your skills and knowledge could easily be applied to careers such as teaching history, doing research or doing journalism.
Professional careers
Alumni of this programme have found jobs in a range of fields in the labour market. Here are some examples of jobs in which expertise in international relations is required.
NGOs
- Senior Human Rights Officer, Dutch division Amnesty International
- Programme Leader Security & Disarmament Programme, PAX
Policy agencies at the national and international level
- Administrative Policy Advisor at Public Order and Security, Municipality of The Hague
- Officer Authority Financial Markets (AFM)
- Junior and Senior Officer Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Operations Officer World Bank
Lobby, consultancy
- Public Affairs Adviser, PBLCO Government & Public Affairs and Strategic Communications
- Junior Adviser Public Affairs, Dröge & Van Drimmelen, Corporate Communication and Public Affairs
- Training and \Research Fellow Clingendael Institute for International Relations, The Hague
The Master’s programme was very helpful in developing the analytical skills that are essential in the politically sensitive environment in which I work.
Alumni on LinkedIn
Mathias Koch
Research Associate at Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Brussels
Sarafina Boermans
Project Manager Expert Team Missions at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency
Academic careers
With your Master’s degree of Internal Relations in Historical Perspective, you can start out as a junior researcher at a university, think tank, or diplomatic academy. One of our alumni, for example, is a Training & Research Fellow at Clingendael, Netherlands Institute of International Relations. Our 20-week research seminar and intensive supervision during the writing of your Master’s thesis will help you to reach the level necessary to successfully apply for a PhD position.
Additional guidance can be provided through the research track. Your thesis will not only be complex and insightful, but will also contain in-depth source research and attention to historiography and political theory. With this combination, you will lay the foundations for a PhD proposal and for an excellent CV.
Possible jobs in academia:
- Research Staff Member, Centre for Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, Leiden University, Campus, The Hague
- PhD-Researcher European University Institute, Florence
Facts and figures
Recent enquiry of our alumni shows that 80% of our students find employment within one year of graduation, in one of the sectors below:
- Government
- Media
- Education
- Research
- Business
- International institutions
- NGOs
- Cultural sector
Career development
Utrecht Centre For Global Challenges (UGlobe)
The MA in International Relations in Historical Perspectives is one of the UGlobe Master's programmes. The Utrecht Centre for Global Challenges (UGlobe) is a multi-disciplinary platform within Utrecht University for research, education and valorisation that is centred around the theme of a contested global order.
Career Services
Career Services offers events, tests, coaching and training in and outside your Master's programme, related to professional self-analysis, career orientation and job application skills. You can find more information about career services on Career Services for Dutch students or Career Services for international students.
Other career events
- Your Perspective is a monthly career orientation meeting for students and alumni of the Faculty of Humanities at Utrecht University.
- The Faculty of Humanities organises a Career Night Humanities with interesting partners who will illustrate the diversity in career opportunities for humanities graduates.
- Once a year Utrecht University organises a Careers Day. This Careers Day offers the opportunity to sign up for workshops and trainings, and to meet recruiters at the careers fair.