Application is open for the Strategic Urban Planning & Policies track!
First round: 16 September – 30 November 2024
How to apply for the programme
You are welcome to apply for this master track starting from 16 September 2025. On this page, we carefully explain the whole procedure. Before submitting your application, please make sure that you have already consulted the dates below. We recommend applying as early as possible, especially if you need to apply for a scholarship and/or a visa.
Note: In most cases, you need to have already secured your admission to the academic programme before applying for a scholarship. Make sure you plan your application process accordingly to avoid missing the scholarship deadlines.
You can find an overview of the admission and application process of this Master track below.
Need a Quick Admission Decision?
We understand that many candidates plan to apply for scholarships and need to secure their academic admission in advance and we will do our best to provide the outcome in due time.
Based on our experience, most of the candidates who apply for scholarships submit their course application during Round 1 & 2. To maintain a fair admission process, we must assess the applications by the order of the submissions. In most of the cases our candidates receive their application outcome much earlier than the dates mentioned below. However, this cannot be guaranteed if we receive too many applications at the same time. It is therefore strongly advised to submit your application as early as possible if you intend to apply for a scholarship.
Disclaimer: Due to the limited capacity per master track, the admission might be closed earlier than the scheduled deadlines (for both EU and Non-EU applicants) when a master track has reached the maximum number of applicants/participants.
| Date | Label |
|---|---|
| 16 September 2024 - 1 July 2025 | Application intake period for the 2025/2026 cohort. |
| 15 April 2025 | Application deadline for candidates who want to benefit from the €2000 Early Bird tuition fee payment waiver.* The waiver is applicable to admitted candidates who submit their tuition fees by 15 May 2025. It is not applicable to full scholarship awardees. |
| 15 May 2025 | Early Bird tuition fee payment deadline |
| 1 June 2025 | Application deadline for Non-EU/EEA students. |
| 15 June 2025 | Tuition fee payment deadline for Non-EU/EEA students. |
| 1 July 2025 | Application deadline for candidates who do not require an entry visa to the Netherlands. |
| 1 August 2025 | Tuition fee payment deadline for EU/EEA students. |
*Note: EU/EEA students also include the ones who are currently living in the Netherlands who do not require a MVV entry visa.
We deliver our assessment outcome depending on the round in which you submit your application. The “decision available by” dates are the latest dates by which you can expect your outcome. You might receive your outcome earlier than these scheduled dates. Please keep an eye on your spam/junk folder during that period as well.
| Round | Application submitted | Decision Available By |
|---|---|---|
Round 1 Recommended for scholarship dependent candidates (Note: we don't provide scholarship at IHS). | 16 September – 30 November 2024 | 10 December 2024 |
Round 2 Recommended for scholarship dependent candidates (Note: we don't provide scholarship at IHS). | 1 December 2024 - 28 February 2025 | 10 March 2025 |
Round 3 Recommended for candidates who want to benefit from the early bird discount | 1 March - 15 April 2025 | 25 April 2025 |
| Round 4 | 16 April - 31 May 2025 | 10 June 2025 |
| Round 5 (Only for EU/EEA applicants or those who do not require an entry visa) | 1 June - 1 July 2025 | 10 July 2025 |
Step by step application procedure
While submitting your online application, we also require the following documents to be uploaded:
1. Bachelor's degree certificate and the complete grade transcripts
- The copies should be in the English language. A translated copy should be certified, while the original diploma and transcripts should be attached to the translated copy.
- The transcripts must contain all the pages for all the study years, and the grading system should be included.
- If your university only offers official transcripts directly to the institution you are applying for, you can request your documents to be sent to admission@ihs.nl.
- If you are expected to graduate in the summer, please upload a letter from your university to confirm your status and the expected graduation date.
- If you have just graduated but haven't received your official diploma, you can upload a "graduation statement" instead.
2. Master's degree certificate and transcripts (if applicable)
- The requirements for the documents are the same as for the bachelor's degree mentioned above.
3. Curriculum Vitae
- You can find an example template in the Downloads session. However, it is not necessary to follow our template. You are encouraged to choose your own format.
4. Admission assignments
- There are two assignments to be completed for the admission assessment, a) motivation, b) research proposal.
- The prescribed format can be found at the Downloads session, and this template must be used.
- It is not the intention to submit an earlier written proposal.
- Plagiarism & using AI chatbots (ChatGPT) will lead to direct rejection!
- The topic of your proposal should be relevant to the master track of your choice and your personal background.
- The references and sources are not included in the word count.
5. Proof of English language proficiency
- You must submit a copy of the official test report (see the requirements on the Admission page) or your test registration proof if you still need to take a test.
- If you would like to apply for the exemption (first check the Admission requirements of your applied track here to see whether you are qualified), if you are qualified please submit both of the following documents for evaluation:
- An example of a previously submitted, substantial essay or thesis in English.
- Confirmation from the institution that the language of instruction was entirely in the English medium.
Please note that you must register for an English test before 1 May 2025 and upload your test registration to your application. If you are still waiting for the English test result at the time of your submission, you can indicate your test date in the application form. You can send us the test report once you have received it.
1. Reference letters
Preferably one academic contact and one professional contact. There is no special format required.
2. Scholarship offer letter if you have already secured a scholarship.
3. Additional documents that you would like to submit in support of your application.
Note: Your application will only be assessed once you have submitted all the required documents.
Once you have all the required documents ready, you can submit your application via our Online Service Center. In this Service Center you can find the online application form. You don’t need an account to submit your application. However, if you wish to follow up on your application status or upload more documents to your application, you can create an account and log into the Center to do so.
In the form you need to fill in some basic information about your personal information as well as your educational/ professional background. It is unfortunately not possible to save your application and submit it at a later stage. The form contains 7 pages:
- Admission information
- Personal information
- Professional background (optional)
- Educational background
- Additional information (such as source of funding)
- Attachments (to upload all the required documents)
- Terms of service (final confirmation step)
We therefore suggest you to get all the necessary information and the documents ready before you start your online application.
Confirmation on your submission
After you have submitted your application successfully, you will receive an email confirmation on your submission within 3 working days. You can also log in to the Application Service Center to check the status of your application submission. Under “Your requests” you can find the list of applications you have submitted. If the status of your application is “Application received”, it means that your application has been submitted successfully.
Should you don't receive an email confirmation nor find your application in the Service Center after one week, please contact the Admissions Office to check your submission.
Attention: We have a limited number of spots to offer per master track and some of the tracks can be filled up very quickly. Therefore, the master track you choose in the application form will be your final choice for the master’s programme. It is not possible to switch to a different track at a later stage. In addition, the following rules apply to all candidates:
- Each candidate can only be admitted to one master track per academic year.
- You can submit only one application for the MSc in Urban Management and Development during the application period Round 1, 2 & 3. This also means that you cannot apply for more than 1 master track at the same time, like stated above.
- You can submit a second application for a different track (if there are still spots available) during the application period Round 4 (all applicants) & Round 5 (EU/EEA applicants only). If you have already received an admission for your first application, this admission will be withdrawn while offering you the admission to your second choice of the master track.
You can find the dates for the assessment outcome announcements in the dates overview table above. If you plan to apply for a scholarship and you need to secure your admission before your application deadline, please make your planning accordingly in order to receive your admission outcome in time.
The assessment outcome will be sent to you via email. Please make sure you have filled in your contact email correctly in the application form.
Types of decisions
Incomplete: With a pre-assessment we check whether your application package is complete with the above mentioned documents. Should there any document is missing, we will contact you by email to request you to submit the documents.
Reserved: This programme is very selective and each year we receive a high volume of qualified applications. Fulfilling all the basic admission requirements does not necessarily guarantee you an admissions offer. In this case, some qualified candidates will be added to the reserved list. If we still have spots available after 1 June, we will visit the reserved list and make a second round of selection. Candidates who do not receive an admission offer by 1 June, are welcome to apply again in the next year.
Rejected: We use certain criteria to select only the best applicants. If your application is rejected and you wish to apply again in the next year, we kindly advise you to study the selection criteria mentioned above to improve your application.
Conditionally admitted: There are two conditions that we consider to grant a conditional admission (there is no guarantee). A conditional admission is only valid within the current admission period. You must submit the required documents before this deadline to receive your unconditional admission.
- Bachelor’s degree: If you expect to obtain your bachelor’s degree in the summer, and you meet all the other admissions requirements, we can grant you a conditional admission.
- Proof of English language proficiency: You might can be offered a conditional admission without a proof of English language proficiency yet if you need an admission offer before your English test result is available and you have other support documents to prove your level of English which we consider sufficient.
Admitted: If you are selected to be admitted to the programme, you will receive the admission letter before the planned announcement date. The next steps of the admissions procedure are slightly different depending on the source of funding that you indicated in the online application form.
After you have received the admission to the programme of your choice, it's time to arrange your funding and to confirm with us that you accept the offer. With different funding options, the procedures are also different.
Unfortunately the OKP programme has come to an end by the end of 2023.
You can check on our website under the scholarship page here for other possible programmes.
1. Complete and return your Admission Acceptance Form (AAF)
Together with the admission letter you will also receive an Admission acceptance form (AAF). By filling in this form you can indicate your intention to participate in the programme and choose your desired method of payment. You should return this form within 4 weeks upon the receipt of your admission letter.
Note: there is no financial or legal obligations after you have submitted this form. Thus you are free to withdraw your application/admission at any time before you have formally confirm your participation.
2. Arrange your funding
The necessary fees and costs can be found here. Kindly note that candidates are required to secure funding by themselves, as this programme cannot offer any financial support. You can make use the information of external scholarships on our website here for your funding search.
3. Request an invoice
As soon as your funding is secured, you will need to request an invoice and complete the payment. If you didn’t ask for an invoice with the return of the admission acceptance form, you can send an email to admissions office to request one.
If you have received a (full) scholarship or student loan to cover your costs, please send us a copy of your sponsorship offer letter. We can therefore check the financial conditions and instruct you on the next steps accordingly.
3. Transfer your payment
With the account information provided on the invoice, you can make your bank transfer. As soon as we receive your payment, we will send you a confirmation email within 2 working days. Please know that IHS does not accept payment on a credit card.
Please note that our standard payment deadline is 15 June for Non EU/EEA students and 1 August for EU/EEA students as well as students who do not require an entry visa. However, if the master track of your choice has reached its maximum capacity we reserve the rights to stop accepting applications and payments before the deadline.
4. Start the practical arrangements
In the confirmation email of your payment/sponsorship receipt, you will also receive information about the practical arrangements such as visa application, accommodation search, and airport pick up. The UMD Admin team at the IHS Educational Management Office is in charge of these practical information and they will get in touch with you in due time after your enrollment has been finalised.
Admission assessment
Your application will be evaluated by the academic selection committee. The criteria used in our assessment include but are not limited to your degree(s), academic records, motivation, and work experience.
The following factors are also equally considered during the assessment :
- The academic performance during your previous higher education
- The authenticity of all the documents
- The originality of the research proposal (Plagiarism & use of AI chatbots not appreciated!)
- Command of English language – the quality of language and grammar used in CV and application
- Presentation of your application package
Life happens and you can no longer participate in the programme this academic year?
That’s no problem! If you have received the admission to the programme but you cannot participate due to personal reasons, you can defer your admission to the next year's intake. You will have the priority for admissions during the next admissions intake. If we don’t have major changes on the admissions requirements, you will receive a new admission letter shortly after the new admissions period is open in the fall of the next year.
Note: An admission offer can only be deferred one time.
Need more admission information?
If you cannot find the information you were looking for, we recommend you to check the FAQs on our Application Service center here.