Do you want a Master's degree in Comparative Politics?
It is possible to apply to the master’s program in Comparative Politics (“Sampol”) from abroad. We recommend the deadline of March 1st as this will allow you to receive early admission decision and will give you extra time to prepare before starting.
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Do you have a bachelor’s degree in political science from outside of Norway (EU/EEA/Switzerland) and interested in pursuing a master’s degree in political science in Norway? If so, the master’s program in Comparative Politics could be the right choice for you. As an international student coming to study in Bergen for the first time, the Student Welfare organization Sammen guarantees you student housing during your studies.
The Sampol Master accepts approximately 30 new students every autumn. It is a highly regarded program that meets the highest international standards. The program is popular amongst students and regularly evaluated and benchmarked against the best political science program in the Nordic countries. The master program is also unique being the only specialized master in comparative politics in the Nordic countries.
In the master’s program in Comparative Politics, you will become part of a strong and well-established academic environment. You will be given your own study space together with other master’s students, located close to the department where the professors have their offices. Our master’s students are encouraged to participate in the department’s research groups and present work from their own master’s theses within these groups.
Master’s students organize a wide variety of academic and social activities, and they are represented by the master’s student representative committee, which serve as the students’ representative body in relation to the department. Every other year, the master’s students organize the “Sampol Conference,” (Sampolkonferansen) the longest running conference at UiB and the largest student-run conference in Norway.
Teaching and program structure
Teaching is primarily organized as seminars in small groups, allowing students to get to know both lecturers and fellow students well. Students in the program receive close academic supervision and follow-up.
The master’s program in Comparative Politics is ambitious, maintains a high academic standard, and places high demand on students. Considerable emphasis is placed on methodology and research design. Students receive thorough training in the statistical software R, a skill that is highly sought after by future employers. In the first semester, students are introduced to the research frontier within various subfields of comparative politics through SAMPOL306Master Seminar in Comparative Politics and SAMPOL305 Quantitative Analysis and the use of the Statistical Software R.
In the second semester, students choose two elective courses based on their own academic interests, in addition to a course in research design and qualitative methods. The elective courses are offered by the department’s research groups, are research-based, and focus on the international research frontier within their respective topics. Teaching is designed around and expects active participation from students.
During the final two semesters, students write a 60-credit (ECTS) master’s thesis and receive individual supervision from a member of the department’s academic staff. The master’s thesis is a research-based project, and students are free to choose their own thesis topic. Master theses in comparative politics | Department of Comparative Politics | UiB
Admission requirements
The admission requirements for applicants with an international degree are the same as for applicants with a Norwegian degree. Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree with 80–90 ECTS credits in political science or a closely related political science discipline, as well as a minimum of 10 ECTS credits in social science methodology (quantitative and qualitative methods). The minimum grade requirement is C (3.0) in the political science specialization of your degree. In addition, you must be proficient in Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish, as parts of the teaching are conducted in Norwegian.
- The application deadline is 1 March, and admission decisions are normally issued by late April or early May.
- How to apply? Please see UiB’s Application procedure for EU/EEA/Swiss applicants | UiB
Do you hold a bachelor’s degree from Sweden, Denmark, or Finland? In that case, your degree may automatically qualify you to apply for admission. Please see the list of qualifying study programs from these countries. If you hold a bachelor’s degree from other universities abroad, you may still qualify provided that your degree meets the requirements listed above; in such cases, your application will be assessed individually. Admission to the program is also dependent on your academic grades.
If you are an international student and have not studied in Bergen before, you are entitled to student housing through the Student Welfare Organization Sammen. This can make it easier to choose Bergen and the master’s program in Comparative Politics as your place of study. Read more about Sammen’s housing guarantee here: Housing guarantee
Interested in more information? Feel free to explore the links below or contact our student adviser by email at studieveileder@isp.uib.no.
- Application procedure for EU/EEA/Swiss applicants | UiB
- Wondering about career opportunities? Read more about what candidates work with today. (Norwegian)
- List of the Bachelor's degrees that qualify for applying the MA-program (Norwegian)
- Information about the academic content and build-up of the program (Norwegian)
- What can I write my thesis about? Here you find an overview of previous MA-theses