Philosophy of Contemporary Challenges

Pre-Master’s program Philosophy of Contemporary Challenges

The pre-Master’s program in Philosophy of Contemporary Challenges is designed for international and Dutch students with (1) a university degree that does not entirely meet the entry requirements of the Master’s program, or (2) a relevant Dutch hbo degree.

Pre-Master's program

The pre-Masters’s program Philosophy of Contemporary Challenges is a half-year* program consisting of 30 ECTS.

  • You follow five courses* of 6 ECTS.
  • All courses are taught in English.
  • You can start at two entry moments: at the end of January (Spring semester) or at the end of August (Fall semester).
  • If you enrol at the end of August, the pre-Master's program can be followed both fulltime and parttime.
  • If you enrol at the end of January, you can only do the pre-Master's program fulltime.
  • In fulltime it takes half a year* to complete the premaster, in parttime one year*.

* If you are a fulltime student and have passed all but 1 course, you will be given the opportunity to pass that course (or its equivalent) in the next semester. If you are a parttime student and you have passed all but 1 course, you will be given the opportunity to pass that course (or an equivalent) in the next academic year. If you fail to do so, it is not possible to continue the premaster.

Tuition fees

Please consult the page about the tuition fee rates concerning the Weighted fees pre-Master. This rate is the same for EEA and non-EEA students.

Application and admission 

For more information about the application and admission procedure, please consult the concerning page.

More on the application and admission procedure

Courses pre-Master's Philosophy of Contemporary Challenges

Full-time program

Curriculum when starting end of August:

  • Political Philosophy 
  • Contemporary Philosophy for PM 
  • History of Modern Philosophy 
  • Thinking about Science 
  • Philosophical Skills for PM

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions

Curriculum when starting end of January:

  • Philosophy of Public Governance
  • History of Modern Philosophy 
  • Society, Science and Information
  • Contemporary Philosophy for PM 
  • Philosophical Skills for PM

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions

Part-time program

If you start at the end of August, the pre-Master's program Philosophy of Contemporary Challenges can also be followed part-time.

As a part-time student, the pre-Master's program will take a full academic year (instead of half a year). You will complete a total of five courses. For instance, when you follow 3 courses in one semester, you will follow 2 courses in the other semester.

As a part-time student, keep the following in mind:

  1. If you take three courses in a semester, it is possible that those courses are scheduled on three different days. Thus, you may have to travel to campus three times a week. Also when you take two courses in one semester, it is possible that you have to be on campus on two different days of the week.
  2. The courses in the premaster are scheduled in such a way that you can follow the program as a part-time student partly in the evening hours. Evening lectures start at 17.45 (or later).
  3. If there is an evening lecture, it will be given on one or two fixed evenings during the week. Normally these are Monday and/or Thursday evenings.
  4. As a part-time student, you will also have to attend classes during the day. We try to schedule these lectures in the afternoon as much as possible. Especially on Tuesdays and Wednesdays the time block 16.45 - 18.30 is used for this purpose.
  5. The above does not mean that we never schedule lectures on Fridays or somewhere in the middle of the day (for example, the timeslot 10.45 - 12.30 is also possible on all workdays).
  6. Lecturing schedules are drawn up per semester and are usually announced one month or one and a half months before the start of the semester.
  7. Because lectures can be scheduled both in the evenings and during the day, and because they can take place on all working days of the week, a flexible work schedule is necessary if you want to combine the premaster part-time with a job.
  8. Attendance during working lectures is not mandatory for part-time students, but is highly recommended.

Program and courses

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions


Please note: programs are subject to change. We advise you to look up the current program in OSIRIS Student at the start of the year.


Do you want to know more about this pre-Master’s program?

Visit this pre-Master’s information session during the upcoming Open day

Open day Master's programs

Literature suggestions prospective pre-Master's students

We have composed a list of literature suggestions meant for students who want to start in one of the Philosophy pre-Master's programs at Tilburg University and who want to read up on philosophy because they have no experience with or background in philosophy. These are merely suggestions for students who want to read philosophy; it is not part of the curriculum, nor is it required for students to read these works before starting the pre-Master's program. Teachers will not assume you have read all this and there will be no exam questions on any of this.

Interested in the Philosophy of Contemporary Challenges track?

Check your eligibility and the deadlines for application