Curriculum
Curriculum
Design your own Bachelor’s program based on your interests, passions and talent
Create a Degree around your Interests
Create a Degree around your Interests
At UCR, we offer a three-year Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts & Sciences. The program is flexible by design. Instead of following one fixed program, you choose courses from six academic clusters and create a degree that reflects your interests, strengths and ambitions.
What makes people and societies thrive? How can technology help solve complex problems? How do businesses, governments, cultures and environments shape our future?
You explore questions like these by combining subjects from across the sciences, social sciences and humanities. You can specialize in one area or connect several fields. Interested in climate change? Combine Environmental Science with Sustainability, Economics, Politics and Data Science. Interested in Public Health? Bring together Life Science, Psychology, Communication and Statistics. Interested in Artificial Intelligence? Study Computer Science and Data alongside Philosophy, Cognitive Science and Math.
Six Academic Clusters
Six Academic Clusters
Combine Different Perspectives
Combine Different Perspectives
The clusters are not separate degree programs. You can choose courses from across the curriculum and bring different academic perspectives together.
A student interested in democracy might combine Political Science, History, Rhetoric, Law and Media. A student interested in global markets might combine Economics, Data Science, Communication and Business. A student interested in nature might combine Delta Challenges, Ecology and Cultural Heritage.
This freedom allows you to explore broadly while gradually developing depth in the areas that matter most to you.
Your Journey at UCR and Beyond
Your Journey at UCR and Beyond
Your First Year
Your first year is about exploring your interests while building the skills you need to succeed at university. You begin with Personal & Professional Development, the only required course in your first year. It supports your transition from secondary school to university and helps you develop skills that are valuable both inside and outside the classroom.
Alongside this course, you choose introductory courses from across the six clusters. This gives you time to explore different subjects before deciding where you want to specialize. Some advanced courses require you to complete a gateway course first. Gateway courses provide the knowledge and academic skills you need to progress confidently to higher-level study.
Your Second and Third Year
As you move through the program, your courses become more specialized and challenging. You begin with introductory courses, progress to intermediate courses and eventually complete advanced work that requires greater independence and depth.
Research is a core part of your academic journey at UCR. Every 300-level course includes a research component, helping you develop the skills to ask meaningful questions, analyze evidence, and draw well-supported conclusions.
If you’re eager to explore research in greater depth, you can choose to replace two 300-level courses with a Research Seminar to be taken in your third year. Completed in a single semester, it gives you the opportunity to carry out an independent or collaborative research project and write a bachelor’s thesis.
Your choices determine whether you graduate with a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. With guidance from your tutor, you build a coherent program that prepares you for further study and future work.
Plan and Reflect
Your portfolio brings together examples of your work and helps you set goals, plan your courses and track your development. It allows you to reflect on how your knowledge, skills and attitudes grow in line with your interests, strengths and ambitions.
Together with your tutor, you use the portfolio to make thoughtful choices and shape your academic journey.
Prepare for After UCR
Your UCR program can prepare you for a wide range of master’s programs and careers. Your course choices allow you to create both breadth and sufficient depth in your chosen area.
Whether your interests lie in health, sustainability, technology, business, politics or culture, you leave UCR with an interdisciplinary perspective and the ability to approach complex questions from different angles.
Our graduates have gone all over the world and chosen their own path.
Explore your Possibilities at UCR
Use our Program Builder to explore courses, combine academic areas and discover what your own UCR programme could look like.
Curriculum in a Nutshell
Curriculum in a Nutshell
In just a few minutes, discover how UCR’s Liberal Arts & Sciences program works. See how you can combine disciplines and shape your own curriculum.
How the Program Works
How the Program Works
How the Program Works
How the Program Works
To earn your degree, you complete 24 courses, worth 180 credits in total. This includes Personal & Professional Development (PPD), the only mandatory first-year course. You complete at least six 300-level courses, each of which includes a research component. You can also choose to replace two 300-level courses with a Research Seminar. During this seminar, you conduct independent or collaborative research and write a bachelor’s thesis. Both routes prepare you well for a master’s programme. Throughout your studies, you build a digital Liberal Arts & Sciences Portfolio. It brings together examples of your work and shows how your knowledge, skills and interests have developed.
To graduate, you complete:
- 24 courses, worth 180 credits
- at least six 300-level courses, or four 300-level courses and a Research Seminar
- a Liberal Arts & Sciences Portfolio
BA or BSc?
You graduate with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) if you complete 12 or more courses, of which three need to be at the 300-level, in the Bachelor of Science Clusters: Data Science & Intelligent Systems, Environment & Sustainability or Health, Cognition & Behavior. All other students who meet graduation requirements, graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (BA).
Cluster-specific Major
If you take at least 10 courses of which three 300-levels in a particular cluster, you get a cluster-specific major listed on your diploma.
Go on Exchange (Optional)
Go on Exchange (Optional)
Want to broaden your academic horizon or experience student life at a different university? At UCR, you have the opportunity to go on Exchange, studying at another institution either in the Netherlands or abroad. You can join one of UCR’s own exchange programs or choose from a wide range of partner universities via Utrecht University.
UCR students have studied in places like Australia, Canada, Japan, France, and even closer to home in cities like Eindhoven. Whether you’re looking for a new academic perspective or cultural adventure, there’s a program to match your goals. Exchange is only possible in your fourth or fifth semester, but planning starts early, so it’s never too soon to start thinking about where you’d like to go!
Academic Internships (Optional)
Academic Internships (Optional)
An Academic Internship at UCR is a 200-level course that allows you to connect your academic learning with hands-on experience, all under the guidance of a UCR examiner. There are two ways to structure your internship. In an internal internship, your project is based entirely at UCR and is supervised and assessed by two UCR faculty members. In an external internship, you find and work with an organization outside of UCR. In this case, you’ll need an on-site supervisor within the organization who can guide your work and ensure it meets academic standards, alongside support from your UCR examiner.
If you choose to pursue an academic internship, it’s your responsibility to find and arrange the placement. While you can talk to professors, UCR does not have a dedicated office to find internships for you.