This report was produced in early 2017 by ACA, in the framework of the Mastermind Europe project, in collaboration with StudyPortals and Kees Kouwenaar, of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The research is based on two online surveys – one of Master’s programme coordinators (363 responses) and one of Master’s level applicants (2 242 responses). The findings confirm that there is great scope and need for improving general admission practice at Master’s level, and that external and international applicants are, to an extent, at a disadvantage, compared to internal applicants in admissions. The improvement could be in the direction of a paradigm shift from admissions primarily based on diploma recognition (that prove to be very burdensome for Master’s coordinators and admission officers alike) towards more competency-based admissions, which should alleviate some of the typical challenges that staff at programme and central levels currently encounter.

The full report can be accessed here.