Maastricht University, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience

Master Psychology: Neuropsychology

Maastricht, Netherlands

DURATION

1 Years

LANGUAGES

English

PACE

Full time

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Request application deadline *

EARLIEST START DATE

Sep 2025

TUITION FEES

EUR 32,000 / per year **

STUDY FORMAT

On-Campus

* for non EU/EER and 1 June for EU/EER students

** institutional fees top; low - EUR 13,000 per year; high - EUR 25,000 per year | statutory fees: EUR 2.601 per year

Key Summary

About: The Master in Psychology: Neuropsychology program focuses on understanding the relationship between brain function and behavior. It covers areas like cognitive processes, emotional responses, and neurological conditions, providing you with comprehensive knowledge in neuropsychological assessment and intervention. The course typically lasts for two years, blending theory with practical experience.

Career Outcomes: Graduates can pursue diverse career paths, including roles in clinical psychology, neuropsychological research, rehabilitation centers, and educational settings. Opportunities also exist in healthcare, mental health services, and academia, focusing on the application of neuropsychology in various professional settings.

Introduction

If you choose to specialise in Neuropsychology, you'll study normal and deviant behavior in relation to brain structure and function. You'll particularly focus on congenital, acquired, and degenerative brain dysfunctions, and their related neuropsychiatric disorders. The neuropharmacological mechanisms that underlie behavior in health and disease will also be highlighted in the program. By combining in-depth courses that provide theoretical knowledge with courses on advanced methodological and diagnostic skills, you'll obtain all the training you need to pursue a clinical or scientific career in this highly challenging domain.

Curriculum

Programme outline

During the first semester, you will follow four compulsory courses that cover the basic neurobiological and cognitive-affective mechanisms underlying the behavior of healthy subjects and patients with neurological or psychiatric diseases: Brain damage; Behavioral disorders; Arousal and attention, and Aging. In addition to the core courses, you'll also get practical training focused on neuropsychological diagnostic skills and you'll be familiarised with psychological research methods. You'll receive training in designing and applying diagnostic and experimental instruments as well as in assessment procedures for analyzing, interpreting, and reporting on the data (obtained, for example, from simulation patients or experiments). During the second semester, you'll complete a research or clinical internship and write your master’s thesis.

Research internship & thesis

The research internship gives you the opportunity to participate in the ongoing research of the faculty’s academic staff or to work with external academic or clinical institutions. You will design and pursue your own research question, which will be the foundation of your master's thesis. You can choose the subject of your research internship from a wide variety of topics, for example, Cognitive-behavioral dysfunction; Cognitive-behavioral effects of drugs and related psychoactive substances; Neurodegenerative or age-related cognitive-affective changes, or Genes, stress, and behavior.

Clinical internship (addition to standard programme)

You also have the option to do a clinical internship in addition to the normal programme, which will give you the clinical experience needed to meet the requirements for a professional clinical training programme in the Netherlands (obtainment of BAPD).

Problem-Based Learning

This programme is taught using Problem-Based Learning (PBL). In small tutorial groups of 10 to 12 students, you'll seek solutions to ‘problems’ taken from real-world situations. Instructors act as facilitators, giving help as it’s needed. This allows you to build independence and develop problem-solving skills that you’ll need in the field. This active, dynamic and collaborative learning method has one of the highest knowledge retention rates of any instructional method.

International classroom

From day one of the programme, you’ll be challenged with differing viewpoints and experiences as you interact with staff and students from all over the world. Your worldview will be enhanced by this interaction, bringing you closer to the programme’s goal of teaching students not only facts and concepts but also international accessibility and understanding. Roughly 80% of the students in this master’s programme come from outside the Netherlands. Such diversity creates an international atmosphere that is strengthened by the international orientation of the programme.