Master of Digital Text Analysis (M.A.)
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 1,157 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* 1157€ for EEA nationals | 5,800€ for non-EEA nationals
Key Summary
Introduction
Digital text is ubiquitous in contemporary society. Modern computational technology enables exciting applications in both research and the industry. In this Master of Digital Text Analysis, you will acquire all critical and computational skills that are nowadays expected of experts in digital text analysis.
The curriculum is unique in its emphasis on data-heavy approaches to language and text from a Humanities perspective. Starting from scratch, the modules cover a wide array of text technologies, ranging:
- from artificial intelligence (machine learning)
- over data science (statistics)
- to natural language processing (computational linguistics)
This ambitious programme seeks to prepare the next generation of highly self-reliant, culture-aware experts in text analytics, who are highly employable in a variety of research contexts across academia and the industry, including the cultural sector.
Quality assurance
At the University of Antwerp, we ensure the quality of our programmes. Every programme goes through a six-year quality assurance cycle.
A peer review in year 6 concludes this cycle. The study programme conducts a self-reflection has discussions with internal and external experts, and with an independent student.
On 14 and 15 November 2018 the peer review team visited the Master of Linguistics and decided to confirm its confidence in the programme.
Most important conclusions of the peer review
The lecturers have a critical attitude to constantly improving the programme and its position in the higher education market. The study programme stimulates students to follow their interests as much as possible. Therefore at the moment of the peer review, three specialisation options were offered in the Master of Linguistics: (1) Language in use (2) Computational psycholinguistics and (3) Digital Text Analysis. In this last option, a bridge is built between linguistics and literary studies.
This important new development of digitisation receives much-needed attention in the programme, partly due to the lecturers who are leading experts in digitisation in literature and language studies.
The peer review team concludes that the master's theses are at a good level. All master's students of Linguistics can take up a professional or a research internship. The Master of Linguistics is particularly notable for its strong research orientation, which is important to recruit doctoral students.
The Education Committee will further strengthen the internationalisation of the programme by developing structural international partnerships and removing barriers for exchange, such as the burden of administrative formalities and obtaining equivalencies for courses taken abroad. The Education Committee is also implementing blended learning. Although students are formally represented in councils and committees, the study programme is committed to further strengthening the participation of and communication with students. On the advice of the peer review team, the education committee will reflect critically on how the specialisations in the Dutch spoken Master taal- en letterkunde relate to the specialisation options in the Master Linguistics. It will examine to what extent it is meaningful and useful that both master's programmes and similar options continue to be offered side by side. In view of increasing student numbers, the education committee will consider setting up an English programme.
Gallery
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
The University of Antwerp directly participates in the selection process of certain scholarship programmes. In addition students can also check if they are eligible for external funding opportunities. Scholarships are available for Bachelor, Master, PhD or for shorter stay programmes.
Curriculum
What's Digital Text Analysis?
Starting from scratch, the curriculum covers a wide array of text technologies.
- Natural Language Processing: Technologies from computational linguistics are nowadays crucial in digital text analysis. This module offers an extensive introduction to modern pipelines in Natural Language Processing. Jointly, we work towards practical applications on textual data, as well as solutions for the many challenges that remain open in the field.
- Data Science: Employers in academia and the industry increasingly expect data scientists to be able to rapidly extract relevant insights from large document collections. In this module, we focus on exploratory data analysis and practical data visualization, involving challenging, real-world datasets.
- Machine Learning: Deep learning features prominently in this programme, as a crucial component of contemporary artificial intelligence. Modules focusing on neural networks are supplemented by a wide-ranging and in-depth survey of established, alternative methods from machine learning.
Bootcamp
A unique feature of this curriculum is the compulsory programming boot camp at the beginning of the first semester. This 3-week course makes no assumptions whatsoever about the students’ coding proficiency and will provide a no-nonsense introduction to modern computer programming and the wider scientific ecosystem in computing.
Hands-on
Above all, this Master's delivers a practice-oriented educational programme, for example through a project-based Master’s thesis and the possibility of an external internship with one of our many stakeholders in academia or the industry. On top of these, students can choose from a diverse array of elective modules from the departments of literature and linguistics.
Rankings
The University of Antwerp, which was founded in 2003, scores extremely well in Young University Rankings.
- Times Higher Education Millennials 2020 - Rank 5
- Times Higher Education Young University Ranking 2024 - Rank 12
- QS 50 under 50 2021 - Rank 20
World University Rankings
- Times Higher Education 2025 - Rank 168
- Shanghai (ARWU) 2024 - Rank 300-401
- QS World Ranking 2025 - Rank 267
- Best Global Universities Ranking 2024 - Rank 213
- Europe’s Most Innovative Ranking 2019 - Rank 93
Program Outcome
The programme of Master of Digital Text Analysis builds on the competences the students acquired in their prior training (i.e. Bachelor’s programme in Humanities). Read on the programme's website which core competences students acquire
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
The focus of this Master resembles that of a Research Master and will deliver ambitious, well-skilled students that are perfectly equipped for a PhD track, for instance, in computational humanities or allied domains. Many students will take up careers as research/data scientist in the (tech) industry, where they’ll work on analysing all sorts of textual data, such as customer data, likely in the context of machine translation, dialogue systems or recommendation engines.
Finally, we expect many of our students to find opportunities in the cultural or GLAM sector (galleries, libraries, archives, museums), where employees combining a passion for computing technology and culture are highly sought-after.
Facilities
Student Testimonials
Why study at University of Antwerp
Our university is located in the city of Antwerp, in the heart of Belgium and Europe. Antwerp is not just an ancient medieval and baroque city rich in history, but also a bustling metropolis with a vibrant social scene, impressive architecture, and striking cultural contrasts. The port of Antwerp is one of the largest and most important in the world, and over 170 nationalities live here - similar to New York! This cosmopolitan vibe is also reflected at the University of Antwerp.
First-rate research and education make the University of Antwerp a wonderful place to study and work. We foster the nexus between research, education, and societal impact. Internationalisation is a key element of our mission statement. It is no coincidence that the University of Antwerp is a partner in one of the most promising European university alliances, Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE), and maintains excellent relationships with hundreds of renowned institutions around the world.
As a home away from home to over 23,000 students, the University of Antwerp is committed to sustainability and operates on a human scale. We believe in co-creation with our students, ensuring their voices are heard in our decision-making processes. Our faculty and staff will welcome you to top-notch facilities on one of our four campuses. While you’re here, immerse yourself in our lively cultural offerings, take advantage of premier sports facilities, and explore a wide array of student services and activities designed to enrich your experience.
Keen to learn more about the University of Antwerp?
Visit www.uantwerp.be
Program Admission Requirements
Demonstrate your commitment and readiness to succeed in business school by taking the GMAT exam – the most widely used exam for admissions that measures your critical thinking and reasoning skills.
Download the GMAT mini quiz to get a flavour of the questions you’ll find in the exam.