Master in Childhood Studies

Master in Childhood Studies is one of 4 English-taught Medicine & Health Sciences programmes at Master's Degree level in the register, offered by 3 institutions. 1 of them lists an annual fee for students from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. 4 are recorded as free for EU, EEA and Swiss students.

What you study

Childhood Studies at NTNU looks at children's everyday lives and at childhood as a social and cultural phenomenon. You study the changing conditions of childhood in the context of development and globalisation, and you look at children's perspectives, experiences and rights in different settings. The programme is interdisciplinary and taught in English.

You learn how to carry out ethically sound research with and on children, how to bring forward children's voices, and how to advocate on children's behalf and together with them. The teaching covers the relationships between economic, social, cultural, institutional and political contexts that shape children and childhood.

How the programme is organised

This is a full time, two year research based degree of 120 ECTS, taught in Trondheim. The structure combines core courses and elective courses. The core courses give a general introduction to theory and methodology, while the electives let you specialise in particular topics. The programme ends with a master's thesis.

Teaching takes the form of regular lectures, seminars and training workshops. Much of the learning is student driven, with collaboration, reflection, experience sharing and project related tasks. Research on children at the department has a strong international orientation and hosts national and international guest researchers, so you study within an international research milieu. New students are invited to an introductory programme at the start of the semester. Paideia is the student union for the department and arranges activities for students of all ages and interests.

Who it suits

The programme suits you if you are curious about children's everyday lives and about childhood as a social and cultural phenomenon, and if you want to understand children's perspectives, experiences and rights in diverse contexts. It is an advanced post graduate research degree with emphasis on independent research, so it fits students who want to research and who may go on to a PhD.

Admission requires a bachelor's degree in the social sciences. The programme is interdisciplinary and accepts Norwegian and Nordic students as well as self financed international students.

Admission, language and next steps

Everything is taught in English, so you need to meet NTNU's English language requirement. Check the programme page and the NTNU admissions pages for the application deadline, documentation and the exact admission criteria; the deadline is set by NTNU and is not repeated here.

Students from the EU/EEA and Switzerland are normally exempt from tuition fees at NTNU. International students with citizenship from outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland pay a tuition fee set by the institution. For questions about admission requirements, contact the NTNU Admissions Office at admissions-master@sa.ntnu.no. For visa and immigration, contact the Office of International Relations at immigration-QA@st.ntnu.no. For housing, write to housing@st.ntnu.no. The programme owner is the Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, and the faculty is the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Master’s applications go straight to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, not through the national admission service (NUCAS). Study in Norway states that you need a bachelor’s degree comparable to a Norwegian bachelor’s degree (180 ECTS), including courses equal to at least one and a half years of full-time study relevant to the programme. Deadlines are set by each institution for each programme, so confirm yours. Entry requirements and language tests are also set by the institution, so start from the official programme page. Our guides cover tuition fees, study permits and housing.