Nanoscience Topmaster

Nanoscience is of great importance in solving problems faced by society today from the challenge of generating energy in a sustainable way to facilitating the exponential growth in information processing and storage as illustrated by the portable devices that have become popular. Furthermore, it is a field that brings forward interesting fundamental science questions, and it enables addressing fundamental questions in existing fields. This emphasizes the importance of educating highly skilled researchers who master the skills and possess the knowledge required to solve the challenges of tomorrow. The mission of the Master’s degree programme in Nanoscience at the University of Groningen is to educate and train future PhD-students who have the drive to perform cutting-edge research in a highly interdisciplinary field of research, excel in critical thinking and collaborate with their peers to reach out for a larger goal in research. The Master’s degree programme achieves this mission by using the advantages of a small, selective programme. Students, teachers, and research groups are in close contact. This allows for intensive and efficient interaction, stimulates the students to support each other, and allows custom solutions to unexpected challenges. Students receive ample attention from world-class researchers from the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, resulting in an exceptionally high percentage (on average 89%) of students graduating on time and 95% of the graduates continuing with a Ph.D. either in Groningen or abroad. The Master’s programme has been rated as excellent at both previous evaluations. It has further been selected as one of the best Master’s degree programmes in the Netherlands for many years by the Keuzegids Masters1.