Students who have completed a bachelor’s degree at a university of applied sciences and acquired experience in working life can deepen their professional competence by completing a master’s degree at the university of applied sciences. The master’s degree programmes consist of 60 or 90 ECTS credits and can be completed while working. The admission requirements for these professional master’s degree programmes, in addition to a bachelor’s degree, include three years of work experience.
After a bachelor’s degree completed at a university of applied sciences, students can also continue at a university. The second-cycle university degree usually consists of 120 credits (2 years of full-time study). The admission decisions are made by the receiving higher education institution.
A person who has graduated with a master's degree has access to third-cycle university programmes (licentiate and doctoral degrees) at universities. The university assesses individually for each case whether the applicant has sufficient knowledge and skills for university postgraduate education, or if additional studies are required.
Arcada offers several master's degree programme in Swedish and English.
Graduates from the Degree Programme in Health Promotion (Swedish) obtain the degree of Master of Health Care and Social Services.
In 2010 Arcada will launch a new master's degree programme in English, the Degree Programme in Media Management, leading to the degree Master of Culture and Arts.
Master's degree programmes in Health Promotion, Real Estate Management, Rehabilitation (Swedish) and Social Services (Swedish) will also be offered as of 2010 at the earliest.