Tinbergen Institute's Research Master Business Data Science offers a broad range of elective short courses for externals.
The deadline for registration is four weeks before the start of the course. Late applications will incur a fee of 100 euro.
All regular courses are taught in eight-week blocks, with lectures held during the first six (core courses) or seven weeks. The eighth week of each block typically serves as the exam week. In addition, first-year (core) courses have weekly one-hour tutorials taught by a teaching assistant, during which students work on and discuss homework assignments.
| Block 0 | Aug 25 -29 | Introduction and refresher courses |
| Block I | Sept 1 – Oct 17 | Lectures |
| Oct 20 -24 | Exams | |
| Block II | Oct 27 - Dec 12 | Lectures |
| Dec 15 - 19 | Exams | |
| Dec 20 - Jan 4 | Christmas Holidays | |
| Block III | Jan 5 - Feb 20 | Lectures |
| Feb 23 - 27 | Exams | |
| Block IV | Mar 2 - Apr 17 | Lectures |
| Apr 20 - 24 | Exams | |
| Block V | Apr 27 - July 10 | Lectures and Exams |
Tinbergen Institute research master students register for courses by means of the registration mode in Osiris student.
First-year students have to register for all first-year courses they want to take. There is a trial period of 2 weeks to decide for the basic or the advanced version of the courses in mathematics, statistics and econometrics.
First year students have to decide on the full program of 2nd year electives before June 15 of the first year. Students are allowed to register for extra field courses, which can be taken in case of course cancellations. Any other change in course selection once the registration has been closed needs an explicit motivational letter by the supervisor and the approval of the DGS.
Students also need to register for 1st year courses they failed and have to re-take in the second year of the program.
Students who want to withdraw from a course once the course has started are requested to inform the educational office by sending an email to courses@tinbergen.nl no later than Sunday after the first lecture.
In case less than five students register for a course, the course may be cancelled.
Research Master students affiliated to either one of Business Data Science's partners*, or another research master in the Netherlands, are encouraged to attend courses from the BDS Research Master program. They should register for all courses they would like to attend: please fill out the registration form. From September, 2025, there are no fees to be charged for research master students attending a BDS course.
*BDS partners are: School of Business and Economics/ABRI (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), School of Economics and Business/Amsterdam Business School (University of Amsterdam) and Erasmus School of Economics (Erasmus University Rotterdam).
Please sign up four weeks before the start of the block. Late applications may not be processed in time for you to join.
PhD students affiliated to one of the partners* of the Business Data Science research master program and Tinbergen Institute are welcome to attend courses from BDS’s Research Master program. Registration is required for all courses they would like to attend by filling out the registration form. From January 2025, the fees are 1.000 euro per core course to be charged to your department. For field courses, affiliated PhD students can join these at no extra charge. You can see which courses are eligible for this offer within the registration form.
Many PhD students are directly hired for a specific research project and did not complete a research master program before starting PhD research. A concise set of research master courses gives these PhD students the opportunity to acquire additional and necessary knowledge and skills. Students who complete the educational program qualify for the BDS Research Qualification. More information can be found here.
BDS research master graduates working as PhD students at one of the partner institutions* are most welcome to participate in additional field courses during the later years of their studies. Registration for courses is required: please fill out the registration form. No fees will be charged for PhD students who graduated from the BDS research master program.
Under certain conditions and subject to approval by the Director of Graduate Studies, PhD students not affiliated* to Tinbergen Institute, but who work within another academic institution, are welcome to attend courses. PhD students working primarily outside of academic institutions fall into the External Participants category. External applicants will be admitted if they meet some equivalent of the course entrance criteria. Capacity restrictions apply to all courses, and are particularly relevant for core courses. External PhD students should register for all courses they would like to attend by filling out the registration form. From January 2025, the fees are 1.500 euro per core course, and 1.000 euro per field course.
*TI partners are: School of Business and Economics/ABRI (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), School of Economics and Business/Amsterdam Business School (University of Amsterdam) and Erasmus School of Economics (Erasmus University Rotterdam).
Please sign up four weeks before the start of the block. Late applications will incur an additional fee of 100 euro.
If you would like to register for our Lecture Series, click here.
Under certain conditions and subject to approval by the Director of Graduate Studies, individuals not affiliated to Tinbergen Institute or one of its partners are welcome to attend courses. This category also includes PhD students working primarily outside of academic institutions. External applicants will be admitted if they meet some equivalent of the TI course entrance criteria. Capacity restrictions apply to all courses, and are particularly relevant for core courses.
Prospective external participants register for courses by filling out the registration form. Please include a transcript of relevant earlier coursework (with grades).
From January 2025, the fees are 2.000 euro for a core course (one block of eight weeks including one exam week) and 1.500 euro, for a field course (one block of eight weeks including one exam week).
Special rates apply for external PhD students who work primarily within a non-affiliated academic institution: see under PhD students.
Please sign up four weeks before the start of the block. Late applications will incur an additional fee of 100 euro.
If you would like to register for our Lecture Series, click here.
The course list below is organized by subject area and indicate in which block the course will take place. Courses take place in either Amsterdam or Rotterdam, or in both locations.
| Course | Type | Period |
| Decision Theory for Business | Core | 1 |
| AI@Work | Field | 1 |
| Marketing Science | Field | 1 |
| Social Network Analysis | Field | 1 |
| Social Media Data Analytics | Field | 2 |
| Course | Type | Periode |
| Simulation Analysis & Optimization | Core | 4 |
| Decomposition Methods | Field | 1 |
| Heuristic Optimization Methods | Field | 1 |
| Integer Linear Programming | Field | 5 |
| Course | Type | Period |
| Asset Pricing | Core | 3 |
| Corporate Finance Theory | Core | 4 |
| Risk and Rationality | Field | 1 |
| Banking | Field | 1 |
| Continuous Time Asset Pricing | Field | 1 |
| Dynamic Corporate Finance | Field | 1 |
| Behavioral Finance | Field | 3 |
| Sustainable Finance | Field | 4 |
| Empirical Asset Pricing | Field | 5 |
| Empirical Corporate Finance | Field | 5 |
| Course | Type | Period |
| Machine Learning 1 | Core | 2 |
| Advanced Machine Learning | Core | 2 |
| Machine Learning 2 | Core | 3 |
| Reinforcement Learning | Core | 3 |
| Deep Learning | Core | 4 |
| Natural Language Processing | Core | 5 |
| Parallel Computing and Big data | Field | 2 |
| Course | Type | Period |
| Fundamental Mathematics | Core | 1 |
| Advanced Mathematics | Core | 1 |
| Statistics | Core | 1 |
| Asymptotic Statistics | Core | 1 |
| Econometrics I | Core | 2 |
| Advanced Econometrics I | Core | 2 |
| Econometrics II | Core | 3 |
| Advanced Econometrics II | Core | 3 |
| Econometrics III | Core | 4 |
| Advanced Econometrics III | Core | 4 |
| Applied Macroeconometrics | Field | 1 |
| Applied Microeconometrics | Field | 1 |
| Advanced Microeconometrics | Field | 2 |
| Econometrics of Networks | Field | 2 |
| Bayesian Econometrics | Field | 2 |
| Forecasting Methods | Field | 3 |
| Advanced Time Series Econometrics | Field | 3 |
| Market and Systemic Risk Management | Field | 5 |
| Course | Type | Period |
| AI Agents in Economics and Business Research | Workshop | 4 |
| TI Econometrics Lectures 2026 | Field | 5 |
| TI Economics Lectures 2026 | Field | 5 |
| Course | Type | Period |
| Scientific Integrity (contd. Block II and III) | Core | 2 & 3 |
| Academic Writing (contd. Block II and III) | Core | 2 & 3 |
| Presenting in Academia (contd. Blocks IV-V) | Core | 4 & 5 |
The Course Catalogue on the website of Erasmus University Rotterdam provides information on course description, study materials, entrance requirements, and period course taking place.