Netherlands Education System

Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education (Nuffic)
Department for Communication
P.O. Box 29777, 2502 LT The Hague
The Netherlands
Phone: +31-(0)70-426-0200
Telefax: +31-(0)70-426-0229
Email: nuffic@nuffic.nl
Website: http://www.nuffic.nl


Key features of International Courses in the Netherlands:

conducted in English

internationally oriented

theoretical as well as practical

especially designed for foreign students and professionals

offered by accredited higher education institutions that not only have the required expertise and experience, but that also care about the students' social adjustment and well-being

modest tuition fees

a relatively low cost of living (a single person can live modestly for US$600-800 a month)

Which credential can be earned?

Master's Degree

Bachelor's Degree

postgraduate diploma

certificate of attendance

What are the admission requirements?

in some cases, an advanced level secondary school diploma

in most cases, a bachelor degree or its equivalent

sometimes, professional experience

always, a good command of English

More information?

Nuffic's website: http://www.nuffic.nl/study

Any Netherlands embassy or consulate (general) in your country


Higher education in the Netherlands: the system, degrees and diplomas


The Netherlands is a prosperous industrial and trading nation, and has an elaborate system of higher education that has not been adopted from elsewhere but is firmly rooted in its own traditions. Of a population of some 15.5 million, approximately 450,000 persons have enjoyed some form of higher education.

The Netherlands has three streams of higher education that exist alongside each other:

The universities.
The Netherlands has 14 universities, including the Open University. In principle these institutions train students to be scientists and scholars, although many study programmes also have a professional component and most graduates indeed find work outside the research community. The universities vary in size, with enrolments ranging from 6000 to 30,000. Altogether they enrol some 150,000 students.

Universities of professional education (hogescholen).
The study programmes offered by universities of professional education are above all career-oriented. The country has more than 50 such higher education institutions. The largest enrol 20,000 to 25,000 students; others are much smaller. Altogether some 280,000 students are enrolled in this form of higher education.

International Education.
Fifteen institutes for International Education offer post-graduate courses in a wide range of fields. The courses are conducted in English and have been designed with foreign students in mind. For admission to most of the courses, a degree is required as well as several years of practical work experience. The International Education institutes have a total enrolment of several thousand students. The universities and the universities of professional education also offer international courses taught in English.

Degrees and curricula at the universities
The Dutch university system is not based on two degrees, as are the British and American systems. Everyone pursues the doctoraal degree, which requires four years of full-time study in many fields, or five years of full-time study in engineering, the natural sciences, and agriculture. An academic career that is terminated before a person fills all the requirements for the doctoraal is considered incomplete. University curricula in the Netherlands are strongly concentrated on the major field in which the degree is earned. Even the first years of study do not include any components that could be classified as liberal arts. These are covered in the special stream of secondary school which qualifies young people for university study. This stream requires six years, which is one or two years more than the other forms of secondary education.
Independent research is an important part of every university programme. The doctoraal thesis is a major requirement. This is a report written on the basis of the student抯 own original research. The best doctoraal theses find their way into scientific journals in abbreviated form, as articles. A doctoraal degree confers eligibility for the pursuit of a doctorate through a process known as the promotie. This entails four years of full-time research following the doctoraal under the supervision of a promotor, who must be a full professor at a university. To earn the title 'doctor? a student must write a dissertation based on his or her own research project, and then successfully defend it in a public ceremony before a committee of professors. The Dutch doctor抯 degree is equivalent to a PhD.
Persons with a doctoraal degee use the academic title doctorandus (drs.) unless their field is engineering, in which case the title is ingenieur (ir.), or law, in which case the title is meester (mr.). The doctoraal degree is at the same level as master抯 degrees in the Anglo-Saxon systems of the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, for example.

Degrees and curricula at the universities of professional education
The universities of professional education also have a system unlike the two-degree system of American and British institutions. They confer only one degree, and all study programmes require four years. Internships, or periods of work placement in a company or other organization, are important components in these programmes, which are always strongly oriented towards specific careers. Unlike the universities described above, the universities of professional education do not conduct fundamental research and they do not offer possibilities for pursuing a doctorate.
Persons who earn a diploma from a university of professional education may use the title baccalaureus (bc.), or, in engineering and agriculture, the title ingenieur (ing.). All graduates may also use the title 'Bachelor? Their degree makes them eligible for post-graduate study, either in a post-doctoraal programme or master抯 degree programme, or in pursuit of a doctorate.
Some of the universities of professional education also offer programmes leading to a master抯 degree. These are generally conducted in English for the benefit of foreign students. These programmes last one or two years, and are open to graduates with the title baccalaureus (bc.) or ingenieur (ing.). For foreign students, the admission requirement is generally a bachelor抯 degree or its equivalent.

Degrees and curricula at the institutes for International Education
All programmes and courses that fall under International Education are conducted in English. They vary in length from three months to one or two years. In most cases, students are required to have completed a programme of higher education in their own country. Usually this is a bachelor抯 degree or its equivalent. The longer International Education courses lead to a master抯 degree. Some of the International Education institutes have an arrangement with a Dutch university by which students can go on to pursue a doctorate after earning their master抯 degree.

Guarantee of quality
Higher education in the Netherlands enjoys a worldwide reputation for its high quality. This is achieved through a national system of legal regulation and quality control. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is responsible for legislation pertaining to education. The agriculture and public health ministries play an important role in assuring the quality of study programmes in their respective fields.
All study programmes are regularly evaluated by committees of independent experts which are appointed by the associations of the two types of universities. The committee reports are made public. If they are unfavourable, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science can take steps. Most of these reports-even the most favourable ones-will draw attention to aspects that could be improved. These recommendations are taken seriously by the departments and institutions concerned.
This system of quality control guarantees that the education offered at all the universities in the Netherlands meets the same high standards. When Dutch students choose where they want to study, they are not thinking of which institution is best, but instead are looking at which specializations the universities offer or which emphasis or academic tradition they feature. Each of the universities in the country has its own atmosphere and style. They distinguish themselves in this way, and not through any absolute measure of quality. For these reasons, employers in the Netherlands look first at the degree a person has earned. Where the person earned it is not so important.

Further reading: 
The Education System of the Netherlands. Special Country Report. PIER World Education Series. Washington DC, The Hague, 1996. ISBN 90-5464-020-0.
This publication is available only in English. It can be requested from the secretariat of the Nuffic抯 Department for Communication: telephone, +31 (70) 4260 207; e-mail, mknaapen@nuffic.nl. An overview of Dutch higher education conducted in the English language can be found on Nuffic抯 website: http://www.nuffic.nl.