Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam offers hundreds of English-taught courses at both the Bachelor's and Master's level, ranging from arts & culture and social sciences, neurosciences and computer science, to economics and business administration. Below is an overview of course offerings and minor programmes available to incoming exchange students.
Exchange study guide 2017-2018
Please note that the exchange study guide is subject to change.
Follow a minor programme! (first semester only)
We strongly encourage exchange students to follow one of our minor programmes rather than piecing together their own schedule. These are pre-packaged selections of approximately five related courses that span the entire semester. Most minors are Interdisciplinary and so are open to students from any background, however some minors do have prerequisites and can only be found under the faculty that offers it. One big advantage of selecting a minor is that you will never have overlapping classes in your schedule. Minors do show a focused area of study, so you may also choose to list them on your CV.
University minors - open to all students
- American Studies
- Anthropology
- Brain and Mind
- Business Administration
- Development and Global Challenges
- Digital Humanities and Social Analytics
- Economics
- Gender and Diversity
- Global Food Security
- Law and Global Society: Internet, Migration and Climate Change
- Managing Digital Innovation
- Political Science
- Risk Management for Financial Institutions
- Technology, Law & Ethics
Faculty minors - please note that these minor programmes have specific entry requirements
Minor Behavioural and Human Movement Sciences
Minors Economics and Business Administration
- Accounting, Organizations and Society
- Applied Econometrics: A Big Data Experience for All
- E-business and Online Commerce
- Entrepreneurship
- Health Care Management
- Operations Analytics
- Real Estate Economics and Finance
- Sustainability and Innovation
- Understanding and Influencing Decisions in Business and Society
Minors Earth and Life Sciences
- Biomedical and Health Interventions
- Biomedical Topics in Health Care
- Biomolecular & Neurosciences track Biomolecular Sciences
- Biomolecular & Neurosciences track Neurosciences
- Brain and Mind
- Earth Surface track Earth Sciences
- Earth Surface track Earth Sciences and Economics
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology
- Five Big Issues in Health
- Global Health
- National Geo Information minor
- Topics in Biomedical Sciences
Minors Humanities
- Amsterdam Urban Studies
- European History and Culture 1200-1800
- History
- Migration Studies
- English
- Philosophy of Freedom
Minor Sciences
Minors VU Medical Centre
All modules at VUmc will be preceded by the same general course: Translational Sciences: From Bench to Bedside and Back (6 ECTS, 4 weeks). Exchange students who wish to apply need to have completed at least 90 ECTS in a relevant programme, for example medicine, biomedicine, psychobiology, technical medicine, medical biology, liberal arts & sciences or biopharmaceutical sciences. More information: https://med.vu.nl/en/Programs/International-minor-VUmc-Medical-Sciences/index.aspx
- Cardiovascular Research Challenges 2017
- Child Healthcare
- Clinical Neuroscience-Life of Brain
- Death and dying: clinical, scientific and ethical challenges
- Global Health, Indonesia
- Global Health Diversity & Conflict
- Hot Topics in Psychiatry
- Immunology-Infection-Cancer Connected
- Internal Medicine
- Peri-operative Care and Anatomy
- Personalized Medicine
- Research Minor: Science in Medicine
- The Moving Body-in Health and Disease
Entry requirements
Some Bachelor’s level courses have specific entry requirements, which you can find in the exchange study guide.
In addition to course specific entry requirements, students interested in following Master’s level courses must also meet the admission requirements for the Master’s degree programme to which the course belongs. This includes a copy of your Bachelor’s diploma and submitted proof of an English proficiency test result. For more information please see our nomination and application procedure.A note about courses taught in Dutch
At Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, courses taught in Dutch are only accessible for students who are sufficiently proficient in the Dutch language. C1 level is required. Attaining such a level of proficiency usually takes several years and so it is normally not possible for exchange students to enroll in Dutch taught courses. If you wish to take courses taught in Dutch, please contact us at incoming@vu.nl.
Courses and registration deadlines
The International Office will register you for courses before the start of your semester. You must fill out a course registration form in advance, which is made available to students in mid-July for the Fall semester, and in mid-December for the Spring semester. Any changes to your course registration must be emailed to incoming@vu.nl before the registration deadline (see further below).
Exams and resit exams
Course registration automatically registers students for their examinations. In the event of failing a course, you will need to be registered for the resit examination. You must send their requests to incoming@vu.nl at least two weeks prior to the examination date.
Semesters & periods 2017-2018
At Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the academic year is divided into 2 semesters. Each semester is divided into 3 periods:
Academic year 2017-2018
| 1st semester (Fall) | Course registration deadline | September - January |
| Period 1 | 11 September 2017 | September – October |
| Period 2 | 2 October 2017 | November – December |
| Period 3 | 11 December 2017 | January |
| 2nd semester (Spring) | February – June | |
| Period 4 | 8 January 2018 | February – March |
| Period 5 | 5 March 2018 | April – May |
| Period 6 | 7 May 2018 | June |
For details about our semester dates, please consult the 2017-2018 academic calendar.
Credits (ECTS)
VU Amsterdam uses the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) which is based on the workload students should have in order to achieve expected learning outcomes. ECTS is based on the principle that 30 ECTS credits measure the workload of a full-time student during one semester (and 60 ECTS for a full academic year). In addition, each ECTS credit is equivalent to 28 study hours (which includes both classroom hours as well as self-study). Most courses are 6 ECTS credits.
If you are nominated on a faculty contract, you are expected to follow the majority of your courses at that faculty with a minimum of 18 ECTS out of 30. Additionally, you are allowed to follow 12 ECTS at other faculties, provided you have the relevant academic background. As an exchange student, you must take a minimum of 24 ECTS credits per semester (or 48 ECTS for the whole academic year).
Grading system
Dutch grades range from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest). Grades of 5.5 and higher are passing grades. The highest grade, 10, is very rarely awarded. An 8 is considered a high mark and a 7 is more common. Grades from 1 to 3 are also quite rare.
| ECTS % | Quality Assessment | ECTS grade | Dutch grade |
| 10% | Excellent/Very good | A | 8.0 - 10.0 |
| 25% | Good | B | 7.5 - 7.9 |
| 30% | More than satisfactory | C | 7.0 - 7.4 |
| 25% | Satisfactory | D | 6.5 - 6.9 |
| 10% | Sufficient | E | 5.5 - 6.4 |
| Fail | F | 0.0 - 5.4 |
Dutch language courses
The Department of Dutch as a Second Language (NT2 Academy) offers extensive Dutch language courses for exchange students. These courses cover eight weeks and take place two evenings a week. In addition to attending these class hours students are also expected to commit at least five hours of self-study per week. Exchange students can obtain 3.5 ECTS for completing this course. Please note that there are additional costs involved.
Feel free to contact us with any remaining questions at incoming@vu.nl after reading the above information.