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Universities in the Netherlands are divided into Research and Applied Science. Research universities provide an academic education for 3 years, while Applied Science universities offer three or four years of practice-oriented education. The Netherlands is one of the countries with the highest level of education and accepts students from many parts of the world, and is one of the most preferred European countries for students from Turkey. The Netherlands does not accept Turkish High School Diploma, which includes only the MoNE curriculum, especially for Engineering departments. For this reason, students from Turkey are required to apply with at least 4 AP exam results or IB or A-Level Diplomas. There is an arrangement called Numerus Fixus in Dutch universities. Some departments accept a limited number of students due to high demand, and this is achieved by conducting a selective exam with the regulation called Numerus Fixus. Especially departments such as Psychology and Computer Science only accept students with Numerus Fixus. Students have the right to choose 4 universities when applying to the Netherlands and at most 2 of these 4 departments can be departments with Numerus Fixus. In addition, language proficiency certificates such as IELTS and TOEFL are required from students.
We first have a preliminary interview with our students who receive Dutch Counseling about the fields and departments they are interested in. After deciding on the most suitable school and department for the student, our application process begins. If our student has deficiencies in the required academic conditions, we first provide course support from our institution to complete them. After completing the other necessary documents, our student and our education abroad counselor, who works specifically with our student, make the application. We continue our meetings with our student during the acceptance process and support our student in creating his/her route after acceptance.
Nowadays, the Netherlands offers education opportunities with incredibly good universities. Most of our students go to study in the following fields;
Veritas provides free of charge Application Counseling Services for Netherlands Universities. As everywhere, the top universities of the Netherlands take students with various exams. For example Tu Delf is the best university. You can take their own exams or AP, A LEVEL, SAT, ACT exams you can get the opportunity to study at this university.
You can enter most of the Engineering Faculties either through their own exams or through AP, IB, A-Level Exams. Some universities accept you with your MEB grades. Some students may be scared when it comes to exams. However, these exams are exams that question the basic knowledge necessary for you to study easily. When you study for these, you are guaranteed quality education in the Netherlands.
Medical Education in the Netherlands; Many Medical Schools in the Netherlands provide education in English. But there are also clinical trainings in Medical Education. During clinical training you have to learn the language of the country you are going to. After the first two years you have to learn the local language.
In addition, many Dutch universities accept students with TOEFL and IELTS.
We recommend the Netherlands for your career and enjoyable student life.
We closely follow all exams and application procedures for Dutch universities. We will help you. Call us for detailed information. 0.850.5328787
The single most consequential decision a student makes about the Netherlands is not which city to live in but which type of institution to apply to. Dutch higher education is split into research universities (wetenschappelijk onderwijs, WO) and universities of applied sciences (hoger beroepsonderwijs, HBO), and the two lead to genuinely different careers.
Research universities — Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, Groningen, Eindhoven, Wageningen and their peers — run three-year academic bachelor's degrees built on theory and research method. They are the route into a master's degree, a PhD and research-led professions. Universities of applied sciences run four-year professional degrees that include a compulsory internship year and a practice-based graduation project; they produce graduates who enter industry directly and confidently. Neither is superior. But applying to the wrong one costs a year, and it is a mistake we see repeatedly among students who applied without advice.
Every application to Dutch higher education passes through Studielink, a single national portal. You create one account, add the programmes you are interested in, and each university then contacts you separately for transcripts, motivation letters and English test scores. The system is straightforward; the deadlines are where students come unstuck.
The general deadline is 1 May. The one that actually governs competitive applications is 15 January, which applies to every numerus fixus programme — those with a capped number of places and their own selection procedure. Medicine, psychology, international business administration, and several engineering and communication degrees are routinely capped. A student who discovers in March that their target programme closed in January has lost the entire admission cycle. Our planning calendar therefore treats January, not May, as the real deadline for anyone considering a selective course.
Students holding EU or EEA nationality pay the statutory tuition fee (wettelijk collegegeld) set each year by the Dutch government — among the lowest in Western Europe for degrees of this standing. Students from outside the EU pay institutional fees, which each university sets itself and which run higher for medicine, engineering and business than for humanities and social sciences.
Accommodation is the larger variable. Rent in Amsterdam and Utrecht sits well above Groningen, Enschede, Maastricht or Nijmegen, and student housing in the big cities is genuinely scarce — it should be arranged the moment an offer arrives, not after arrival. Students who budget only for tuition are the ones who find the year harder than expected.
The Netherlands is unusually welcoming to graduates who want to stay. The orientation year (zoekjaar) residence permit gives you twelve months after graduation to look for work, without needing an employer to sponsor you in advance — a meaningful advantage over countries where a job offer must precede the visa. Combined with the concentration of international companies around Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Rotterdam, and with English functioning as a working language in much of that economy, it makes the Netherlands one of the strongest destinations in Europe for students thinking past graduation.
To discuss whether a research university or a university of applied sciences fits your profile, our advisors offer a free initial consultation. You can also review our study abroad consultancy services or compare the Netherlands with Germany and Belgium, the closest alternatives for English-taught degrees in continental Europe.
What students ask us most about studying in the Netherlands
Yes. The Netherlands offers more English-taught degree programmes than any other country in continental Europe — over 2,000 across bachelor's and master's level. You will need an IELTS or TOEFL score, typically IELTS 6.0 to 6.5 for bachelor's programmes and 6.5 to 7.0 for competitive master's programmes.
Research universities (WO) are academic and theory-driven, leading to a three-year bachelor's degree and the standard route into a master's or PhD. Universities of applied sciences (HBO) run four-year, profession-oriented degrees with a compulsory internship year. Both award recognised degrees; the right choice depends on whether you want an academic or a professional career path.
Studielink is the single national portal through which all applications to Dutch higher education are submitted. You create one account, add the programmes you want, and each university then requests its own supporting documents. The standard application deadline is 1 May, but selective programmes close far earlier.
Numerus fixus programmes have a capped number of places and run their own selection procedure instead of admitting all qualified applicants. Medicine, psychology, international business and some engineering degrees are commonly capped. The deadline for these is 15 January — three and a half months before the general deadline — and missing it means waiting a full year.
Students from EU and EEA countries pay the statutory tuition fee set annually by the Dutch government, which is among the lowest in Western Europe. Non-EU students pay institutional fees that vary by university and programme, generally higher for medicine and engineering than for humanities. Living costs in Amsterdam and Utrecht run noticeably above those in Groningen, Enschede or Maastricht.
Students may work part-time alongside their studies subject to permit conditions for non-EU nationals. After graduating, you can apply for the orientation year (zoekjaar) residence permit, which gives you twelve months to find work in the Netherlands without needing an employer to sponsor you first.
For your degree, no — English-taught programmes are complete in themselves and Dutch society is among the most fluent in English in the world. For part-time work, internships and building a life beyond the university, learning Dutch makes a substantial difference, and most universities offer free or subsidised courses to their international students.
