Netherlands

• Statutory tuition of 2,694 euro for the 2026/27 year applies to you as an EU citizen, at every publicly funded university and hogeschool.
• Hundreds of fully English-taught bachelor's degrees, across 13 research universities and a large network of universities of applied sciences.
• Research-university bachelor's take three years, like Denmark's; universities of applied sciences take four.
• One central portal, Studielink, handles every application to every public institution.
• As an EU citizen you can work unlimited hours alongside your studies - no permit, no hour cap.

• The Internationalisation in Balance bill (Wet internationalisering in balans, bill 36555) would require bachelor's programmes to be taught mainly in Dutch and force universities to justify every foreign-language programme. On 24 September 2026 it was still before the Tweede Kamer and had not been voted on, but universities are already converting or capping English tracks. Check that the exact programme you want will still run in English in September 2027.
• Housing. The national monitor published in 2025 put the shortage at about 21,500 rooms in the 19 largest student cities. Nuffic itself warns of a severe shortage and tells students to start before they arrive. Some universities will not guarantee you a room at all.
• Numerus fixus. Popular programmes (medicine, psychology, international business, communication and more) cap places and select. The deadline is 15 January - three and a half months before the normal one, and long before you have IB results.
• Numerus fixus programmes can also cap the English-language track separately from the Dutch one, which means the English places can be scarcer than the headline number suggests.

Accepted

Yes

Minimum

24 points and the award of the full IB Diploma is the floor used across Dutch higher education; individual programmes and numerus fixus selection routinely demand far more. Nuffic does not publish a national minimum score.

Subjects and levels

Nuffic compares the full IB Diploma to a Dutch VWO diploma, which is the qualification that gives access to a research university (universiteit) bachelor's. Programmes that require specific school subjects - maths and physics for engineering, maths for economics and econometrics - normally want those subjects at Higher Level, and each university publishes its own HL/SL list. Check the programme page, not a general page.

Score conversion

There is no national IB-to-Dutch points table. Dutch programmes are either open access (you meet the diploma and subject requirements and you are in) or numerus fixus (the university runs its own selection and sets its own weighting of your grades). Ask the individual programme how it scores IB grades.

• IB Course Results / certificates without the full Diploma are not equivalent to VWO and do not give access to a research university bachelor's.
• A hogeschool (university of applied sciences) bachelor's needs at least a HAVO-equivalent diploma, so a full IB Diploma comfortably clears that bar and takes four years rather than three.
• Because your results arrive on 6 July 2027, you will apply and be admitted conditionally and then send your final IB transcript. Confirm the conditional-offer route with each university - the Dutch system is built around Dutch results arriving in June.

1. From autumn 2026, use the Study in NL programme finder to check whether each programme you want is still taught in English for 2027 entry and whether it has a numerus fixus.

2. Create a Studielink account. With a Dutch address you log in with DigiD; without one you create an account by uploading a scan or photo of your passport or EU identity card, which Studielink verifies automatically. Then add your programme choices.

3. Apply by 15 January 2027 for any numerus fixus programme, and by 1 May 2027 for open-access programmes.

4. Complete the university's own application in its student portal: motivation letter, CV, predicted IB grades, transcript, proof of English, sometimes a test or interview.

5. For open-access programmes, take part in the matching or study check activity - at many universities this is compulsory even though the advice is non-binding.

6. Numerus fixus results land on 15 April; accept your place within two weeks or it goes to the next person on the list.

7. Send your final IB transcript as soon as results are released on 6 July 2027 — and ask your IB coordinator to put each university on your transcript list before 5 July, because from that date you request transcripts yourself through rrs.ibo.org at $19 each instead of free through the school. Then enrol, pay the tuition fee, and register with the municipality once you have an address.

Two worlds. Open access: meet the diploma, subject and English requirements and you are admitted, with no competition on grades. Numerus fixus: the programme sets a number of places and runs decentrale selectie, scoring you on grades, motivation, tests, interviews or a written assignment - each programme designs its own procedure and publishes it. Medicine is numerus fixus everywhere and is the hardest route in the country.

• 1 October 2026

  Maastricht applications open in Studielink

  Via Maastricht University

  Details

  Applications for 2027-2028 open on 1 October. University College Maastricht reviews them on a rolling basis from then until its deadline.

  Published with its year by the University of Amsterdam: "You can submit your enrolment application for the academic year 2027-2028 in Studielink from 1 October 2026 till 15 January 2027." Studielink's information site info.studielink.nl states the 15 January and 1 May deadlines without saying when applications open, so the opening date is taken from the university's page.

  Source

• 27 November 2026, 23:59 CET

  First portfolio round closes (Creative Media & Game Technologies)

  Priority Via Breda University of Applied Sciences programme with selection

  Details

  Later applications are considered after these.

  One of four rounds, not a deadline. BUas says decisions on interview invitations follow within two weeks of each round and that an earlier round secures a place sooner. The year is taken from the regulation's stated academic year and is provisional for that reason.

• 1 December 2026

  Create your Studielink account

  Your own plan Via Netherlands

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Not an official deadline. With a Dutch address you log in with DigiD, which the government says takes about five days. Without one you upload a scan or photo of your passport or EU identity card and Studielink verifies it automatically. Either way, do it well before 15 January.

• 15 January 2027, 23:59 CET

  Second portfolio round closes (Creative Media & Game Technologies)

  Priority Via Breda University of Applied Sciences programme with selection

  Details

  Later applications are considered after these.

  Falls on the same day as the national numerus fixus deadline and is not the same thing: this round is one of four and missing it does not close the programme.

• 15 January 2027, 23:59 CET

  International Business numerus fixus application closes

  Hard deadline Via Maastricht University

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  The national numerus fixus date. Maastricht's published table gives 15 January 2026 for the 2026-2027 round; the 2027 date is inherited from the national rule and is provisional until Maastricht republishes. Studielink and all MyApplication admission tasks must both be complete.

  Absolute, and published to the minute: Studielink's own guidance is "until 23:59 on 15 January", and the University of Amsterdam states the 2027 date: "from 1 October 2026 till 15 January 2027". You may apply to at most two numerus fixus programmes in one academic year. Medicine, Dentistry, Dental Hygiene and Physiotherapy allow only one application per programme, so you cannot apply for Medicine at two universities. Selection then runs between 15 January and 15 April; what happens on 15 April, and what you then have to do, are entries of their own.

  Source 1 · Source 2

• 15 January 2027, 23:59 CET

  Numerus fixus applications close

  Hard deadline Via Netherlands

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Two numerus fixus programmes at most; medicine, dentistry, dental hygiene and physiotherapy allow one application per programme, so not medicine at two universities. Missing this does not cost you the year, but it does cost you every selective programme in it.

• 1 February 2027, 23:59 CET

  University College Maastricht closes for non-EU/EEA applicants

  Applies to: applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland

  Hard deadline Via Maastricht University

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Studielink application and every admission task in Maastricht's own MyApplication portal, both by this date.

• 5 March 2027, 23:59 CET

  Third portfolio round closes (Creative Media & Game Technologies)

  Priority Via Breda University of Applied Sciences programme with selection

  Details

  Later applications are considered after these.

• 1 April 2027, 23:59 CET

  University College Maastricht closes for EU/EEA and Swiss applicants

  Applies to: EU, EEA and Swiss citizens

  Hard deadline Via Maastricht University

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Neither 15 January nor 1 May. UCM is selective without being numerus fixus and sets its own date.

• 1 April 2027, 23:59 CET

  Data Science and AI closes for non-EU/EEA applicants

  Applies to: applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland

  Hard deadline Via Maastricht University

  Details

  After this the door closes.

• 1 April 2027

  TU Delft programmes without numerus fixus close (international diploma)

  Hard deadline Via Netherlands

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  TU Delft's own date for anyone applying with a non-Dutch diploma, the IB included: register in Studielink by 1 April, a month before the national 1 May. Its numerus fixus programmes close on 15 January. Published as "1 april" with no year.

• 15 April 2027, 23:59 CET

  Numerus fixus ranking numbers issued

  Via Maastricht University

  Details

  Also the date on which an applicant is told they failed the International Classroom requirement and are not in the ranking at all.

  Published as "Applicants in the selection procedure will receive a ranking number via Studielink on 15 April". Nothing is required of you on the day itself — but this is the day the two-week clock starts for anyone offered a place, so it is the day to start watching Studielink rather than the day to relax. A ranking number above the number of places is not a refusal: places freed by students who do not accept are offered down the list, so ranking 101 of 100 places can still become an offer.

  Source

• 15 April 2027

  Ranking numbers issued

  Via Netherlands

  Details

  Selection runs between 15 January and 15 April and every applicant receives a ranking number through Studielink. Indicative: Nuffic’s date, not the government’s.

• 30 April 2027, 23:59 CET

  Technical Computer Science registration closes (University of Twente)

  Hard deadline Via Netherlands

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Twente: "Make sure to complete your registration before 30 April at 23:59 CET", a day before the national 1 May. The page still gives the 2026 intake's date (30 April 2026); the 2027 one is taken to be the same day.

• 1 May 2027

  Studielink enrolment application closes for a BUas programme with selection

  Hard deadline Via Breda University of Applied Sciences programme with selection

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  BUas states: "The official deadline to make an enrolment application in Studielink for bachelor programmes with selection is 1 May." This is BUas's own rule and it is later than the 15 January the national page sets for numerus fixus. BUas does not say which national rule this follows; treat 1 May as the outer limit and apply far earlier, because every BUas programme here fills by rounds.

• 1 May 2027, 23:59 CET

  Data Science and AI closes for EU/EEA and Swiss applicants

  Applies to: EU, EEA and Swiss citizens

  Hard deadline Via Maastricht University

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Maastricht’s own deadline for the whole application, Studielink and MyApplication tasks included. The programme is not capped, and the date matches the national 1 May.

• 1 May 2027, 23:59 CET

  Data Science and AI maths syllabus due, non-EU/EEA (only if Maastricht asks)

  Applies to: applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland

  Hard deadline Via Maastricht University

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Only if Maastricht tells you your mathematics falls short: a syllabus for its mathematics sufficiency check. EU/EEA and Swiss applicants: 1 June.

• 1 May 2027, 23:59

  Last day to keep your right to a place (programmes without selection)

  Equal consideration Via Netherlands

  Details

  Applications in by this date are guaranteed to be considered. Later ones may still be read, at the institution’s discretion, against whatever places remain.

  Apply by 1 May and you are entitled to admission to a non-selective programme you qualify for. The government says a first application after 1 May may be refused - the programme can still take you, but does not have to. Some institutions set earlier dates of their own, and theirs is the one that binds.

  Studielink closes at 23:59 on 1 May. The government’s rule is what makes it an equal-consideration date: apply by 1 May and you are entitled to admission to a programme you qualify for ("Aanmelding tot en met 1 mei betekent ook recht op toelating"); a first application after 1 May "kan door de opleiding geweigerd worden" - the programme may still take you, but it does not have to. Some programmes close earlier for capacity or matching reasons, and the programme’s own date is the one that binds.

  Source 1 · Source 2

• 4 May 2027, 17:00 CET

  Hotel Management application complete in My Online Application

  Hard deadline Via Breda University of Applied Sciences programme with selection

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Includes a personal video message for applicants with a non-Dutch diploma. Registering in Studielink alone is not an application.

• 15 May 2027, 23:59 CET

  Final portfolio, assignment and assessment deadline

  Hard deadline Via Breda University of Applied Sciences programme with selection

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  The last round for Creative Media & Game Technologies and Applied Data Science & AI, and the assessment deadline for Creative Business. Interviews for the final round run to the end of May.

• 1 June 2027, 23:59 CET

  Data Science and AI maths syllabus due, EU/EEA and Swiss (only if Maastricht asks)

  Applies to: EU, EEA and Swiss citizens

  Hard deadline Via Maastricht University

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Only if Maastricht tells you your mathematics falls short: a syllabus for its mathematics sufficiency check. A shortfall is a process rather than a refusal, and it must be cleared before the first year starts. Non-EU/EEA applicants: 1 May.

• 19 June 2027

  Creative Media & Game Technologies selection outcome

  Via Breda University of Applied Sciences programme with selection

  Details

  BUas: "The prospective student will be notified by June 19th regarding their selection for the degree program." That is before the IB releases results on about 6 July.

• 1 July 2027

  Waiting-list decisions confirmed (Hotel Management)

  Via Breda University of Applied Sciences programme with selection

  Details

  BUas: "At the latest on 1 July, we will inform applicants that have been placed on the waiting list whether or not they have been selected for the programme."

• 6 July 2027

  IB results released

  Via Netherlands

  Details

  Both Dutch deadlines fall well before this. How a conditional place pending results is handled is set by each institution; ask yours.

• 31 August 2027, 23:59 CET

  All enrolment tasks complete

  Hard deadline Via Maastricht University

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Including the certified copy of your diploma — which is why IB results arriving in early July is workable here: the diploma is an enrolment task, not an admission task.

• Date not published
  2027 entry

  Accept your numerus fixus place in Studielink

  Hard deadline

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  The deadline is two weeks from your own offer, not a day in the calendar. Published as "If you are offered a place, you have to accept this place via Studielink within two weeks", and Studielink is explicit that a place not accepted in time "will be assigned to another student automatically". If your offer arrives with the ranking numbers on 15 April, that puts you at the end of April; if it arrives later, because someone above you declined, your fortnight starts then. This is the most expensive thing on the Dutch page to miss and the only one with no date you can set in advance, so the practical answer is to check Studielink from 15 April onwards rather than to wait for an email.

  Source

English-taught bachelors

Extensive by European standards, but contracting. Study in NL lists the current English-taught offer across all publicly funded institutions; the number of English-taught bachelor's is falling as universities respond to the internationalisation bill, so any count published today may not hold for 2027 entry.

Proving your English

Universities set their own English requirements. IB English A or English B at Higher Level is commonly accepted as proof, and many programmes waive a test for anyone who completed a fully English-taught secondary education such as the IB Diploma - but this is decided per programme, not nationally. Otherwise the usual bars are IELTS 6.0-6.5 or TOEFL iBT 80-90. Confirm on the programme page before you rely on a waiver.

Local language needed?

Not for English-taught programmes

• You will not need Dutch to study or to live in a student city, but you will need it for many part-time jobs outside hospitality and for most internships in Dutch organisations.
• The internationalisation bill's core idea is that bachelor's teaching should be predominantly Dutch, with foreign-language programmes allowed only where they can be justified. That is a direct risk to the English-taught offer you are choosing from.

Tuition, EU/EEA

2,694 EUR per year (statutory tuition fee, wettelijk collegegeld) (2026/27)

Tuition, non-EU

Institutional fee set by each university; Nuffic gives a range of roughly 9,000-20,000 EUR per year for a bachelor's (2026/27)

Application fee

None for EU/EEA applicants via Studielink. Nuffic notes that some institutions charge non-EEA applicants an application or handling fee of about 75-100 EUR.

Living costs

1,000-1,500 EUR per month. Nuffic's breakdown (Nibud data, 2024): rent 561, groceries 244, leisure and sport 239, Dutch basic health insurance 133 if you work, transport 67, books and materials 41. Rent alone ranges from about 450 to 1,000 depending on the city. (2024 figures published by Nuffic)

• The statutory fee is set by the government each year and has risen steadily, so budget for a higher figure in 2027/28 than the 2026/27 amount.
• You pay the statutory fee only if you hold EU/EEA, Swiss or Surinamese nationality (or a qualifying Dutch residence permit) and do not already hold a degree at that level from a Dutch government-funded institution.

Funding you could actually get

• Danish SU can follow you here if you can claim it (Danish citizens, or EU/EEA citizens with equal status under EU rules) and meet the ties-to-Denmark requirement. The programme must be SU-approved, and outside the Nordics SU is capped at four years (48 klip). Apply to Uddannelses- og Forskningsstyrelsen before you leave. If you cannot claim SU, look first at your own country's student finance: several EU/EEA systems fund a full degree in another country.
• Dutch student finance (studiefinanciering) from DUO: open to EU/EEA nationals only in specific cases. Nuffic states plainly that EU students may qualify 'in specific cases' without listing them, and DUO assesses each applicant. Check your own eligibility with DUO directly before counting on it.
• Tuition fee loan (collegegeldkrediet) from DUO, for students who are entitled to Dutch student finance.
• Institutional scholarships: most universities run a small number of merit scholarships for first-year internationals. They are competitive and rarely cover more than tuition. Search them through the Study in NL Studyfinder.
• Part-time work. As an EU citizen you can work without a permit or hour limit, and student jobs in hospitality, supermarkets and university departments are widely available in student cities.

Residency

As an EU citizen you do not need a visa or residence permit. What you do need is a Dutch address and a BSN (citizen service number): register with the gemeente (municipality) of the town you live in shortly after arrival, bringing your passport, your birth certificate and proof of your address. Without a BSN you cannot open most bank accounts, take out insurance or be paid legally. Registration requires a registered address, which is one more reason the housing problem is not just about comfort.

Working

EU, EEA and Swiss students can work alongside their studies without restrictions - no work permit and no maximum hours (Study in NL / Nuffic, https://www.studyinnl.org/finances/scholarship-and-funding-for-eu-students). Non-EU students need their employer to hold a work permit and are limited to seasonal summer work or a small number of hours per week; check the IND rules before accepting a job.

Housing

This is the hardest part of studying in the Netherlands and you should plan around it, not hope. The Landelijke Monitor Studentenhuisvesting 2025 (Kences and the Ministry of Housing) estimated a shortage of about 21,500 student rooms in the 19 largest student cities for 2024-25, only slightly down from 22,800 a year earlier. Nuffic describes a 'severe housing shortage' and says there is not enough student accommodation for everyone. Nuffic budgets rent at about 561 EUR a month (Nibud, 2024), more in Amsterdam and Utrecht, less in Enschede, Groningen, Maastricht and Tilburg. Start the search the moment you apply, not when you are admitted. Ask your university's housing office first - some institutions reserve a block of rooms for first-year internationals and those open on a fixed date, often in spring. Use DUWO, Kamernet, Pararius and the university's own listings. Nuffic warns never to sign a contract for a room you have not seen (ask for a video tour) and never to pay brokerage fees, which are not required by law.

Healthcare

Bring your blue European Health Insurance Card from the country where you are insured. If you only study, the EHIC plus that coverage is normally enough. The moment you take a paid job or a paid internship in the Netherlands, Dutch law requires you to take out Dutch basic health insurance (basisverzekering) - Nuffic budgets about 133 EUR a month for it. If you are on Dutch basic insurance and on a low income you can usually claim zorgtoeslag (healthcare allowance) from the tax office, which refunds part of the premium. Register with a local GP (huisarts) early; in student cities the good practices fill up.

Your IB is still a foreign qualification here, so the IB entry rules still apply to you.