Grades and Credits

Grades
The grading system of Dutch universities is based on a number scale of 1 (very poor) to 10 (outstanding). The lowest passing grade is 5.5 (in some departments it might be 6.0). It should be noted that 9’s and 10’s are rarely given.

The Student Counseling Department of the Netherlands America Commission for Educational Exchange (NACEE) uses the following qualitative equivalence for translating grades from the Dutch university grading system to that of the American university system: 8 = A 7 = B 6 = C

Since 9’s and 10’s are rarely given, one could generally consider an 8 to be roughly equivalent to an A at an American institution. Some faculties (e.g. Law) hardly ever award 8’s. In these cases an 8 could be considered to be an A+.

Credits
Utrecht University uses ECTS credits (ECTS: European Credit Transfer
System). An academic year consists of 60 ECTS, each semester of 30 ECTS. Semester 1: 1 September – 1 February. Semester 2: 1 February – 1 July

Academic Year  60 ECTS
Semester 1 30 ECTS				Semester 2 30 ECTS
block 1 15 ECTS		block 2 15 ECTS		block 3 15 ECTS		block 4 15 ECTS
Course 1 7,5 ECTS	Course 2 7,5 ECTS	Course 3 7,5 ECTS	Course 4 7,5 ECTS	Course 5 7,5 ECTS	Course 6 7,5 ECTS	Course 7 7,5 ECTS	Course 8 7,5 ECTS

In the course descriptions, in the top right corner, you can see how many credits you can earn.