Frequently Asked Questions
Bellow you can find a few of the frequently asked questions about application and admission. If you have other questions about the UU, the application process, financial aid, or anything else, please contact us.
This FAQ is only for students who completed their previous education outside the Netherlands.
Eligibility
You will have to apply through the formal application process for us to be able to give you an answer.
The minimum requirement for all master’s programmes at Utrecht University is an undergraduate degree in the same or a related field. We don’t do prior assessments of information sent by email to see whether you are eligible, unfortunately. Please upload your transcript and other required documents in your application. Your eligibility can only be assessed once a complete application has been submitted.
If you are not sure whether you meet the admission requirements, you can contact the coordinator of the Master’s programme. Their contact details are on the programme webpage. Please note that they cannot decide in advance if you will be admitted, and we cannot give any guarantees outside the normal procedure. However, they can give you more specific advice.
To apply for a Master’s programme at Utrecht University, you need a bachelor’s degree in the same or a related field. Some programmes may also ask for a certain GPA or have other selection criteria. You can find these listed under the entry requirements for each programme on the webpage of your chosen programme under Admission and Application> Non-Dutch university > 1. Read entry requirements.
Conditional admission means you are accepted to the university, but you must meet certain requirements first. These requirements are written in your conditional acceptance letter. For example, you may need to send certified copies of your degree and transcript, or complete extra courses before you can start.
Application process
To start your application, log in to Studielink. If you encounter any difficulties while starting your application, we advise you to check whether your question is answered on the Studielink FAQ page. You can find several step-by-step guides on this page. If you cannot find an answer to your question, you can always contact Student Services.
Please always check the complete application procedure on the page of the specific study programme you are interested in to make sure you have not missed any steps.
After you have completed the first part of the application in Studielink, you will receive an e-mail with login details for OSIRIS Online Application within 24 hours. If this is not the case, please check your spam folder or contact Student Services at studentservice@uu.nl.
Please withdraw your enrolment request in Studielink. Once you do, your application in OSIRIS will be automatically cancelled, and you will not receive any more reminders about it.
You can chat directly with a our current students via the Unibuddies platform on our website: https://www.uu.nl/en/masters/general-information/studying-at-utrecht-un…
You can choose a student from your own country, or someone who is attending a course you would like to know more about.
You can find a list of the scholarships most commonly awarded to international students studying in Utrecht here:
https://www.uu.nl/en/masters/general-information/application-and-admission/scholarships-and-grants
Once you’ve chosen a scholarship, make sure you meet the eligibility requirements. If you do, prepare the required documents and submit your application. Pay close attention to deadlines; they are strict, and late applications aren’t accepted.
Problems with references can occur for different reasons.
If your referee has not received an invitation, they should first check their spam folder. The invitation might have been filtered there by their email provider. If this is not the case, you have the option to re-send the invitation to your referees. You can do so in OSIRIS Online Application. A maximum of two referees can be invited.
If your referees have an institutional email address (e.g. with a university or company domain), the security settings of the receiving email provider may block the invitations. This can cause the invitation to bounce. If your referee has not received an invite, or if your request is denied automatically, please send your referee a new invitation using a different, non-institutional email address.
If the problem maintains, please contact us at admissionsoffice@uu.nl.
Application fee
All students who completed their previous studies outside the Netherlands have to pay the application fee. Please check the application fee page for more information and possible exemptions.
The application fee payment process is integrated into OSIRIS Online Application. The fee can be paid by VISA, MasterCard or American Express credit cards. You can find more information in the payment portal.
Application fee errors can be resolved. Please do not cancel your application. Email us instead.
Documents
First, try to get the missing document if you can. If that’s not possible, as a last resort, you can upload a PDF explaining why you don’t have it. All documents are important for your application, so we can only process complete application files.
If you can’t submit your application in OSIRIS Online Application because you are missing a document, please contact Student Services at studentservice@uu.nl.
We advise students to apply as soon as possible. You can submit an application even if you have not yet obtained your degree. However, in this case we will need written proof that you are indeed in the final stages of your programme and that it is likely that you will graduate soon. You can ask your current university/institution to provide a statement. This statement must contain the following information:
- Your name.
- Your date of birth.
- The official and full name of the degree you will be obtaining.
- The official duration of the study programme.
- If applicable: the remaining courses (course name and if possible the number of ECTS).
- The name and position of the person signing the statement.
- Expected graduation date.
The statement must be signed and stamped by an official at your university.
Download the UU statement of Proof of Anticipated Degree (pdf, 48 kB).
In this case you can upload the same document under degree and transcript.
If your university does not wish to provide an expected graduation date, instead of a proof of anticipated degree form we can accept a document which states the official study duration of your programme and the year in which you began your studies. Please make sure the document has an official stamp and signature from your university.
A certified copy is a photocopy of your original degree certificate or transcript that carries an official stamp and signature from the university that issued the original document. See this video for more information:
During the application process, you can upload plain, uncertified copies of your documents. Make sure these copies are stamped by your university to confirm their authenticity. If you are admitted, you will be asked to provide certified copies of your documents.
You do not need to send translations if the diploma and transcript is in Dutch, English, Spanish, French, Latin or German. If your documents were issued in another language, then you must send official translations into Dutch or English. These translations must be made by a sworn or certified translator.
However, because you are applying for an English-taught programme, your other application documents (for example, your motivation letter and CV) must be written in English.
Some programmes require official course descriptions (also called syllabi) from the university you are currently attending or have attended. A course description shows what the course covered and how it was assessed. It usually includes:
Topics covered
Learning outcomes
Number of credits (ECTS)
Teaching methods
Required literature
Examination methods
Please upload official course descriptions of all relevant courses you have completed. Make sure they include the details listed above, if available.
If you have questions about what to include you can get in touch with the master’s programme directly. You can find the contact details on the website of the programme under ‘contact’.
If you haven’t taken the required courses, it would be wise to contact the programme to check if you’re eligible. You can find their contact details on the programme’s website under ‘Contact’. Keep in mind that we can only check eligibility when your application file is complete. It is best to send the full application so we can review your previous education correctly.
Please note that it is not necessary to have passed an English test at the time of your application. The results can be submitted later. Please inform us of the test you will take and the date you will take the test in OSIRIS Online Application.
We are currently dealing with a large number of incoming documents. We will inform you as soon as we have processed your documents.
Regarding the status of the arrival of your post: if you have used a track and trace service to send your documents and you have been notified that they have reached their destination, they are almost certainly in our possession. Please do not worry. We are unfortunately unable to inform each student that their post has arrived. It is not necessary to contact us to ask whether we have received your documents or send us requested/missing application documents by e-mail, as this will only delay the process.
We will process the documents of students who require a visa first, as the deadline is 15 June. For students who do not require a visa, please note that we will process your documents from June onwards. Thank you for your patience.
Yes! We will review your application to make sure all the required documents are included, and we will let you know if anything is missing.
It is not common to make adjustments to applications after submitting them but we understand that mistakes can happen. These situations are assessed on a case by case basis. Please email Student Services and:
Attach the document you want to add to your application,
Give and explanation for the edit.
Visa application
The cost of a visa/residence permit application is €257. Please note that you will have to transfer this to Utrecht University together with the tuition fee for the first academic year. You will receive the invoice by e-mail in May or November, depending on the start date of your programme.
One of the conditions for your visa application set by the IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) is that students must have sufficient funds to live and study in the Netherlands. In more specific terms, students must have sufficient funds to pay for their study and living expenses without needing to work. This is generally about €11,000 plus the tuition fee for the whole academic year. More details will be provided by e-mail when it is time to start the application.
Visa/residence permit applications for study at Utrecht University are submitted by Utrecht University. Your point of contact will always be Utrecht University and not the IND. The visa department will notify you by e-mail when it is time to start the application.
Start at UU
Once you have successfully submitted an enrolment request in Studielink for one of our programmes, you will receive an e-mail from Utrecht University containing your student number. Please state your student number when contacting Utrecht University.
A Solis-ID is a username that, together with a password, gives you access to Utrecht University services. You will be given access to this student account once you have been fully enrolled. Your Solis-ID account number will usually be the same as your student number. New students will receive their Solis-ID and password in two separate e-mails to their private e-mail address.
As a student registered at Utrecht University, you will receive a digital student card stating the degree programme in which you are enrolled and the period of enrolment. You will find your student card in the MyUU app once you are fully enrolled. You can log in to the app with your Solis-ID. If you prefer a paper version or cannot use the app, you can print your Declaration of Enrolment in OSIRIS.