Academic Terminology
The Utrecht University Wordlist contains the most up-to-date translation guide for academic terminology. The following section contains a few commonly used words, but the Wordlist should be directly consulted in most cases, as new terms are added and current definitions updated every six months.
Master’s, Bachelor’s
Words like Master’s, and Bachelor’s are always capitalised and have apostrophes in combinations such as: Master’s programme, Bachelor’s programme, and Master’s thesis.
Names of individual Bachelor’s or Master’s programmes are always capitalised, also when included in a sentence. For example, “He is doing the Master’s programme in Sociology and Social Research.” However, this is only for the proper name of a specific programme, not for a field or discipline: “He is doing a Master’s programme in sociology.”
Courses
Names of courses are capitalised, even when they are included in a sentence. For example, “In the first year you will take the Theoretical Foundations of Statistics course.”
Abbreviations of Dutch educational levels
The much used abbreviations of educational levels in the Netherlands do not easily translate into English. In writing about the Dutch educational system, you can use the Dutch abbreviations followed by an explanation in writing:
- VWO stands for voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs, or pre-university education for ages 12-18.
- HAVO stands for hoger algemeen voorbereidend onderwijs, or senior general secondary education for ages 12-17, leading to university of applied sciences.
- HBO stands for hoger onderwijs, or Dutch university of applied sciences, professional education.
- WO stands for wetenschappelijk onderwijs, or university.
Please note that the abbreviations are written in capitals in English, but in lower case letters in Dutch.
Read a full explanation of the educational system in the Netherlands on the Nuffic website.
Organisational units
Organisational units such as faculties, departments or institutes are capitalised except when used in a general sense.
For example:
- “To find out if your university or department is included in an exchange agreement with Utrecht University, please contact your home university’s exchange co-ordinator.”
Names of specific units within Utrecht University are capitalised.
For example:
- Faculty of Humanities, Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, Graduate School of Teaching, Ethics Institute, University Facilities Centre.
However, this is only for the proper names:
- The Supervisory Board is the highest administrative body of Utrecht University.
- The board will meet tomorrow.
Names and titles
Names of positions in English should be in lower case when used as a general identification or as part of a description. However, they should be capitalised when used as a specific title of a particular person. For instance, “Steve works as a communications consultant.” However, under his signature on official documents, Steve will write “Communications Consultant.”
Professor is written in full: “Contact the Rector Magnificus, Professor Henk Kummeling.”
Titles in English are often consolidated. For example, “Prof. dr. ’t Hooft” becomes “Professor ’t Hooft.”
In an academic context in contemporary English female teachers are addressed as Dr, Professor (in the US), or Ms, not as Mrs or Miss.
The titles of Master of Arts (MA), Master of Science (MSc) and Master of Laws (LLM) are placed after the name: Leon van de Zande, MA
Names of positions should be translated where possible. For example, “vicedecaan” becomes “vice dean.”
More positions and advice for usage can be found in the online Wordlist (Dutch-English).
Latin terms
Write Latin terms in lower case:
- numerus fixus; plural: numeri fixi
- rector magnificus; plural: rectores magnifici
Please note : Dies Natalis (birthday of the university, 26 March) is a name and is therefore written with capitals.