List of universities in the Netherlands


A listing of universities in the Kingdom of the Netherlands:

Research universities

Research universities in the Netherlands are institutions of tertiary education that in Dutch are called universiteit. Their focus is towards academic education and scientific research. They are accredited to confer bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. Prior to the Bologna Process, the universities granted drs., mr. and ir. degrees, which are equivalent to current MA, LLM or MSc degrees. The term universiteit is reserved to doctorate granting institutes in the Dutch context, and the additional qualifier "research" is hardly ever used in practice.
There are Semi-Public Universities and Private Universities in Netherlands. The semi-public status of most Dutch universities arises from the fact that they have both public and private characteristics. In this respect, their public funding is entirely output-based, determined by the number of undergraduate and graduate degrees delivered. Except for this output-based funding, Dutch universities are largely private entities that, since 1998, own and operate their real estate at their own risk; moreover, all employees of Dutch universities have labor contracts based on private sector terms.
† 2003–2004; ‡ 2004–2005; # 2005–2006; * 2006–2007; ##including research staff at the associated institutes. All figures without signs are estimates or from undated sources. According to Dutch law, it is illegal to use protected titles which can only be given by universities that are accredited. Protected titles are ing. bc. mr. ir. drs. and dr. English variants are not protected by Dutch law. One may bear in the Netherlands foreign titles according to the laws of the country wherein they were granted, but without translating them in Dutch.

Universities of applied sciences

Universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands are focused on professional education rather than scientific research. While the literal translation of hogeschool is "high school", these are second-tier institutes of higher education, and can be compared with colleges or polytechnics or similar in other countries.
They are accredited to confer bachelor's and master's degrees. Prior to the Bologna Process, they also conferred professional engineer's (abbreviated ing.) degrees. Dutch universities of applied sciences are not accredited to confer doctoral degrees; PhD studies can sometimes be conducted in the context of a university of applied sciences, however, the title will be granted by one of the research universities, and a full professor of that university will be appointed as principal supervisor.
In international contexts, the phrase University of Applied Sciences is used for the majority of these schools, as suggested by the Dutch Minister of Education. Some specific exceptions have been made. For example, tertiary art schools and schools of education use an internationally recognisable name of choice.
The Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences funded by the government are:

Former universities of applied sciences (not exhaustive)

Private for-profit medical schools

Although there are none of these schools in the mainland, many exist in the Dutch Caribbean either in the special municipalities of the Netherlands or constituents countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Only one has direct accreditation from Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders, which accredits universities in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Private for-profit business schools and other universities of applied sciences

A number of private universities of applied sciences are active in the Netherlands. Some of these are exclusively distance learning medium learning providers.

Webster University: the American university in the Netherlands

Webster University Leiden is a university outside the Dutch system, offering Bachelor and Master programs in the Netherlands. Webster University is a private, non-profit American university, accredited in the United States by the Higher Learning Commission's North Central Association. The International Business and Management program, as well as the Applied Behavioral and Social Sciences program are accredited in the Netherlands by the NVAO at the hbo level.

International rankings

In relation to their population size, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands are the three countries with the highest number of universities among the 100 best of the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Below are shown the international rankings of the government funded research universities of the Netherlands, and the number of times they rank in the top 200 of one of the six prominent global rankings:
UniversityQS [World University Rankings|QS World]
THE World
ARWU World
USNWR World
CWTS Leiden
CWUR World
#a
University of Amsterdam5362=101-150335283
Utrecht University103=66 c56496678
Leiden University119=70=101-150566488
University of Groningen147=827375126104
Erasmus University Rotterdam140=107101-15076108111
Wageningen University and Research153=66151-200115=81193
VU University Amsterdam194=176=151-20079=58159
Delft University of Technology47=57151-200191141269
Radboud University279154=101-15012297172
Maastricht University239131=301-400176=198264
Eindhoven University of Technology140=192=301-400409=244366
University of Twente203=190=501-600427=281463
Tilburg University347=301-350701-800653=278733
Open University NetherlandsN.A.N.A.N.A.1659=N.A.N.A.
University of CuraçaoN.A.N.A.N.A.N.A.N.A.N.A.
University of Humanistic StudiesN.A.N.A.N.A.N.A.N.A.N.A.

Notes:

N.A.: Not Applicable

a Number of times the university is ranked within the top 200 of one of the six global rankings.

b The university is ranked within the top 150 of all six global rankings.

c THE World University Rankings 2023.