Number of academic programmes
Only a few new programmes are introduced each year, always following a meticulous internal appraisal, mandatory consultation in the professional field and assessment by the Higher Education Efficiency Committee (Dutch: CDHO). This committee advises the minister with regard to the approval of new programmes.
At academic year 2022/'23, 422 Bachelor's programmes are available to around 216.800 Bachelor's students. Over 123.300 Master's students can choose from 748 programmes.
The range of programmes can be viewed on the university website or Studiekeuze123 (www.studiekeuze123.nl). This website is also available in English.
Further context:
In 2012 and 2013 the number of both Master's programmes and Bachelor's programmes has declined as smaller programmes have merged with more broadly oriented programmes.
Fixus bachelorprogrammes
A number of bachelor's degree programs admit a maximum number of students due to limited educational capacity or limited demand from the labor market. The availability for the degree programs in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, are regulated in size by the Ministry of Education and Science.
Universities who decide to limit the number of students, determine this themselfs and can do so within the limits of the legal framework. Legally, these programmes may not select purely on the basis of (pre-university) grades. Selection procedures must be organised in sucgh a way candidates can show that they have sufficient knowledge, skills and sometimes: motivation to be succesfull in studying the chosen programme. Universities do their best to organize the admission procedure in such a way that students with comparable qualities have an equal chance of being admitted.