What is a University College in the Netherlands?

Universities? Colleges? They both have different meanings in Europe, where higher education used to almost wholly focus on preparing students for careers (applied sciences colleges in the Netherlands today) or academia (universities). Where a U.S. student might “go to college,” a European student is off to “uni” for their four-year degree. Then there’s something called a university college in the Netherlands.

A university college is an enclave in a larger university. It may host its own faculty, and its students often take all their classes entirely within the program. University colleges in the Netherlands all offer a liberal arts and sciences bachelor’s degree.

How is it Different from a Traditional University?

The university college concept incorporates the idea that a college is a small and self-contained unit within the university with its own faculty, like at institutions such as Oxford. Students apply to their college, study there, and often live there, too.

The idea of the university college in the Netherlands goes further. It’s also a place where students need not professionalize academically or vocationally at the age of 18. They can experiment, explore interests, and learn about broad and different subjects.

As such, university colleges function more like American bachelor’s degrees where students apply to the college and can choose any program they like while they’re there.

How Long are UC Programs?

While the university colleges of the Netherlands are three-year programs, they still make time to encourage students to explore their interests across departmental disciplines before settling on something.

What can you study at a university college in the Netherlands?

Interested in nutrition? You can take psychology courses as well as life sciences and entrepreneurialism, and wind up spearheading a nutritional rehabilitation program that takes the world by storm.

Don’t know what you want? That’s ok, too.

A generation ago, students who applied to universities in Europe declared their future major during the application process and were held to its requirements all the way through. This let them graduate sooner, but denied them the breadth that might enrich their lives and careers. It also meant that if they changed their minds, they didn’t have many options.

Can I go to Graduate School after attending a University College?

Yes, you can go to graduate school after graduating from a university college. It’s a very popular choice for these studious grads.

In the Netherlands, university colleges (the first one was Utrecht, established in 1997) were intended for students who are curious, intellectual, and prepared to solve the world’s complicated problems by virtue of their broad knowledge of multiple subjects.

Students in university colleges (most of whom are headed for master’s degrees) often seek out this kind of program because they want to sample a variety of disciplines and because they already know they intend to focus on a broad “problem” in graduate school, like climate change, rather than a particular discipline.

Students apply for master’s and Ph.D. programs in the Netherlands after completing a university college degree.

What About Grad School in America Following University College?

University colleges in the Netherlands do not offer quite the breadth that a general American degree would afford – after all, students study for these degrees for an entire year less – but they still offer a varied education. They are perfectly acceptable credentials for applying to American graduate programs and take a year less to complete, which makes them very affordable. 

The university college is a way to give students some leverage to change their minds and explore, for example, within the broad liberal arts category of social sciences, without changing their degree program entirely and losing the work they’ve begun.

However, when we talked to university college students, some first-year students expressed concerns that without a clear specialty, it is often hard to land a job. After all, when they leave a university college, they find they’re competing against students who are credentialed in the field.

Having studied everything sometimes feels like becoming an expert at nothing.

Your mileage will vary.

A student combining international law with climate change science, for example, may find their degree perfectly gels the tasks of many job descriptions. Students with a penchant for trumpet performance, psychology, biology, and a little robotics, on the other hand, may find they’ll have to start their own business in order to combine the broad experiences they pursued at a university college.

Who Should Go to A University College?

Students who should consider a university college are students who:

• Want to explore multiple liberal arts fields
• Are torn between two areas of interest
• Want to pursue a career in which knowing two or more traditional fields makes more sense than one
• Don’t know what they want to pursue
• Are curious, hard-working, and into an intellectually challenging program
• Dream of deep late-night discussions with a close band of classmates
• Are energized by small classes and lots of participation
• Learn better by exploring problems instead of hearing about them in lectures
• Desire a strong community
• Want a residential experience in the Netherlands with a tight-knit cohort
• Do not need thousands of courses to choose from
• Value the international atmosphere of these programs
• Want a lifetime of future friends from all over the world
• Will benefit from pursuing a three-year program and reducing costs compared to a four-year degree elsewhere
• Are socially engaged and want to make a career solving the world’s problems

Want to Learn More?

Get a feel for University College Utrecht or its sister school, University College Roosevelt. Or learn more about how to choose between university colleges in the Netherlands.