(Rules for enrolment on 1 September 2022)

A student is admitted to a master's programme if he or she holds a bachelor's degree.  The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science wants to prevent students from not being able to start a master's programme because they were unable to complete one or more components (courses) due to the Corona crisis.

Conditional admission to the professional master's programme

NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences will conditionally admit students to a master's programme based on a final recommendation of the bachelor's programme and an assessment of the level of difficulty of the master's programme. This is applies only to Bachelor students of Dutch Higher Educational Institutions. This conditional admission applies until 1 January 2023. If the student fails to complete the bachelor's programme before 1 January 2023, he/she must leave the programme.

How does this work?

  1. The student signs up for a master's programme via Studielink.
  2. The student reports to the master's programme that he/she will probably not be able to obtain the bachelor's degree before 1 September 2022. However, they will be able to do so before 1 January 2023.

Registration and intake procedure

Prospective master students apply via studielink.nl. The students’ details are received by CSA (Central Student Administration of NHL Stenden). Depending on what is stated in the Education and Examination Regulations (OER) for a Master's programme, the relevant programme may carry out an intake procedure. This intake is part of the application procedure.

Below are the steps that take place in the admission process after the application:

  1. Determining admissibility
    On the basis of the outcome of the registration procedure, CSA assesses whether the person is admissible. Three decisions are now possible: admissible, non-admissible and conditionally admissible. Conditionally admissible are, broadly speaking, persons who were engaged in the final year of their bachelor's programme in academic year 2021-2022 and as a result of the Corona crisis could not complete this programme as planned.
  2. Conditional admission
    CSA informs the master program that the student does not yet have a bachelor's degree. The program invites the student for an interview for conditional admission. This can be an interview. During the intake procedure the qualitative requirements will be assessed.
  3. Action plan for the completion of the master's programme
    The prospective master's student independently draws up a plan of approach "completion of bachelor's programme". This plan contains the following components:
    Educational units to be completed
    - For each teaching unit a detailed planning for the activities to be carried out for the period 1 September to 15 December. This concerns the number of hours per week and activity.
    - An advice from the bachelor's programme on the feasibility of this plan of action, the completion advice. This advice is given by a representative of the bachelor's programme (e.g. the graduation supervisor, Slb student or internship supervisor).
  4. Closing admission interview
    The admissions committee of the master's programme invites the student for an interview for conditional admission. The student sends his plan for "completion of the bachelor's programme" and the completion advice to the admissions committee in advance.

    During the interview, the plan and the corresponding rounding advice are weighed against the difficulty level of the master's programme. It is taken into consideration if it is possible for the student to complete bachelor's programme whilst not falling behind in the master's programme. If the admissions committee considers it feasible, the student will be conditionally admitted to the master's programme. The programme manager will make arrangements with the master student about the practical matters.

  5. The admissions committee will send a certificate of conditional admission to CSA.
    And finally: The student will be enrolled in the master's programme.

Consequences for the student

  • If the student obtains his/her bachelor's degree before 1 January 2023, the student may continue the master's programme.
  • If the student does not obtain his/her bachelor's degree before 1 January 2023, he/she will be deregistered from the master's programme. The student will receive written proof of the parts obtained. These will remain valid for the statutory term. The institution ensures that the student can use the credits obtained during the period of conditional admission as much as possible in his/her subsequent studies. If the student has passed one or more examination(s), he or she will receive a certificate to this effect, which the student can hand over (at a later point of entry) to the follow-up programme. The examination committee of the subsequent programme of study will determine on this basis whether and for which exemptions the student may be eligible.