Creative Business (3 year) fees & admissions

To be admitted to one of our 3-year bachelor programmes (also known as fast tracks), you will need to meet the admission requirements as outlined in Dutch Higher Education law. Your diploma must be the equivalent of a Dutch pre-university high school diploma (VWO).

NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences recognizes the international qualifications listed here for admission into our 3-year bachelor programmes*.

If the qualification you will obtain or have obtained is not listed as a recognised qualification, you are most likely not admissible for the 3-year programme. However, if you want to know this for sure, we recommend you apply for the programme through Studielink. Your qualifications will be assessed by an Admissions Officer at the Central Student Administration (CSA) department of NHL Stenden once you have applied.

It may be that you could be admitted to one of our 4-year bachelor programmes. Check the admission requirements for those programmes here to find out.

If it is unclear what the equivalent level of your secondary school diploma is within the Dutch education system, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences will have your diploma evaluated by Nuffic, a Dutch organisation specialised in the assessment of international qualifications. For an indication of how your educational system compares to the Dutch system, please visit the Nuffic website.

* All applications will be assessed on an individual basis by the Central Student Administration (CSA) even if your diploma is listed as a recognised qualification. Although this document has been composed carefully by NHL Stenden, rights cannot be derived from this overview.

All non-EU/EEA applicants are required to submit an English proficiency test with their application to show that their English language skills are at a high enough level to succeed in their studies.

Exceptions can be made for students who have had their preparatory education in a country where English is the only official educational language.

If you are applying for an associate degree, bachelor’s degree or master's degree and hold a diploma from a European institution listed here, and English was included as part of the final exam curriculum, then the additional English language test is not required. The same applies to students who have attained General Certificates of Secondary Education (enough O and A/AS levels with the sufficient score), the European Baccalaureate Certificate, International Baccalaureate Diploma, or an IB career-related programme taught fully in English.

All other applicants need to submit a valid and adequate English language test result with their application.

NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences accepts official language tests in accordance with the Code of Conduct International Student in Dutch Higher Education: 

• IELTS academic with a minimum overall band score of 6.0** (with an advised minimum of 5.0 for each skill). We do not accept the online version of the Academic IELTS results.*
• TOEFL *** iBT with a minimum score of 80. We accept the following TOEFL iBT tests:  
  • TOEFL iBT Traditional**
  • TOEFL iBT Paper Edition** 
• Cambridge English grades and scale* with the score First FCE–Grade B (scale 173–175) or First FCE–Grade C (scale 169–172)
• TOEIC score 865* (Listening and Reading) and 335 (Speaking and Writing). 
• LanguageCert academic ** with a minimum score of 65. We do not accept the online version of the LanguageCert academic results. 
• Pearson PTE Academic ** with a minimum score of 61. We do not accept the online version of the Pearson PTE academic results. 

* We only accept TOEIC®, TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge, LanguageCert and Pearson PTE certificates from public programmes and not from institutional programmes. Public programmes are organised in public centres and deliver an official score report which is recognised worldwide. 
** IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, LanguageCert and Pearson PTE certificates more than 2 years old (at the start date of the study), will not be accepted. 
***TOEFL iBT Traditional and Paper Edition -  Before registering for this test, you can include our TOEFL institution code of C652 for the verification process. Original test results must be sent directly from the Educational Testing Service to NHL Stenden.

Once you have successfully registered via Studielink and it has been confirmed that you meet the admission requirements, you will be asked to compose a Motivation letter in English talking about why you would like to enroll in the 3-Year Fast Track programme.

This Motivation letter has to be submitted digitally and should contain a maximum of 300-500 words. The letter should cover the following points:

• A brief introduction of yourself
• A description of your current or previous study
• An explanation of how you researched your choice of study
• An explanation of why you want to study Creative Business
• An explanation of why you want to join the Fast Track Programme instead of the regular programme.
• An explanation of your goals and/or career objectives