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.
English Language Course
If you haven't met the English language requirements mentioned above, NHL Stenden offers an English language course that you can participate in before starting your Bachelor's or Master's program at NHL Stenden. For more details, check this link.