Courses

The academic year at VU University Amsterdam is divided into two semesters. Students are advised to take a maximum of 60 credits per year or 30 credits per semester and a minimum of 50 credits per year or 25 credits per semester. The first semester consists of period 1, 2 and 3, the second of period 4, 5 and 6. For more details about the semester dates, please check our academic calendar.

Before coming to Amsterdam, you have to make a choice of courses and fill out a learning agreement in consultation with the coordinator of your home institution. You should check the language of instruction and entry requirements mentioned in the course descriptions. Exchange students are expected to meet the entry requirements of the courses they select. Please note that if you are not a Master student, you may only choose bachelor courses! Writing your thesis is not possible within the exchange program. We will not be able to arrange a supervisor for you at VU University Amsterdam.

We kindly request you to send us the completed learning agreement one month before the start of the semester. Our departmental coordinators will carefully screen the transcript in order to determine whether your background knowledge is sufficient. If this is not the case, we will ask you to change your study programme.

Students who have a thorough command of Dutch may choose courses from the study guides for Dutch students. Please contact us for questions concerning these courses. Students wishing to take courses outside the Faculty of Arts (maximum 10 credits) should add these courses to their learning agreement and need permission from the other faculty. This is only possible if you meet the entry requirements of the chosen courses. Students who wish to take courses at the Faculty of Economics and Business administration should have had at least 120 credits in this field of study at their home university.

Please take a look at the list of courses and minor programmes 2011-2012 on offer from the Faculty of Arts. Note that all courses are mentioned twice, once in English and once in Dutch (if they have a Dutch title). These can be put on your learning agreement.

For course descriptions, entry requirements and information about the period in which the course is taught, click here

• Select Find Course, fill in the name of the course, click the right suggestion when it pops up and click on the search button. Now the course should be displayed in the search findings. 

For the preliminary timetable, click here

• Select module.  Under faculty; select "Faculteit der Letteren". Enter the title of the course. Beware that the timetable sometimes works with abbreviations, so if the course title is long, try filling in the most important noun. You may also try the Dutch title of the course. Click on search and select the right course. Then click view timetable.

For courses from the Faculty of Psychology and Education please look here

For courses offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences please look  here

For courses offered by the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration please look here.

Dutch courses

The department of Dutch as a foreign language at VU University Amsterdam offers various Dutch courses in the summer and during the academic year. More information can be found here.