How Postgraduate Funding in the Netherlands Works

Understanding the costs of studying for your Masters or PhD are critical to planning financially for your time abroad. There will be tuition fees, living expenses and travel costs to and from your home country to account for in your budget. Fees and financing in the Netherlands differ for both Masters students and PhD candidates.

Masters funding

Tuition fees for Masters programmes are determined first by a student's nationality (EU/EEA or non-EU/EEA). The Dutch government sets the tuition fees each academic year for for EU/EEA students, with slight increases incurred annually. Tuition fees for non-subsidised programmes, and for non-EU/EEA students are set by each university. Within each university, fees may be different per faculty. This also means that a similar programme at two universities may have different tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students. It is important for prospective students to confirm for each programme what their tuition fee will be.

In general there is quite a bit of funding for Masters students in the Netherlands. In general, scholarships are aimed at non-EU/EEA students as their tuition fees are higher than EU/EEA students. However, EU/EEA students can borrow their tuition fees from the Dutch government at favourable rates and conditions.

Many scholarships are merit-based and focus on award of partial to full tuition. For example, the Leiden Excellence Scholarship is the flagship scholarship for non-EU/EEA students for Leiden University regular programmes, and for all students for Leiden University's non-subsidised programmes. This scholarship is for academically excellent students, and the award will vary from partial to full tuition depending on the scholarship committee decisions. Other scholarships have many criteria and may cover full tuition and/or living expenses. It's best to check per university and scholarship to be certain. Each university will have their own scholarship options listed on their websites and a general (though not complete) listing can be found for most scholarships on the Study in Holland website.

PhD funding

In the Netherlands PhD studies are often set up a little differently than to other countries. Primarily, PhD positions are paid employment, though there are three main different ways of obtaining a PhD:

• Employed PhD position - paid/funded full or part-time PhD appointments with full funding, requiring a certain percentage of teaching time. These are usually listed as vacancies on the university website.
• Contract PhDs receive a grant in the Netherlands or their country of origin. For example the China Scholarship Council - Leiden University Scholarship for students with Chinese students. There may be grants and scholarships available per faculty/university so it's best to check this individually.
• External PhDs which are self-funded or have external funding.

It is important to know that there aren't many generalisations possible within the Netherlands, and it is always best to check with the programme you are applying to for details about tuition fees, possible funding and scholarship opportunities.