Hogeschool vs. Universiteit – “A Clash” Inside The Dutch Higher Education System

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Fontys Hogeschool Eindhoven

“Why did you go to study in a “Hogeschool”? Isn’t that like a second class higher education?”

When I heard the words being spoken to me by a fellow Huygens Scholarship recipient during the scholarship acceptance ceremony in Den Haag, it took all that I had to not punch him in the face right then and there.

Granted, he did study at one of the highest-ranked Technische Universiteit in Europe and was on his way to earn his second Master degree. (Though it still didn’t erase the fact that the both of us were qualified to receive the same freaking scholarship.) It could also be that he was just showcasing the notorious frankness of the Dutch. Nevertheless, insulting as it was, I can sort of see the base of his reasoning.

Literally translated to English, Hogeschool means “high school”, but the proper translation of Hogeschool is actually University of “Applied Sciences”.

Universiteit is translated into University in English, but I personally think that the proper translation should be “Research” University. Both Hogeschool and Universiteit, in this regard, should be referred to as the institutes for higher education.

The difference, as the name implied, is that Universiteit focuses more on academic research, while Hogeschool focuses more on practical knowledge that can be applied directly in the workplace.

To graduate from an Universiteit (note that I put “an” before Universiteit, as the Dutch pronunciation of “Universiteit” is “oo-nee-ver-sitite, thus it begins with a vocal “oo”), you need to write a thesis (scriptie) based on a research topic, while in Hogeschool, you will need to complete a graduation project during an internship period — usually for one semester — at a company. Other names for Hogeschool and Universiteit are HBO (Hoger Beroepsonderwijs, translated into English as Higher Professional Education) and WO (Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs, translated into English as Scientific Education), respectively.

In Hogeschool, only Bachelor’s and Master’s degree courses are offered. If you want to get a PhD, you need to study at an Universiteit.

If you want to be a scientist or have a career in academia, then technically you need to have a diploma from an Universiteit. There is also Technische Universiteit (Technical University / Institute of Technology), which is another type of Universiteit that offers courses almost exclusively in technical and engineering studies. Conservatoriums and schools of art and design in the Netherlands, on the other hand, are all categorized as Hogeschool.

Hogeschool vs. Universiteit - "A Clash" Inside The Dutch Higher Education System
Vertigo Building, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

I guess, in a way, you can see Hogeschool as the equivalent of Sekolah Tinggi in Indonesia.

If you start your Bachelor study at a Hogeschool and want to switch to study Bachelor’s degree courses at a Universiteit, it is possible to do so after you get your Propedeuse Certificate. The Certificate is given to Bachelor’s degree students in Hogeschool and Universiteit that complete all the courses given to them in their first year of study with sufficient marks. Thus, after you have acquired a Propedeuse Certificate from a Hogeschool, you can directly continue your study at an Universiteit without having to do the Universiteit’s first year’s courses.

However, if you graduate from a Hogeschool and want to continue with studying courses at the level of Master’s degree in an Universiteit, most likely you will be required to do a Pre-Master course for one or two semesters. This is to catch up with the theory lessons given in Bachelor’s degree level at an Universiteit but not at Hogeschool.

You see, although a Bachelor degree in Hogeschool requires four years of study and three years in Universiteit, there is a difference in the way that the courses are composed in both institutions. Courses in Universiteit are given much like in various universities in Indonesia: you choose the courses relevant to your study and you would collect your credits by passing them.

In Hogeschool, you need to collect credits by passing a fixed set of courses for four or five semesters, then by passing a minor and/or specialization course for one semester, and then by going through two internships each for one semester. Thus, while in Universiteit you get theory lessons for the whole six semesters, in Hogeschool you technically “study” for only five or even four semesters. This is why the Pre-Master is needed.

So, does that mean that it would indeed have been better for me if I had been studying at an Universiteit? Well, prior to writing this article, I looked back at this question over and over again and realized that my answer is: well, it depends …!

When I first decided to study Information and Communication Technology in Fontys Hogeschool Eindhoven, I was largely convinced by my mother who supported the idea of me doing internship for two semesters. She studied and works in Human Resources herself, and thought that the hands-on experience that I will get during my internships will benefit me greatly to look for and get a job in the Netherlands. Besides, many Hogescholen (note: Hogescholen is the plural form of Hogeschool in Dutch) in the Netherlands nowadays offer courses in English, while very few English courses are offered at Bachelor level in Universiteit.

When I did my first internship, it was on the fourth semester of my study, and I took an internship position in a big software company in Germany. Meanwhile, for my graduation internship, I did a project at a Dutch subsidiary of a German engineering company. As I waded through these the two internships, I soon found myself working in two very different work types and environments.

In my first internship, I was working directly in the headquarter office with international (but largely German-speaking) colleagues, while in my second internship I was working in a much smaller office with almost all Dutch colleagues. In my first internship, I was working completely around and about software programming, while in my second internship, my work was more closely related to engineering and technology.

In both internships, I got to see different perspectives and working cultures, which have really opened my eyes about the professional world in the Netherlands (and Germany), and helped me a lot in deciding what I wanted to do after graduation.

Do I want to work as a developer or as a consultant? Do I want to specialize in .NET or Java? Do I want to work in a small or big team? In a headquarter office or a smaller one? What kind of Master’s degree that is more useful for me to take later on?

These questions inevitably popped up as my graduation day approached closer and closer, and by comparing the experiences from my two internships, I managed to get the answer to all of them. Afterwards, it was easier for me to look for (and eventually get) a job shortly before the end of my second or graduation internship, because I have basically figured out “what I want and don’t want to be doing”, as well as “what to expect and is expected from me” during the job hunting.

Suffice to say, I am grateful with the chance of doing internships during my study in Hogeschool. It doesn’t mean that you can’t do an internship if you study in Universiteit, of course you can, but in Universiteit, doing an internship — much less two of them — is not mandatory, at least at a Bachelor’s level. I could imagine that if I had studied at an Universiteit, I probably would have missed out on all the knowledge that I got from my two internships and perhaps even failed to find a job in the Netherlands.

So, the following summary perhaps could settle the “clash” of our understanding of the Dutch higher education system: that the higher education in the Netherlands is divided into Hogeschool / HBO and Universiteit / WO. If you want to get an education with more focus on practical knowledge, you go to Hogeschool, but if you want a deeper understanding in theories and scientific research (and perhaps more prestige), you go to Universiteit. The two of them are different, but it doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. It all depends on what type of student you are and what you aspire to do! 🙂

10 KOMENTAR

  1. Every education is an education and I wouldn’t classify it as first or second class education. If a “hogeschool” has the same degree as the university, why just don’t call it university? I think it’s clear that they are different.

    Let’s put it this way, in Holland the “Hogeschool” is a (senior) high school with vocational skills if people who don’t know Dutch education system. Now you can compare it to your own education system. No offence but “Hogeschool” can’t be called or compared with a university even they also offer master and bechelor degree. (everybody can call themselves master but does others recognize that?) The level of the title is lower than University. Although they have done more practical exercise than the University students but their academical and theoretical knowledge is much less. So at the moment of solving a problem, they might feel short becaue they do things all based on practice… The author of this artical also says “If you want to get a PhD, you need to study at an University.” So if you think the so called “master” or “bachelor” offered by the hogeschool is equivalent to the ones from the Uni, why you need to study first University before you can study PhD? I think this difference is also very clear that is required by the Dutch education system itself. It’s obvious hogeschool is one degree lower than university.

    If you plan to study in Holland to have a university degree, make sure you don’t end up in a “hogeschool” because you don’t get an equivalent title as from an university. You will regret that you get mush less paid with a lower functional grade while doing the same job, no matter where you go to work, in Holland or another countries. You can always go to University after hogeschool but it’s another few years further if you already want to get your first salary…. once you start, it will be a struggle to go back to study. Think right before you choose.

    Maybe studying in the university is more difficult, but it will definitely bring you a better future and you won’t feel short comparing to others.

    • The author’s statement “If you want to get a PhD, you need to study at a University.” does not mean you need to study at a University first.
      She meant: Only University offers PhD programs, because PhDs are heavy on research, thus Hogeschool can’t accommodate that. My personal experience: I graduated from a Dutch Hogeschool (Nijmegen) and then continued for a PhD at a Dutch University (Leiden). Trust me, only close minded people will see Hogeschool as “one degree lower”. More and more research-heavy Dutch universities acknowledge this in the past few years. In Leiden, in my PhD years (2007-2012) I’ve seen ~8 PhD students coming straight from Hogeschool even without Master degrees.

  2. Think of Hogeschool like an Institute of Technology, and Universiteit like a research university in the US. Both can be doing world-class research. Nobody will think of MIT or Cal Tech as a second rate university, and both perform Nobel Prize winning research activities.

  3. Both institutions don’t offer the same programs, and that is important to notice. As said in the article the uni offers more general and ‘abstract’ programs (politics, communication, etc) whereas the hogeschool (haute école in Belgium) more practical programs and thus leading to a specific and secure job (teacher, nurse, psychologist, etc).
    Some choose to go to uni for the programs and diploma waiting at the end, some, like myself, prefer the atmosphere of ‘hogeschool’ because usually they consist of smaller groups and thus more closeness with the teachers.
    Choice is free.

  4. refering to the comments below:

    Hogeschool and Universiteit, even if people say it’s not, are both good enough for you to get a good and stable job. Especially in the high school process the two are very alike: HAVO students go to HBO and VWO students to WO but the difference between HAVO and VWO is so small (really, from personal experience, it is). Only closed minded people, most of the time those who take too much pride in their Universiteit experience, will see Hogeschool as ‘not as much’. To add on to it; Hogeschool offers a lot more studies than Universiteit, something that has made many VWO students enter a HBO school instead of WO. If we want to talk about a difference in “levels” then we should be comparing MBO to HBO and WO, or VMBO to HAVO, VWO and Gymnasium.

  5. an open question:
    do you possibly know anyone or is there anyone here who’s graduted from germany and knows if german university of applied sciences (UAS) graduate eligible to continue the master in the university (Universiteit) there in the netherlands ?
    because the case is, here in germany, we do have this different education system aswell, however as the degree there’s no diffrence between University (Diplom) and UAS (B.A/ B.S) anymore since 2010 (I guess), so you’ll graduate with a B.A / B.S degree wherever you study.
    Thus, make the UAS graduate eligible to study in ALL Universites (UAS or Technical University) in Germany.
    So, I’m kinda not sure, if me as a UAS graduate have to do the pre-master if I want to continue my master there or will they see me as a Universiteit graduate there just as german universities here ?

    help here anyone ? :))

  6. I have a master (drs in the 80′) in history (universiteit). For 13 years i teached Economics at a Hogeschool. Need I say moore?

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