The top 9 universities in the Netherlands for international students, with QS 2027 world rank, city and what each is known for.
Ranked by the QS World University Rankings 2027. Check your eligibility for scholarships that can pay for a place.
📍 Delft
Engineering tuition is around €21,280 a year for non-EU students, the top of the Dutch range.
📍 Amsterdam
A masters runs about €16,380; Amsterdam housing is the real constraint.
📍 Utrecht
Central, well connected, and cheaper to live in than Amsterdam.
📍 Leiden and The Hague
The Netherlands' oldest university, founded in 1575.
📍 Rotterdam
Home to the Rotterdam School of Management.
📍 Eindhoven
Inside the Brainport technology cluster, so industry placements are easy to find.
📍 Wageningen
A specialist in agriculture, food and the environment.
📍 Groningen
A student city in the north, with rent well below the Randstad.
📍 Amsterdam
Amsterdam's second research university, beside the Zuidas business district.
Funding, the real cost, staying on to work, and the English test most of these universities ask for.
Twelve awards that cover tuition, flights and rent — and who each one is really for.
See the 12Tuition, rent and the bank balance the embassy asks to see, added up per country.
Compare costsHow long you can stay after you graduate, and which routes lead to residency.
ReadTen real-format questions per test, marked as you go. About ten minutes.
Pick a testFour steps, in this order. Pick a course you meet the entry requirements for. Sit the English test the university asks for. Apply to the university and get an offer. Then apply for the funding and the visa — in that order, because almost every scholarship wants proof of a place first.
The nine best universities in Netherlands for international students are listed on this page. People also search for the top universities in Holland; it is the same list.
The nine on this page. TU Delft, UvA and Utrecht lead the list, ranked by QS 2027 position, best first. Each card names the subjects the university is known for, its city, and its QS 2027 world rank.
Where we could verify a QS World University Rankings 2027 position we show it. Where we could not, we leave the number off instead of guessing.
Non-EU students pay the institutional fee, set independently by each university. Humanities bachelors start near €9,000–€11,000; TU Delft engineering is about €21,280; masters commonly run €12,000–€20,000.
Living costs: €10,800–€14,400 a year. Housing in Amsterdam and Utrecht is the binding constraint, not tuition.
No award in our list of twelve is dedicated to the Netherlands, but several are open worldwide and can be used here.
There are three separate things people mean by scholarships to study in Netherlands: a Netherlands government scholarship, a Netherlands university scholarship awarded by the institution itself, and international awards that happen to fund study here. University entrance scholarships are usually the easiest to win and the least competed for, so ask each of the nine above directly.
Both. A masters in Netherlands is the more common route for international students, partly because more funding exists at postgraduate level and partly because it is shorter. Bachelors in Netherlands take longer and attract less scholarship money, so plan the budget carefully.
All nine universities above run both. If you are looking specifically at Netherlands universities for masters, check whether the course is taught in English before anything else.
The three at the top of the list above — TU Delft, UvA and Utrecht. That is the Netherlands top universities list as far as reputation goes, and it is the order employers outside the country will recognise.
Prestige and cost do not track each other neatly. Check what each course costs before letting a ranking decide for you.
No — nine. Past that, the differences stop mattering for most applicants, and a longer list mostly makes the decision harder. What separates the places below that is usually research output, which affects your supervisor rather than your degree.
Public universities in Netherlands for international students are generally the better value, because their fees are regulated. Private ones charge what they like.
Sometimes — ask before you pay for a test. Most universities will waive an English test if your previous degree was taught in English, and many accept TOEFL, PTE or their own internal test instead of IELTS.
It is decided university by university, never nationally — so check the admissions page of each of the nine above. A blog listing "universities in Netherlands without IELTS" will be out of date. Your visa may still require a test even when the university does not.
Cheapest by tuition is rarely cheapest overall. Non-EU students pay the institutional fee, set independently by each university. Humanities bachelors start near €9,000–€11,000; TU Delft engineering is about €21,280; masters commonly run €12,000–€20,000.
Rent usually moves your total bill more than the fee does, so a lower-ranked university in a smaller city often costs far less than a famous one in the capital. The city is named on every card above for exactly that reason.
16 hrs/week during term with a work permit, or full-time in June–August. One-year orientation visa after graduating.
This is worth checking before you choose a country, not after. Post-study work rights change with the government of the day.
