Medicine is a complicated field of study. Today, many young adults are interested in pursuing a career in this challenging, innovative, but above all, exciting, and invigorating subject.
Since universities in the Netherlands are mostly public and therefore funded by the government, Dutch students are charged a set price for their postsecondary education, whether at a university, a college, or another public educational institution. Students who are not from the Netherlands but from other EU countries will be charged the same amount as Dutch students. However, non-EU students will face institutional fees, which differ between universities. This can make studying in the Netherlands a pricey undertaking for those from outside of the EU. We will give you a shortlist of the cheapest medical universities for this special group of international students.
Affordable Medical Schools in the Netherlands
1. Delft University of Technology
- Tuition Fees
- Tuition Fees: €16,705/year (Undergraduate) | €21,515/year (Graduate)
Kicking off our list is Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), one of the oldest public technological universities in the country, as it was founded in 1842. The university is located in the city of Delft in the province of South Holland.
It is not possible to study “traditional” clinical medicine at TU Delft. However, since this university offers a more technical approach to all of its programs, students can follow bachelor’s programs such as Clinical Technology. This bachelor’s program will equip students with all the hypermodern knowledge about medical imaging, surgical robotics, and 3D-printed organs.
This technical approach makes sure students are shaped to fit perfectly into the always developing and innovative world of today’s medical field. This way, future professionals will be able to draw a perfect link between their patients and the available modern technology. A bachelor’s degree from TU Delft will make sure a student can reach their full potential in the competitive job market today’s society hosts. It is important to note that the majority of programs at TU Delft mostly are offered in Dutch.
2. University of Twente
University of Twente (UT) is a public university located in the city of Enschede in the eastern part of the country. UT primarily focuses on technical and social sciences in its curriculum, which makes it impossible to study traditional, clinical medicine at this university. Instead, aspiring students can choose to enroll in the bachelor’s program of Technical Medicine, which has a more technical approach to modern-day medicine.
Students will be given all the knowledge to form a bridge between modern-day, ever-innovating technology and the human body to create more advanced treatment plans, surgical procedures, and optimized recovery programs. Graduates will be the link between the different fields of mathematics, physics, and biology to create the new medical professionals of the future. The bachelor’s program will take a student three years to complete and a master’s program can follow afterward.
3. Eindhoven University of Technology
- Tuition Fees
- Tuition Fees: €18,000 (Undergraduate) | €21,000 (Graduate)
Halfway down our list is Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). The city of Eindhoven is located in the southern region of the Netherlands and is a relatively big city with over 230,000 inhabitants. This university is just like the previous two universities, UT and TU Delft, in the way that it is not possible to study the traditional, clinical path of medicine. Instead, the bachelor’s degree in Medical Sciences and Technology focuses on fathoming the biological processes that take place in organs, tissues, and cells of the human body. By doing this, the core of human medicine is grasped as understanding the processes involved in keeping the human body healthy is crucial if you want to find out what goes wrong when a cell, tissue, or whole organ falls ill.
Students will be able to treat these illnesses, detect them before they rear their heads, or even prevent them from happening altogether. Next to these courses, students will be enrolled in mathematics and physics to ensure they receive a strong base of knowledge to be innovative professionals in developing new treatments, diagnostics, and detection techniques.
4. Wageningen University and Research
- Tuition Fees
- Tuition Fees: €17,300 (Undergraduate) | €20,600 (Graduate)
Wageningen University and Research (WUR) is headquartered in the city of Wageningen in the central part of the country. WUR was founded in 1876 as an agricultural college and was recognized as a public university in the same year. Its history still shows in today’s curriculum, as most of the bachelor’s programs run at the university are centered around agriculture, management, and science.
The university offers several Dutch bachelor’s programs, which include Biology, Molecular Life Sciences, Health and Society, and Food and Health. These programs are only taught in Dutch, so international students might be more interested in enrolling in an English bachelor’s program that includes Animal Sciences, Food Technology, and Environmental Sciences.
Animal Sciences dives deep into the functioning of animals and how they have become a crucial part of today’s society. At this cheap medical school in the Netherlands, students will focus on food safety, the conservation of vulnerable nature reserves, and how to live in harmony with nature. Important is that students know that none of the bachelor’s programs will allow students to become practicing medical professionals as the programs do not focus on the clinical approach to any illnesses.
5. University of Amsterdam
- Tuition Fees
- Tuition Fees: €24,640 (Undergraduate) | €27,390 (Graduate)
The University of Amsterdam (UvA), is one of the two universities in Amsterdam city, with the other one being the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which translates to the Free University of Amsterdam (VU). UvA was founded in 1632 and officially became a university in 1877. The university currently houses around 31,000 students and is tightly connected to the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, HvA).
The university has numerous different faculties, including the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, and, of course, the Faculty of Medicine, among others. UvA’s main campus is located in the city center, and the Faculty of Medicine is located in the south-eastern area of the city in the Bijlmermeer neighborhood. Each year, around 350 first-year students are admitted into the Faculty of Medicine.
Both the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs are available at UvA, with the bachelor’s program consisting mostly of three years of theoretical teaching and is focused on providing students with a strong foundation for when they enter the master’s program. During this master’s program, which will also take approximately three years, students will be focusing on obtaining practical knowledge and skills as they will be partaking in trainee internships in different hospitals.
6. Utrecht University
Utrecht University (UU) was founded in 1634 and currently, over 30,000 students are enrolled in one of its degrees and programs. The university offers bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and doctorate degrees to its students. The Faculty of Medicine is tightly connected to the UMC Utrecht, the medical center on the university’s campus. Within the faculty, students can enroll in two bachelor’s programs and three master’s programs, one of which is the “traditional” medicine degree. This medical school in the Netherlands, contrary to the degrees at TU Delft and TU/e, has a more clinical approach. The treatment of the patient is a central factor in the program and the university wastes no time in getting students acquainted with the practical approach as the third and last year of the bachelor’s degree consists mostly of a practical study at the university’s hospital.
7. University of Groningen
Closing off our list, with the highest tuition fee for international students, is the University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, RUG). RUG is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as it was founded in 1614. The campus is located in the city of Groningen in the north of the country.
The various faculties that the university houses are spread around the city, with some of them being located in and around the city center. The university’s faculties include the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Philosophy, and the Faculty of Economics and Business, among many others. The Faculty of Medicine is headquartered near the university’s affiliated hospital, the University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG). It is in this hospital that students get to put their theoretical knowledge into practice when they go on to partaking in internships in their master’s program.
During the bachelor’s program, students can pick their track within the program, for example, Medicine, Profile Global Health, or Medicine, Profile Sustainable Care. Studying abroad at this level is optional but there will be plenty of opportunities for students to gain international experience while enrolled in a master’s program. It is important to note that every student who has completed a bachelor’s degree at RUG is guaranteed entry into the master’s program.
The Netherlands is one of the countries where students can choose to follow their academic dreams since the country is full of top-class universities, has a rich and engaging culture, and most universities offer students plenty of room to develop their path within their program.
We hope this article on cheap medical schools in the Netherlands was helpful. Make sure to also check out the Study in Netherlands and Available Programs in Europe pages for more insightful articles.
