Admission requirements

In principle, you qualify directly for admission if you hold a new-style VWO diploma with the profile Natuur en Gezondheid (Science and Health) including Physics, or the profile Natuur en Techniek (Science and Engineering) including Biology then.

For the following Dutch diplomas, Maastricht University (UM) will assess whether you qualify for admission. This depends on your previous education, and whether this guarantees sufficient knowledge at VWO-level of the subjects Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics.
You also need to be able to prove you hold:

• a Dutch VWO diploma from before 2007,
• a propaedeutic diploma from a university of applied sciences (HBO), or
• an Open University (OU) propaedeutic diploma or an OU bachelor’s diploma.

If you have a non-Dutch diploma equivalent to the Dutch VWO diploma, you qualify for admission. Check whether your diploma is on the list of non-Dutch diplomas equivalent to the Dutch VWO diploma. If your diploma is not on this list, UM must first assess your diploma on an individual basis to see if you qualify for admission.

Next to equivalence to the Dutch VWO level, your previous education must also contain specific subjects. The subjects Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology need to have been included at VWO exam level in your previous education. Please see the list of European diplomas, with the requirements for these required subjects.

Please note: if your diploma is not on this list of European diplomas, UM must first assess your diploma on an individual basis to see if you qualify for admission. For this, several verified documents are required, which you will have to gather and upload. Detailed information on this will be provided in the MyApplicant portal, which you can access after registering in Studielink. Note that this assessment will take extra time. Therefore, please apply as early as possible if your diploma is not on the list, preferably before 1 November 2023. Please be aware that if you register after 1 November 2023, you  take the risk that assessing whether you qualify for admission will not be completed on time and/or your possible deficiencies will not be assessed on time. Meaning that you may not be able to start the study programme in the academic year 2024-2025.

To qualify for admission to the bachelor’s programme in Biomedical Sciences, you need to have the following subjects in your previous education with a duration and depth equivalent to the Dutch VWO: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The following diplomas satisfy those requirements:

• German ‘Zeugnis der allgemeinen Hochschulreife’: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry: as ‘Grundkurs’ up to and including the final year. Biology as ‘Leistungsfach’
• Belgian Diploma of Secondary Education of one of the following tracks:
  - Greek-Sciences
  - Latin-Sciences
  - Modern Languages-Sciences
  - Sciences-Mathematics
• Diploma International Baccalaureate from Geneva with
  - Mathematics Analysis and Approaches HL or SL, or
    Mathematics Applications and Interpretations HL, or
    Mathematics SL or HL (exam before 2021).
  - Physics SL or HL
  - Chemistry SL or HL
  - Biology HL
• Diploma European Baccalaureate with
  - Mathematics: written or oral exams, at least 3 hours/week in the last 2 years;
  - Physics: written or oral exams
  - Chemistry: written or oral exams;
  - Biology: written or oral exams, at least 4 hours/week in the last 2 years.
• British A/AS levels, (I) GCSEs and/or AICE:
  - Mathematics: GCE A or AS level
  - Physics: GCE A or AS level
  - Chemistry: GCA A level
  - Biology: GCE A level

As stated earlier: if your diploma or degree differs from those listed above, UM will assess whether you can demonstrate sufficient knowledge on the four compulsory subjects (Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology) and therefore qualify for an exemption (sufficiëntieverklaring) for these subjects on an individual basis. For this, several verified documents are required, which you will have to gather and upload in the MyApplicant portal. The assessment by UM is based on the attainment aims for final examination in Dutch secondary education (VWO) in the relevant subject and the national agreements made within the Central Commissions Pre-examination (in Dutch: CCVX) and Boswel-Bèta. The assessment takes extra time, so be sure to register as early as possible, preferably before 1 November 2023.

If you already have, or will be, awarded a Dutch secondary education (VWO new style) or equivalent diploma, but you do not (completely) satisfy the additional subject requirements for Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology (meaning that these subjects were not included in your curriculum and therefore you did not take part in a final examination for these subjects, resulting in (one or more) deficiencies), you must take (an) additional examination(s) to qualify for admission to the bachelor's programme in BMS. These examinations can be conducted both in Dutch and English at Centrale Commissies Voortentamen (CCVX) or Boswell-Bèta. Please note: you have to arrange these examinations yourself. 

German students can also opt to complete the so-called Vorsemester at the Rheinische Bildungszentrum in Cologne for deficiencies in Biology, Physics or Chemistry.

Please be aware that if you apply after 1 November 2023, you are taking the risk that assessing whether you qualify for admission and/or you eliminating one (or more) of your deficiencies will not be completed in time. As a result, you may not be able to start the programme in the academic year 2024-2025, even if you were offered and you accepted a placement for the bachelor’s in BMS based on the selection.

Please note! Proof of an extra examination in a certain subject at a different institute than the ones mentioned above (CCVX/Boswell-Bèta/Rheinische Bildungszentrum) does not automatically mean that you satisfy the requirements for that subject. The level of the extra examination will need to be assessed on an individual basis. Strict requirements concerning number of study hours, content, difficulty of the material dealt with, and examinations completed apply here. In case of doubt, we will require you to demonstrate sufficient knowledge and skills through an additional satisfactory examination at CCVX or Boswell-Bèta. 

Please note! In specific cases, Boswell-Bèta offers the possibility for foreign students to take these examinations online. You have to contact Boswell-Bèta personally to request an online examination.

Once you have successfully completed your additional examinations, you need to upload the certificates in the MyApplication portal.

The CCVX or Boswell-Betà certificates must be received as certified copies. You can send these by postal mail to:
Maastricht University
Student Services Centre
UM Admissions
Post box 616
6200 MD Maastricht
The Netherlands

If you are unable to meet all subject requirements before the start of the academic year, you need to send an email as soon as possible to selectionbms@maastrichtuniversity.nl, and  we will jointly look for a possible solution. You must submit proof that you meet the statutory (further) previous education requirements 2024-2025 by 16 July 2024, 16:00 CET at the latest. Please be sure to contact us on time.

If UM determines after receiving your application that you have a (foreign) diploma that requires a further sufficiency check for one or more subjects, you need to apply for this. 

You need to compile and hand in a file per subject (so for every subject for which sufficiency is not yet clear) as part of the sufficiency check. This/these separate file(s) then need to be uploaded to the MyApplication portal. This assignment is also shown as a task in the MyApplication portal: you can download a syllabus per subject to complete and upload. 

Be aware: the deadline for handing in the required sufficiency check is 31 January 2024. Requests handed in after this date will not be taken into consideration.