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Hbo Bachelor's programmes take four years (240 ECTS). Wo Bachelor's programmes take three years (180 ECTS). The minimum admissions requirement for an hbo Bachelor's programme is a diploma at Dutch mbo level 4 (senior secondary vocational education) or Dutch havo (higher general secondary education).
Research university (WO): The emphasis is on learning to look analytically and critically at the way a certain field can be approached. Higher professional education (HBO): Higher professional education trains for a specific profession. You apply your knowledge and work in a solution-oriented way.
Upon completion of the pre-master, the HBO graduate is able to enroll in the target Masters program that the pre-master grants access to. However, an HBO bachelor graduate is able to directly enroll in a 'research' university Masters's degree abroad.
I did both a HBO bachelor and WO bachelor (currently doing WO master). Learning at HBO was much more fun and you receive lots of support to apply theory to practice. Lots of ‘learning by doing’; e.g. went to the alps for 3 weeks to learn about leadership.
HBO or Hogeschool institutes are focused on applied higher education and usually offer 4-year Bachelor programs geared more towards the practical labor market. The academic universities (WO) are the highest possible level of education in the Netherlands.
All HBO and WO courses fall under the bachelor-master system. Bachelor's degree programmes are broader, while master's degree programmes lead to specialisation in a chosen field. HBO bachelor's degree programmes take 4 years, WO bachelor's programmes take 3 years.
Universities of applied science (hogescholen) offer higher professional education (hoger beroepsonderwijs, HBO) is more practically-oriented than WO. HBO consists of 7 sectors: economics. healthcare. agriculture. education. social and community work. art. technology.
