Admission and application
Admission period
Please select your nationality and previous education to view the admission periods.Admission period
Please select your previous education to view the admission periods.Admission period with Dutch degree and Dutch nationality
Admission period with non-Dutch degree and Dutch nationality
Note on the deadline: Formally speaking, the admission deadline for Dutch and EU/EEA students with non-Dutch previous education is 1 July, 2025. However, students with non-Dutch previous education who participate in the priority lottery for housing must have an admission decision from Radboud University. Since the draw will take place from 1 June to 1 July, the deadline of 1 May, 2025 is mentioned here.
Admission period
Please select your previous education to view the admission periods.Admission period with Dutch degree and nationality EU/EEA country
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Admission period with non-Dutch degree and nationality EU/EEA country
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Note on the deadline: Formally speaking, the admission deadline for Dutch and EU/EEA students with non-Dutch previous education is 1 July, 2025. However, students with non-Dutch previous education who participate in the priority lottery for housing must have an admission decision from Radboud University. Since the draw will take place from 1 June to 1 July, the deadline of 1 May, 2025 is mentioned here.
Admission period
Please select your previous education to view the admission periods.Admission period with Dutch degree and nationality non-EU/EEA country
?
Admission period with non-Dutch degree and nationality non-EU/EEA country
?
Please note: would you like to apply for a scholarship? Please note that the application deadline for scholarships is 31 January 2025 23:59 CET. Your application needs to be complete by 14 February 2025 23:59 CET.
Dutch degree
Admission requirements
With a completed university Bachelor's degree Bedrijfskunde (also specialisation Bedrijfseconomie) or International Business Administration followed at Radboud University, you are admissible to the pre-Master's programme.
Did you follow a university's Bachelor's degree at another faculty of Radboud University or at another Dutch university? A study programme has been drawn up and depending on your previous education you need to follow a number of deficiencies (extra courses). The examination board will decide if there are any deficiencies based on the information you provide during the application process.
For the Master's specialisation in International Political Economy, an additional admission requirement is that 18 EC of courses must be in the field of Political Science. These courses must be at least of Bachelor year 2 or year 3 level and must include the course Theories of International Relations.
A completed HBO Bachelor's programme related to Economics makes you eligible for the Pre-Master's programme. The following HBO programmes provide access to certain specialisations:
- Accounting and Control; Corporate Finance and Control:
- Bedrijfseconomie (Business Economics)
- Finance & Control
- Lerarenopleiding BE
- Lerarenopleiding AE
- Hoger Hotelondewijs (Hotel Education)
- International Business & Management
- Bestuurskunde/Overheidsmanagement
- Accountancy
- Finance, Tax and Advise
- Fiscale Economie
- Management, Economie en Recht
- Financial Economics:
- Bedrijfseconomie (Business Economics)
- Finance & Control
- Lerarenopleiding BE
- Lerarenopleiding AE
- Hoger Hotelondewijs (Hotel Education)
- International Business & Management
- Bestuurskunde/Overheidsmanagement
- Accountancy
- Finance, Tax and Advise
- Economics, Behaviour and Policy; International Economics and Development; International Political Economy:
- Bedrijfseconomie (Business Economics)
- Finance & Control
- Lerarenopleiding BE
- Lerarenopleiding AE
- Hoger Hotelondewijs (Hotel Education)
- International Business & Management
- Bestuurskunde/Overheidsmanagement
In addition to a compatible degree, HBO candidates are granted admission based on their average unweighted final grade (calculated over the last two years) of their Bachelor's programme and the letter of motivation.
- Students with an unweighted average final grade of 7.5 or higher are automatically granted admission to the Pre-Master's programme. They do not need to write a letter of motivation.
- Students with an unweighted average final grade between 7 and 7.5 will be assessed by the Examination Board on the basis of their letter of motivation. For this group, writing a letter of motivation is therefore a part of the application procedure.
- Students with an unweighted average final grade lower than 7 are not eligible for admission.
Non-Dutch degree
Admission requirements
If you have a non-Dutch educational background, you cannot apply directly for the pre-Master’s, but you need to apply for the Master’s programme first. The Examining Board will then decide if you are eligible for direct admission to the Master’s or whether they require you to participate in a pre-Master’s before you can enter the Master’s.
If you have applied for the Master’s and received a message that you are (conditionally) admitted to the pre-Master’s programme, and you would like to accept this offer, you need to apply in Studielink through the following steps:
- Go to 'Study programmes' and select 'Add new enrolment application'
- Search for 'Economics'
- Select the Educational institution: Radboud University
- Select the Type of study programme: WO Bachelor
- Select ‘Premaster Economics', and make sure to enroll for the upcoming academic year
Once you have submitted this application in Studielink, you can disregard the automatic emails from Studielink, except if they are about providing information about the payment of the contribution fee, but you need to follow the instructions from the Admissions Office admissions [at] ru.nl (admissions[at]ru[dot]nl), which you will receive shortly after your application.
When it comes to all English-taught Bachelor’s programmes, English language proficiency may be demonstrated through one of the following diplomas:
- A Dutch pre-university Secondary Education diploma (VWO);
- An International Baccalaureate Diploma (Diploma Programme): English taught IB or English A Language and Literature HL
- A European Baccalaureate Diploma, which includes English Language 1 or English Language 2
- The General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A-Levels)
- A diploma equivalent to, or higher than the Dutch VWO diploma, obtained at an institution in an EU/EEA member state, Australia, Canada (excluding Québec), Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States of America with English as the only medium of instruction.
- One of the following diplomas, which includes a minimal passing grade for English in the final examinations:
- Austria: Reifezeugnis/Reifeprüfungszeugnis (check the additional requirements)
- Belgium: Diploma van Secundair Onderwijs (for the Diplome d'Enseignement Secondair (Enseignement Secondaire Général) or the Abschlusszeugnis der Oberstufe des Sekundarunterrichts (Allgemeinbildende Unterricht) a language test is needed as proof of English language proficiency)
- Denmark: Studentereksamenbevis
- Finland: Ylioppilastutkintotodistus/Studentexamenbevis
- Germany: Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife (check the additional requirements)
- Luxembourg: Diplôme de Fin d’Études Secondaires
- Norway: Vitnemål fra den Videregående Skolen
- Sweden: Slutbetyg från Gymnasieskolan
- Aruba: Diploma Voorbereidend Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs
- Sint Maarten: VWO-diploma
- Curaçao: VWO-diploma
- Suriname: Diploma Voorbereidend Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs (V.W.O.) from an accredited V.W.O. School from the Nuffic List.
If you do not meet the English language proficiency requirement via one of the conditions above, you can satisfy the requirement via an English exam.
To meet the English language proficiency requirement, you will need to pass one of exams mentioned below. All certificates may not be older than two years.
TOEFL iBT
A TOEFL (iBT) certificate with an overall score of ≥ 80 and subscores ≥ 20
Note: we do not accept the TOEFL at Home Edition exam.
IELTS Academic
An IELTS Academic certificate with an overall score of ≥ 6,0. Subscores ≥ 6,0
Note: we do not accept the IELTS Online exam.
Application procedure
To apply for a programme, you need to submit a request for enrolment in Studielink before the application deadline. Before you apply, please check the admission requirements and then follow the steps below.
Steps
Step 1: Submit your enrolment request via Studielink
Apply for your chosen pre-Master’s programme via Studielink. You can apply for a programme for the following academic year from 1 October onwards.
Submitting a request for enrolment requires the following steps in Studielink.
- Go to 'Study programmes' and select 'Add new enrolment application'
- Search for your pre-Master’s programme by name: ‘Pre-Master’s in [name of study programme]’. The name of the pre-Master’s programme is often the name of the Master’s (specialisation).
- Select the educational institution: Radboud University
- Select the type of study programme: WO Bachelor
Register on time! You do not need to have completed your previous education when you apply. You can find the application deadline at the top of the Admission & Application page of the pre-Master's programme.
Step 2: Fill in the digital questionnaire
Because your prior education needs to be assessed, you will receive the login details for a digital questionnaire at the email address that you provided in Studielink. Log in, complete the questionnaire and upload the requested documents.
Please make sure that you submit your questionnaire and the documents before the application deadline of the pre-Master's. If you do this after the deadline, there is no guarantee that we will be able to process your application for admission in time. You can find the application deadline at the top of the Admission & Application page of the pre-Master's programme.
Step 3: Keep an eye on your inbox
Your request for admission will then be processed. Within approximately 3 weeks after you have submitted the digital questionnaire, Student Admissions will inform you by email about the admission decision. There are three possible outcomes:
- You will be granted unconditional admission, which means you can enrol for the programme.
- You will be granted conditional admission: there are conditions that you will need to fulfil before definitive admission can be granted. You will receive an email about what these conditions mean.
- You will not be granted admission: your application will then be withdrawn from Studielink and unfortunately you cannot enrol for this pre-Master's. You will receive further details by email.
The details of this outcome will be forwarded to the email address that you provided in Studielink.
Have you been admitted to the pre-Master’s?
You can now enrol for the programme.
Application procedure
How to apply for a pre-Master's programme if you have a non-Dutch previous education:
Students with a non-Dutch previous education cannot directly apply for a pre-Master’s. You must first apply for a selected Master's programme.
If you do not meet all the admission requirements for your selected Master's programme, you may be offered admission to the pre-Master's programme. This will be communicated in your admission email.
Completing the pre-Master's programme grants you direct admission to the Master's programme.
Questions?
Contact us via email at admissions [at] ru.nl (admissions[at]ru[dot]nl).
Questions or Concerns?
If you are unsure about your application, your enrolment request in Studielink can always be cancelled.
Do you have questions about the admissions procedure or are you unsure whether you meet all the requirements? Get in in touch with admissions [at] nsm.ru.nl (admissions[at]nsm[dot]ru[dot]nl).
Do you have a question about the application procedure, Osiris or tuition fees? Get in touch with the Central Student Desk:
- E-mail: centralstudentdesk [at] ru.nl (centralstudentdesk[at]ru[dot]nl)
- Phone: +31 24 – 361 23 45
- Click here for the opening hours