Academic policies and procedures
Regulations of the programme
It can happen that you are unable to attend a lecture, tutorial or exam, due to illness or other circumstances beyond your control. Or that you cannot hand in a paper on time because of this. In that case, you have to report this IN ADVANCE to the secretariat of the programme that offers the particular course.
Contact secretariats
- Bachelor's programme Global Sustainability Science (GSS)
> fill out this absence form - Bachelor's programme Aardwetenschappen > Fill out this absence form
- Bachelor's programme Sociale geografie en planologie > Indien afwezigheid wordt veroorzaakt door ziekte of bijzondere omstandigheden, dient dit vooraf gemeld te worden bij de coördinator van de cursus en telefonisch bij het Secretariaat SGPL via telefoonnummer 030 – 253 1399. Vervolgens dient per e-mail aanvullende informatie te worden verstrekt, waaronder de reden van afmelding, de naam van het vak, de datum van het tentamen, de docent en je studentnummer.
Exam requirement
If you were unable to fulfil an exam requirement (e.g. exam, presentation, paper) on time, then report this to the course coordinator DIRECTLY AFTERWARDS. You can then discuss the possibility of a resit or replacement test. Consult the general Education and Examination Regulations Bachelor's programmes (art. 4.4 and 5.5) for the exact regulation.
As a first-year Bachelor's student, you will be given a binding study advice (BSA) at the end of the academic year. This determines whether or not you may continue your degree programme. The BSA is issued by the Board of Examiners and is based upon the number of study credits you have attained. If you study at the expected pace, you can attain 60 EC in a year. You will be given a
- positive binding study advice if you attain 45 EC or more.
This means you can continue your degree programme and enrol for the next academic year. - negative binding study advice if you attain fewer than 45 EC.
This means that you may not continue your degree programme or re-enrol for a period of at least four academic years. - reserved study advice if you terminate your enrolment for your degree programme before 1 February.
In January you will be issued a preliminary study advice based on the number of credits you have attained. This gives you the opportunity to reconsider your choice of degree programme and to stop if necessary. If you decide to stop your degree programme, you will not be given a negative binding study advice and you may re-enrol for the programme in a following academic year. In that case you must again attain at least 45 EC to continue with your degree programme.
Please note! Credits attained from any exemptions you have been granted and from any interim tests you may have passed do not count towards calculating how many EC you have attained. A binding study advice only applies to the Bachelor's degree programme in question at Utrecht University.
If you think you may not attain sufficient credits to meet the requirements of the binding study advice due to circumstances beyond your control, please contact your Study Advisor.
- The Education and Examination Regulations (EER) of this Bachelor's programme inform you about the rights and obligatons of you and the programme, for instance considering exams and testing. You can also view the EER for this programme for the year 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025 here.
- See the general EER for all the Bachelor's degree programmes 2024-2025 (ENG/NL)
- See the general EER for all the Bachelor's degree programmes 2023-2024 (ENG/NL)
- See the general EER for all the Bachelor's degree programmes 2022-2023 (ENG/NL)
- There are also programmespecific parts of the EER, which can be found here
- You can contact the studentsite email for the EER's from the previous year.
- In the Regulations of the Board of Examiners you’ll find the rules for the organisation and assessment of exams, tests, theses and research assignments.
The Study Guide of the Bachelor’s programme Global Sustainability Science presents an in-depth and detailed overview of the contents and organisation of the programme. In the most recent study guide you will find the most recent policies and procedures. In the study guide of your first year of enrolment, you will find information that applied in that moment, such as the courses on offer or the structure of the programme then. This can change per academic year. In this study guide you will also find your exam programme. The exam programme of your first yearr of enrolment (cohort) remains in effect throughout your entire study programme.
Regulations of the University
Your UU-grades abroad
To help foreign universities to interpret the value of our grades, UU publishes Grading Tables:
- a table for Bachelor’s courses and
- a table for Master’s courses.
The Grading Tables provide statistical distributions of grades awarded at Utrecht University. They show which percentage of all passing grades that were awarded in the three most recent academic years were (rounded-off) a 6.0, a 6.5, a 7.5, etc. The tables will be published on the International Diploma Supplement of all students who graduate after September 1st 2017.
In addition to the Grading Tables, UU also publishes a weighted average grade on the ten point scale on your International Diploma Supplement.
What do Grading Tables not show?
Grading Tables do not show whether you belong to the 10% (or any other percentage) of your class. The tables do not contain information about the average either, nor are they just about your fellow students.
The most recent Grading Tables (September 2021 – August 2024)
| Grade | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 6.0 | 18.58% |
| 6.5 | 17.38% |
| 7.0 | 20.21% |
| 7.5 | 19.17% |
| 8.0 | 13.72% |
| 8.5 | 7.10% |
| 9.0 | 2.81% |
| 9.5 | 0.81% |
| 10.0 | 0.22% |
| Grade | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 6.0 | 8.83% |
| 6.5 | 10.02% |
| 7.0 | 17.07% |
| 7.5 | 22.21% |
| 8.0 | 22.20% |
| 8.5 | 12.49% |
| 9.0 | 5.50% |
| 9.5 | 1.28% |
| 10.0 | 0.40% |
Grade Point Average substituted by Grading Tables
Until 1 September 2017, Utrecht University published a Grade Point Average (GPA) to provide help institutions abroad to interpret UU-grades. Many Anglo-Saxon universities use this four point scale to express their weighted average grade. The GPA always needs clarification. The standards according to which the GPA is calculated differ between (international) universities.
Utrecht University considers any form of academic dishonesty to be a very serious offense. Utrecht University expects each student to be familiar with and to observe the norms and values that ensure academic integrity.The most serious forms of deception that can impair this integrity are fraud and plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of fraud and is defined as the wrongful appropriation of another author’s work without proper citation. See the further elaboration on what may be considered fraud or plagiarism.
If the university discovers a case of fraud or plagiarism, then the study programme’s Board of Examiners may implement sanctions on the offender. The most serious sanction that the Board of Examiners may implement is the submission of a request for expulsion to the Executive Board.
If you feel you have not been treated properly by someone employed by Utrecht University, or if you disagree with a decision that affects you personally, you can respond in a number of ways. You can submit a complaint, an objection or an appeal.
For the full details about the various procedures and which procedure is applicable for your situation, visit Complaints, objections and appeals.
Utrecht University processes a substantial volume of personal data. In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the university is responsible for ensuring that personal data is processed properly. Also see the Privacy Statement on the Utrecht University website.
Sets out all the rights and duties of students and the University. Download the Students' charter.