Policies and procedures
Here you will find everything to do with policies and procedures. Think about reporting sickness, the rules concerning the EER (OER) and BSA, retaking exams and approval and exemption.
Interim Study Advice
In the first year of enrolment in a Bachelor's programme, you will receive a positive or negative Interim Study Advice before 31 January. This advice indicates your study progress and is not binding. In case of a negative Interim Study Advice, you will be advised to discontinue your studies.
Binding Study Advice
At the end of the first academic year, a Binding Study Advice (BSA) will be given. The norm for the Binding Study Advice for the academic year 2024-2025 is 45 EC.
The BSA is issued by the programme director, based on the number of credits you have obtained in the current academic year. You can obtain 60 EC (or more) in one academic year. If you have obtained at least 45 EC at the end of your first academic year, you will receive a positive Binding Study Advice.
If you achieve less than 45 EC in your first year, you will receive a negative binding study advice. In that case, you are not allowed to continue your studies. If there are personal circumstances that may influence your BSA, please report this as soon as possible to the study advisor.
Be aware that:
- If you request course de-enrolment before 1 February of your first study year, you will receive no negative binding study advice.
Also see article 7.4 of the Education and Examination Regulations (EER).
Circumstances beyond one's control
If there were special circumstances why you did not obtain 45 EC, you can apply for a delayed Binding Study Advice. Please mention your special circumstances influencing your study progress to the study advisor as soon as reasonably possible.
Students who received a delayed BSA in academic year 2023-2024
Students who received a delayed BSA in 2023-2024 will still receive a positive study advice in 2024-2025 if they:
- obtained 45 EC in the 2024-2025 academic year; the credits already obtained in the first year of study do not count in this respect
No negative Binding Study Advice can be issued if the student has passed all the tests related to the courses in the first year of the study programme with a combined study load of 60 EC (see Education and Examination Regulations (EER) 7.4. section 12 and the appendices of the EER).
Procedure delayed binding study advice
At the end of July you are given a final Binding Study Advice (BSA). If you have a negative BSA due to circumstances beyond your control, which you mentioned as early as possible to the study advisor, you can appeal this decision. Please lodge an appeal by sending an email to science.bsa-bezwaar@uu.nl before 2 August 2024. In lodging an appeal you are requesting a hearing of the BSA-committee to consider your appeal against the decision to exclude you from your programme. In your email indicate explicitly which exceptional circumstances apply for you and describe your personal situation briefly; supporting evidence (letters, statements, etc.) must be provided. If the study advisor has already received (some of) your evidence, also indicate this in your email. Your hearing will take place on August 19 or 20, 2024. You will be informed of the exact date, location and time of your hearing by email. The final decision will be made on August 26, 2024.
The Board of Examiners of the Undergraduate School consists of a central Board of Examiners and six Executive Panels. These Executive Panels implement examinations policy independently, within the frameworks set by the central Board of Examiners of the Undergraduate School. The chairs of the Executive Panels form, together with an independent chair and an external member, the central Board of Examiners of the School. The central Board of Examiners acts as a framework-setting and supervisory body. It determines examinations policy and sets the frameworks in the form of regulations and procedures.
Members of the Board
The up to date list of members can be found on the page Organisation.
Duties and powers
The duties and powers of the Board of Examiners are derived from the Dutch Higher Education and Research Act (WHW). The Board of Examiners establishes regulations with regards to further implementation of these duties and powers. These are described in the Regulations Board of Examiners Undergraduate School.
Duties and powers of the Board of Examiners include:
• Ensure proper compliance with the Education and Examination Regulations (EER);.
• Guaranteeing the quality of exams
• Monitoring the quality of the courses
• Appointment of examiners
• Approve a student's exam program
• Granting exemptions
• Approval of course units such as optional courses, adjustments to the program, following courses outside the UU or extra ECs
• Granting extra resits
• Determining the exam results of individual students
• Awarding the Cum Laude judicium
• Issue of certificates
Contact information
Sometime during your studies you may need permission from the Board of Examiners. This can be, for example, for applying for an exemption, to follow a certain course or to do an internship, or to ask permission to take part in a resit after illness. Your first point of contact for questions and for submitting requests is the Executive Panel.
You can address your request to the Secretary of the Executive Panel of Pharmacie at science.examencommissie.FARB@uu.nl.
The Executive Panel of Pharmacy assesses requests for special regulations for the study programme of CPS students. You can address your request to the Secretary of the Executive Panel: science.examencommissie.FARB@uu.nl.
Go for more information about the Executive Panel of Pharmacy to the Board of Examiners-page.
There are different test components in each course. You can find what they are in the Osiris and/or the study guide on Blackboard. You must participate in all components to complete the course and receive a final grade. You may have to obtain a minimum mark for some tests.
See also article 5.1 of the Education and Examination Regulations in the dropdown further down this page.
Grades are given on a scale of 1 to 10; the final assessment of a course is either pass or fail. A 6 or higher is considered a pass, 5 and below is considered an insufficient. That final grade is rounded off to 1 decimal.
See also article 5.4 of the Education and Examination Regulations on this page.
- a student who is registered for a course and has not participated in any or in all the test modules will be given an NC (Not Completed)
- a student who is registered for a course and has not participated in enough of the test modules to be eligible for an additional test, will be given a NVD (Not Completed)
- a student who is registered for a course and has not participated all of the test modules but who is eligible for an additional test, will be given a AANV (RESIT)
- a student who has been granted exemption by the Board of Examiners will be given a EX (Exemption)
If the student has fulfilled all obligations to perform to the best of his or her ability during the course, as long as the final (failing) mark is at least a unrounded four or AANV, he will be given a once-only opportunity to sit an additional or substitute test.
A student who has been unable to take one (part) test per course, due to circumstances beyond his/her control, will get the opportunity to do a re-sit. You must however have complied with the rules as stated under "Sick report".
If, after taking the resit test, you have not yet obtained a sufficient final grade (5.5 and higher), all partial marks will lapse, including any sufficient partial marks achieved. You must then do a compulsory course the following year. You cannot therefore eliminate your insufficient by only taking the test in the following academic year.
See also article 5.5 of the Education and Examination Regulations on this page.
Partial tests and assignments that were passed will lose their validity if the course within which they were taken was not passed. The examiner may grant the student exemption or impose an substitute assignment for parts of a course other than (partial) tests.
Academic policies and procedures
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.