Within all Master's programmes one or more research projects are mandatory. Please see ‘Study programme’ for general information on such projects in your curriculum. In many cases, a research project may be carried out outside of the university, in the form of an internship at a company, research institute, or another university. This can be in the Netherlands as well as abroad (see also: ‘study abroad’). 

You are required to apply for approval of your research project by submitting a request via OSIRIS Student. Please select ‘My Cases’, ‘Start Case’ and then ‘Research Project GSNS’. Important: in order to apply completely and correctly, you must have discussed the project setup with your intended project supervisor beforehand! We advise you to study the request form previous to discussing it with your supervisor, or fill it out together, to make sure you obtain all of the information required.

After submitting your request, it will be forwarded to your master’s programme coordinator, the board of examiners and student affairs for checks and approvals. After approval of your project it will be automatically registered in OSIRIS. If something needs to be amended, you will be notified by email. Please DO NOT register yourself in OSIRIS for the relevant research project courses. You will be automatically registered upon approval of the Research Application Form.

  • Please note that this protocol (English version) applies when a project is delayed
  • In case of a project or internship outside of Utrecht University, please make sure you fill out the Work Placement Agreement in OSIRIS Student / my cases. This agreement will be available for filling out in OSIRIS Student/My Cases after you have submitted your initial request for research project approval
  • Only for students that have started their research project prior to 1 November 2018 (GMTE), prior to 15 April 2019 (MBIM/AINM) and prior to 17 October 2019 (COSC): your project supervisor will fill out the assessment form part 1 at the end of the first part of your project, and the assessment form part 2 at the end of the second part of your project and hand it in at the Science Student Desk (in pdf) in order to have your grade registered in OSIRIS. (For all other students the assessment is done in OSIRIS Docent and the paper forms cannot be accepted anymore).

The GSNS has a general statute concerning its Education and Examinations Regulations (OER). The most recent versions of these regulations can be found below, both in Dutch, as well as in English. Specific regulations for each of the Master's programmes of the GSNS are listed in the Annex (available in English only).

OER 2019-2020:

OER 2018-2019:

Tasks and responsibilities

The Board of Examiners of the Graduate School of Natural Sciences (GSNS) is mandated by law to uphold the quality of tests and exams within the School. The Board of Examiners has eight members; a chair, six scientific staff members who each represent a cluster of Master's programmes (and chair an executive panel if so indicated) and one non-Faculty member. The Board of Examiners is supported in its work by a Secretary. The legal responsibilities of the Board of Examiners include organisation and coordination of examinations, granting exemptions and approval of final achievements for individual Master's programmes, and handing out MSc-diplomas and supplements at graduation ceremonies.

Official documents

The GSNS has a general statute concerning its 'Rules and Regulations' (also available in dutch) , in which all matters concerning the appointment and organisation of the Board of Examiners, and also its responsibilities concerning (final) examinations and the degree programme are laid down.

Members of the Board

  • Dr. E.R. (Elwin) Savelsbergh (Chair Board of Examiners)
  • Dr. S. (Silja) Renooij (Member, Chair Artificial Intelligence)
  • Prof. dr. H.C. (Hans) Gerritsen (Member, Chair Physics)
  • Dr. G. (Guido) Bacciagaluppi (Member, Chair History and Philosophy of Science)
  • Prof. dr. mr. H. (Henry Prakken (Member, Chair Information Science and Computer Science)
  • Dr. C.R. (Celia) Berkers (Member, Chair Chemical Sciences)
  • Prof. dr. E.P (Erik) van den Ban (Member, Chair Mathematical Sciences)
  • Dr. I.E.T. (Inge) van den Berg (Non-Faculty Member)
  • Dr. E. (Egbert) Mulder (Secretary)

Contact

For the contact details of the Board of Examiners, please go to contact.

Grading Tables

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 2016 – August 2019)

Grade

Percentage

6.0

19.46%

6.5

17.83%

7.0

20.66%

7.5

18.46%

8.0

13.34%

8.5

6.59%

9.0

2.69%

9.5

0.75%

10.0

0.23%

Grade

Percentage

6.0

8.98%

6.5

10.56%

7.0

18.55%

7.5

22.28%

8.0

22.08%

8.5

11.45%

9.0

4.78%

9.5

0.98%

10.0

0.34%

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.

The Final GPA was published on the International Diploma Supplement, an addendum to your diploma, for all students who started their Bachelor’s or Master’s programme after September 2007 and who graduated before September 1st 2017. The GPA was calculated by firstly averaging your grades, weighted in study points. This weighted average grade was then converted to a Grade Point Average expressed in two decimals according to this table.

Calculating the GPA

The GPA of Bachelor’s students was calculated slightly differently from that of Master’s students. For Bachelor’s students, results obtained during the first year of their studies were not included in the final GPA.

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.

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